sportsfan02,

I am not sure I totally agree with the assumption that Friday night weigh ins encourage pulling more weight on a kid. I know that this happens but I think that these cases are in the minority vice the majority when you look at the number of kids wrestling in an open KIDS tournament. I don't have any hard facts, but my observation is that the majority of the kids (especially the younger kids), don't cut weight in kids club wrestling.

The reason I made the recommendation for Friday night weigh ins at your home site was to ease the burden on the families and kids. I know this is a little counter intuitive to those of us that have grown up wrestling. Making weight and the whole weigh in process at the site of the wrestling tournament is a natural part of the sport for us. However, with gas being at an all time high, the season being so long, and tournaments lasting so long, I think we need to come up with methods to make the sport more enjoyable and less burdensome on the kids and families. My focus for this idea is on the casual wrestling families and appealing to them, not the one's that are already very committed to the sport.

As far as the cheating....yes this idea does allow for that perception. That is why we (adults) have to trust our conterparts and depend on their integrity. Is it a risk....yes. I am willing to take that risk and trust other adults, even if it means someone may cheat. The reason is because I think that incidences of cheating would be few and far between. Also, in the grand scheme of things what is the worst thing that can happen if someone cheats? Answer: One of your wrestlers gets beat by a kid that outweighs him by a pound or so and thus he doesn't receive a medal at an open kids tournament.

I think the benefits outweigh the risks given the current enviroment we are living in.

Just my thoughts.

Shawn Budke