good for promoting wrestling? At first I was complacent as my boy didn't make weight at subs. As I have digested the facts, why can't a kid move up a weight bracket with all of the byes already in there? At least that way matches are awarded.

Initially, he was 58 lbs before Christmas. He had been ill. He was 61 when we sent in the Sub weights. We entered him at 64 thinking, there would be no problem. He is growing again. He watched what he ate and drank on Friday night, as well as worked out. Should the emphasis for an 8 and under be the message we send these wrestlers? Or should they get matches regardless?

Just curious to your thoughts.

I had a similar topic last year and did not feel the love from the talk forum community. I feel sorry for your son not getting the opportunity to wrestle in the tournament but the answer to me was rules are rules. As I waited to watch my boys wrestle last Saturday, I saw a number of boys in full sweatsuits running off their extra weight. I remember my wrestling days and how much I hated cutting weight. I do not want my boys to dislike the sport that I truly love because of cutting weight. They will not miss a single meal. I have moved my kids up in weight to make sure that they will not be overweight. Both of my kids weighed in at less than the weight class below them last week. Maybe someday, with some technological advances, kids will be able to weigh in and wrestle at that weight. It always worked that way when I wrestled freestyle 25 years ago. Good luck on your quest!

I have a wife who abhores the sport and I adore it. I used to be a knuckle head who cut too much weight. Our son started off the year being 8 1/2 pounds under weight for his class due to the fact that they take ten pound jumps. He always puts on a growth spurt during the season. Now he is usually only 2 pounds under. I think your better safe than sorry when it comes to making weght.

Sorry your kid didn,t make weight Iowastyle, but the only thing wrong with letting him move up at subs is they are seeded. That can mess up that seeding at that weight depending on the kid if it were allowed. Plus if you had a dozen kids over weight the town hosting would have a problem re-bracketing that morning. Just my 2 cents worth.

I am surprised I haven't heard the chants coming about matside weigh-ins yet. If it were practical, matside weigh-ins coupled with a regular weigh-in with a little to no tolerance between the two weigh-ins would go far to help curtail kids cutting weight. We all know what happens, the kids cut down to get under a certain weight then immediately put back on the 3-7 or more pounds they were cutting. I do not support cutting a kids weight due to the nutrition limitations and all of the other problems that can come from it. My son eats helthily and normally weighs in barely over the weight class below the one he is wrestling.

My3sons, I have to sort of disagree with you on your point of messing up the bracket by moving kids around for weight changes. I dislike weight changes to brackets and in our tournaments we host we specifically list that no changes will be made due to the wrestler not making weight. Re-bracketing is a real headache and I will agree with you on that point. However, what I am in disagreement with is the fact that messing with seedings shouldn't matter, since in order to win a bracket the kid needs to beat everyone in that bracket anyhow.

Craig Gash
Derby Wrestling Club
Tournament Director

I think you could have moved him up the Sunday before Subs but not the day of. I think he can take his record up with him. My son does not cut weight either. He weighed in saturday 3.5 under. Last year at state he weighed in 3 lbs. under. But I think it serves him better to give 2 or 3 pounds than to give up a meal or snack. It will only make him stronger. It is more important to us to give him a positvie picture of what wrestling is about. I don't think we should teach them that wrestling is about starvation and dehydration. Who would voluntarily continue to participate in an activity that required you to expend tremendous amounts of energy and effort but didn't allow you to properly nourish and replenish your body? I know some kids have room to lose and reshape their bodies, and that's all good. But he doesn't have any excess to cut. He eats a well-balanced diet all year. And when he has growth spurts he eats non-stop it seems. On average he has gained 6 lbs a year since he started wrestling at 43 lbs. He now wrestles at 73lbs. You wrestle where you're at. You will learn just as much as a kid wrestling at 10u/67 as 10u/76. And that is his goal. To learn about the sport; techniques,speed, strength, strategies, sportsmanship, discipline, etc. So that someday he can be a great high school and college wrestler and still LOVE the sport. If along the way he has some success at the kids level, then that is just icing on the cake!

BUT, the biggest problem with letting one kid in that didn't make weight is, next year there will be two and the next four and so on and so on. When it no longer is important for any kid to make weight the problem will grow and grow.

I think the main reason is a kid looks at his bracket and thinks it is too tough and then jumps up to the next weight, which may be easier or is smaller giving him a better chance to qualify. I don't mean to sound harsh but if your kid can not make the weight for three weeks he should not have signed up at that weight. My question is how fast is this kid growing 58 lbs. in December and now he can not make 64? I need to know what he is eating I can't get my kid to gain 4 lbs. in 1 year.

I agree, thus our policy of no bracket changes if the wrestler does not make weight.

bump

Beeson, I am not a dad who condones cutting weight. My son had undiagnosed mono, which was keeping him from being healthy. I would have never thought he would be over. His first tourney of the year was the week before subs. He was fine there.

For your son try the Special K protein water. Ever since he was diagnosed, he has been drinking it. It seems to help. It tastes like lemonade.

Thanks for everyone's insight. I am always learning as a dad and coach.

I think that allowing kids to change brackets at weigh in may actually encourage weight cutting for some. Here's how. If there is no penalty for not making weight, kids may try to reach down a weight class or two knowing that if they don't make it, they can always go up. If you know that you have to make weight at the qualifiers, you are more likely to set attainable weight goals and not push the envelope so hard.

In a tournament with a qualifier well in advance, they need to make allowances for growth and still allow a kid to compete. In the short term, kids that young should NOT be cutting weight-PERIOD. Just my opinion, been wrong before!

We used to qualify for Nationals through the KS Kids tournament in April, the Nationals were in mid-june. In 1974 I qualified at 105-by June, I had grown 3 inches and 20 pounds, even though continued training hard. But in order to wrestle, had to make 105 (which I did, with a lot of time in the suana with sweats on, which they would shoot someone for now-The head coach at the camp and another coach were there with me).

This whole topic is not about cutting weight it is about planning. Having enough foresight to know that kids that are 6yrs to 10 yrs old will grow during the six months that we wrestle. We as coaches know when the qualifying tournaments are and how much our wrestlers weigh and if you plan in advance you do not have to worry about your athlete not making weight. Thus, more emphases put on wrestling than weight reduction. There is a ton of planning that goes into these qualifying tournaments and allowing kids to bump a weight the day before or the day of will bring more undue work on the tournament workers. Just think about how much bumping around will go on if you allow people to jump weight classes the day of. What kind of message are we sending? You don't really have to wrestle at the weight that you said you would or you can run from other wrestlers once you find out others are at your weight? I understand that we are here to make sure these kids learn something about life more than they do about wrestling at this age, but the reality of it all is making weight is a part of the sport and at this age more responsibility is put on the coaches and parents than the kids. We have had all year to monitor our wrestlers growth, so respond accordingly and bump them up before the sub-district seeding meeting and you do not have anything to worry about. The final thought....as much as we as coaches and parents complain about late tournament starts...this would keep us in the gym all day with all the bracket changes.

Safe travels to all and good luck this weekend!

Craig Adams
Carroll Jr. Wrestling

Very well put!!!!!