As a kid's club coach this is a very frustrating topic. Our high school coach said from the beginning that he wanted to do away with our kid's club. That has made cooperation very difficult. In response, our club asked our HS coach to be on our board of directors to provide us with guidance. He came to meetings the first year and then was a no show. I went to his summer camps when he used to put them on. I took notes and used those notes to change the technique we taught in our club. He has not had a summer camp in years. Each year I ask our HS coach for advice on technique. I don't get any feedback. This year I took the time to write down all of the technique/moves that are taught in our club with a brief description and teaching points by each move/technique. I gave one to each of my assistant coaches and the HS coach. I asked the HS coach to make comments and/or suggestions. I got ZERO back. I have tried to get high schoolers to help with the kids club but cannot get any volunteers. I asked the HS coach to make a video of what he wanted taught at the kid's level. I wanted to use the video to teach our volunteer kid's coaches some technique. Out of the 6 or so assistant coaches I have had in the past 10 years only 2 have had wrestling experience. When you are trying to teach young kids to wrestle, safety dictates that you have an adult closely supervising each group. I rarely have an experienced adult available. I spend my time moving from group to group correcting the coaches as often as the kids. Shock and disbelief is the only way I can describe how I felt when our HS team fielded only 4 wrestlers at our league meet this year. I agree whole heartedly that high school programs and kid's clubs must work together, but cooperation is a two way street. I don't know what else to do. I feel like I'm banging my head up against a wall. The kid's club has a life of it's own and is here to stay with or without me or the high school coach. The only practical solution is to work to improve the club and hence improve our high school program.
