Vince, how many good kids are there behind 103lbs state champs that "could" be good if we had another 98lbs weight class again?
It's all what you see in your eyes as to what's best. I'm sure the panel that decides if we need more weight classes or not doesn't know anything. Without football we wouldn't have wrestling right? I mean football makes them better wrestlers, I mean dancers, I mean water polo players right?
I think if they're good enough athletes they can be just as disciplined as the rest of us are/were and learn to cut weight or gain it to succeed. It's part of the sport so why should we cater to the few so they can succeed. Let's cater those who are already here.If you really want to see more football players wrestling then recruit them and get them to go out.If they deserve to be there and wrestling they will battle for the starting spot and be the starter or they will ride the bench until it's their turn.
Also the median weight reflects the average weight of 18 year olds... what about the underclassmen (14-17) who are still developing, and thus do not weight the median of 160lbs? Could that be why there's more weight classes in the 125-152 range than up?
I can tell you from personal experience without 103 I wouldn't have been a 2x SQ... our 112 was just that much better than me, so are you saying because I couldn't have been the 112 starter I shouldn't have been the 103 starter? Or that I didn't deserve to be in a weight class that is made as to include the underdeveloped or smaller wrestlers?
As you quote here Vince...Why should a lighter wrestler be given favorable treatment over a heavier athletes?... why should we give heavier athletes greater treatment over the lighter athletes? I'd suggest writing to the NHSCA and asking them why they have more lighter weights than heavier ones, I'm sure they'd be glad to enlighten you.
My son had to sit the bench last year as a freshman at Aquinas because of the lack of heavier weight classes and he spent the year as the 189 second team guy wrestling JV for the majority of the year. My son was a State kids wrestling champion in the 6th and 7th grade. He was a Liberty nationals champion as an 8th grader. I saw plenty of freshmen 103 and 112 wrestlers his freshmen year who had no where near his kids wrestling record wrestling varsity. Why was it more important for those lighter weight freshmen to have more opportunity to wrestle varsity last year than my heavier son? I played football in the late sixties and it was rare for a freshmen or sophomore to make the varsity team much less start. What is so wrong with a freshmen or sophomore not being varsity?
If your son was good enough to start then he would have, plain and simple. He wasn't good enough last year so he got better apparently and has succeeded. Kid's titles mean nothing... certain kids get better others fall off the face of the mat... Hmm.... the late 60's... so what is that now about 40 years? Time's change, take a look at the rosters now of NCAA Basketball teams (Texas Star Player= Freshman?) Hell even in football freshmen make an immediate impact. I'm sure freshmen in wrestling make a small noise too (Nickerson, Schlatter, Varner) but I'm sure those guys don't deserve to start because they're freshmen and since I've been around longer I deserve to start. That's where wrestling is great, if you're the best you start if not it's that simple.
