There is the part of this that has not been touched yet and that is educating the parents. Most of these kids will do what is right if given the right POSITIVE encouragement but the parents need to help with that at home.

A. Steele

My son loses about 10 pounds every year. I let him tell me what weight he wants to wrestle. We then go to the store and he helps pick out the foods he will eat. We don't call it cutting or dieting, it's a training table. I feel he is learning proper nutrition and eating skills that will keep him healthy. High School monitors hydration of wrestlers, yet the kids wrestling has no checks and balances for the kids. Maybe we should have something in place.

The Hydration test is a joke. I'm curious, 10 pounds is alot of weight, how much does your son weigh pre-season and how old is he.

He is a heavyweight, 10 pounds is not much to him. My point is about teaching proper nutrition. I am not overly familiar with how well the high school testing works, but I think it is a step in the right direction. Protect the health of these young people.

cutting weight may not be the best, there is arguements on both sides, but it also is a part of this sport we all know and love. ive seen kids cut weight right i.e.( monitoring diets and kicking up workouts to a maximum level) and have tremendous success with it. ive also seen it hurt some wrestlers. in my eyes as a wrestler, and now a coach there has to be some proper weight cutting for a wrestler to reach his top level of performance. i beleive in cutting weight fully, but its not up to me. that wrestler weather they are 8-80 years old must make that choice themself, its my job as a coach to successfully set there diets and workouts so they can achieve there goals both safely and successfully! cutting weight was part of the sport when i was growing up! and it made me a tougher, both mentally and physically, more successful wrestler.

i agree with beeson, hydration test is a joke, it may be set out to take a step in the right direction but there is kids all over the state that i know of first hand that cut an extra pound so they can hydrate an hour before the test and it works great. the only way usa wrestling can ever put a hold on cutting weight is to have the kids weigh in at matside right before theystep out to wrestle and even then you would see kids wrestling dehadrated, i bet!!!!

Yep, that is why I have never figured out the benefit of matside weigh-in. The same individuals will still cut the same amount, win or lose.

And if a kid can whip my kid's tail while he is dehydrated and my kid is hydrated, more power to him. The kids would soon realize that they are stronger and will have better endurance when they wrestle hydrated and the weight cutting will be greatly reduced.

What Doug said. Sportsfan02. About the 2nd time a kid gets tooled because he can't get to a decent hyrdration level to compete he will move up. If you put a scale at matside of the finals at any tournament you will see that kids are 15 pounds over by the time they wrestle in the finals. It's not a true test of that weight class only who is the best cutter. I am referring to HS tournaments. It's the same at the kids level just probably not 15 pounds but 8-10% none the less.

With MS State weigh ins being held 1 hour after Sub District it should interesting to see how many scratches there are.

First off, the kid IS going to make weight. Now how that effects his wrestling is another matter. I believe a loss would simply be blamed on another reason other than a lack of hydration. The bottomline is, I don't see it being beneficial health-wise and that should be our only concern, not who wins or loses.

Your right that should be our only concern. The parents are the ones signing kids up for tournaments, and unfortunately for the kids who are cutting alot of weight, the parents are only concerned with wins and losses. As coaches we can monitor and make rules about cutting weight in our clubs, but the bottom line is, parents will find a way around it. They will switch clubs or cut the kid all week so the coach doesnt know they are pulling. Educated parents and coaches are the answer, and unfortunately not all are.

i think the benefits that we would see from matside weigh in gives are:

- less yo-yo, binge and purge. i.e making weight friday at 70lbs/ stepping out on saturday at 80lbs. this CAN be a safety issue for both wrestlers, the one cutting shouldn't be cutting so drastic/ then packing it back on, and the wrestler who actually weighs 70lbs, is giving up over 10percent of his body weight to the other wrester.

matside weigh ins certainly won't stop ALL of such cases, but WE ALL know it would help some.

- education/ nutrition. those parents/coaches/ clubs who practice the above mentioned weight loss programs, would be forced to become more educated in weight loss/ nutrition/ and health benefits/ concerns. as BADBO stated the first couple of times those WHO ARE concerned more about win and losses would SEE THE EFFECT THAT DRASTIC WEIGHT CUTTING CAN DO TO PERFORMANCE, AND ESPECIALLY HEALTH.

The High-Schooler's really see it when it gets down to the "Regional/State" grind as they have to weigh make weight again at the end of their competitive days.

Nutrition & Hydration is so vitally important in this Sport. (ok-story time) During Tulsa Nationals we stayed at the Host Hotel in which we checked in ~~2:30 and amazingly watched two kids go back & forth from the dry heat (sauna) room to the steam room....all the while the parent was outside making sure the kid was physically exerting themselves. This occurred for well over an hour one child's face was so beet red it was harsh to watch knowing what was going on. After the kids left our kids went into the "dry room" (sauna) and couldn't stay due to the fetid smell. Of course them being kids they also went into the true steam room and "couldn't breathe". This reality awareness as they cannon balled in the pool and played as kids do was noticed (by our boys) & the duress the kids of their age ~~9/10 were encountering by their parents. I think if the parent was inside with their kids exercising within the environment I would see this differently/perhaps.

We all just need to have fun & wrestle--encouraging our boys & girls to truly enjoy this tough sport!

MAT SIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, some will continue to cut the weight and continue to try to keep it off. But, after a while Mom and Dad will get tired of little Johnny crying all day because he can't have a drink or some candy. They will also get tired of driving to a tournament to have their kid not make weight because he/she got a drink when they weren't looking or snuck that candy bar into the car.

I don't feel there is a "perfect way" to fix the weight cutting. Some times it is just a fact of Life. On the national level i have been told by tournament directors that it would over time reduce their number of entries. This would be caused by some of the kids at the national level have success from cutting HUGE amounts of weight.

I HAVE been to 2 tournaments that were mat side weigh in. Great tournaments. Ran quickly and smoothly. Each tournament was in Colorado. Small freestyle tournaments. You sent in your entry, showed up and wrestled. Seen kids not make weight. Parents asked them why they ate this or drank that.

JMO

I would have no problem trying it at Ark City next year. Give me some ideas how it is set up.

Main thing is having the scales at each mat!
Second is setting an allowance for shoes, singlet and headgear. Possibly even a .5 allowance.

call me
316.633.3230

I guess I need to go give my parents a big hug cause when i wrestled in kids i didnt even know what cutting weight was. Thanks Mom, thanks Dad. Now trying to pass that on to my son. We started the season at 49,second tourny did not make 49, I bumped him to 52, and will keep him there. He can even eat breakfast before weigh in if HE wants to. (P.S.,not sure if my rookie wrestling parents knew what cutting weight was either!)

A few years ago my son weighed just over 100 and wrestled one 110.
He walked into a morning weigh in with a bag of powdered donuts and chocolate milk.
They way the kids looked at him...
We are a little more considerate these days!

hey BLT, were they looking at him or the donuts and milk?