not only does this happen in novice tournaments, it happens in regular tournaments as well. in our tournament last year we had a father raising cain because his kid was in the a&b bracket and not c&d bracket after so much hell being raised they changed the brackets.

if memory serves me correct no kid in the c&d bracket lasted more than a minute with this kid but guess what? the kid ended up with a bright and shiny first place trophy. hope he keeps that trophy nice and polished.

so, Kansas utilizes a A/B & C/D system for all open tourneys? do you seed for every tourney, or does the a/b, c/d system eliminate seeds?

The tournament director decides the seeding system. The seeding system will be on tournament flyer. Rossville system is A-state qualifer B-wins often C-average D-beginner. If you want your wrestler in the B bracket state that on entry form. Remember there may not be enough wrestlers for a B bracket. When you enter a open tournament expect to wrestle A&B rated wrestlers. Tournament directors will try to get your wrestler in B bracket if possible.

Is novice defined only by skill level or is there a chronological factor? Say a 1st or 2nd yr kid is picking it up faster after just a few matches, does he automatically lose his novice status or does his novice status end at the end of his 2nd yr. I know some 3rd and 4th yr wrestlers that would still struggle to place at a novice tourny so where do they fall? Do they stay novice status until they have begun to place or even win some novice events?

When my son started out, we did novice tournys (of course), but I put him in opens as well to get the "mat time" and to see how he was progressing against more salted wrestlers. Did I do wrong by using the opens as a wrestling "test". I stopped entering him in novice events after he completed his 2nd yr. He did well at both levels, but does 1 or 2 open 1st place finish mean that he is primed and ready or that maybe the caliber of the competion wasn't there that day.

Just a couple of my thoughts. We are excited to get season 4 underway. See you all on the mat.

mmeditz , I believe talking to your sons coach is essential in determining where a young wrestler needs to be placed. They have the experience to give an unbiased assessment of a kids ability. They also have a broader view of what’s best for your son, the integrity of the club, and the sport as a whole. As stated previously some kids develop more quickly then others, so the number of years wrestling can not be the only criteria.

My advice to any parent would be to enter as many open tournaments as possible, and leave the novice tournaments behind as soon as possible. Lets face it, in the 6-under division, aren’t all the kids novice anyway? Wrestling the best competition will advance a wrestlers skill.
Seeing where you want to end up, makes it easier to get there. If a kid can handle it, I believe it is better to lose matches against superior opponents then to roll around on the mat with wrestlers of similar skills.

Parents need to focus on improving their children’s skills, and less on winning metals. If parents and coaches explain the emphasis on improving skills with their kids, the young wrestlers will be better equipped to handle the losses and maybe the parents can offer positive reinforcement after defeats.