Beeson, let me ask this question, Is the club about the kids or the school? To sportsfan 02, my own children have a very easy time in the class room, maybe this is because my wife and I are both college educated professionals, who are able to provide an enviornment for our children that is very supportive of their academic endeavors. However, last year on my JH team I had a young man who was very talented on the track, but wasn't able to maintain the academic standards to remain elgible. I did allow him to participate in my summer program, he qualified for the AAU nationals in New Orleans. Because of that experience, he has put forth his best effort in the classroom this year, and I am happy to say he has made the honor roll in two of the three nine-week quarters. So I believe my answer to your question is yes, I do believe that a child deserves a chance to wrestle club, regardless of their academic progress. Who knows? It might be the one bright spot in a young persons life, and who are you or I to take that away from them?

The situation you describe is a bit different than what we would have in wrestling. Wrestling of course runs concurrently in both middle schools and clubs. Our club has a policy that if the middle school season is in progress our wrestlers must be attached to the school team. This prevents not only ineligible wrestlers but those who might have differences with a coach, from being involved with the club until such time as the middle school season ends.
As to your example of how your policy worked in this one particular case I would simply ask you, why then do we have academic eligibilty requirements at all in the schools?

I would say the club is about the kids. Teaching them about responsibility, consequences, and discipline is or should be the main goal. The student needs to be responsible and disciplined to keep their grades up. If they can not do that,
the consequence is, they can not wrestle. There is no special treatment,no second chances, just because a student athlete is talented. This lesson would be better learned at 12 or 13 instead of 17 or 18, or worse yet when their college coach is through with them and they don't have a degree. Without the student there is no student athlete. Again, I have to agree with sportsfan02. The situation is different in wrestling because they run at the same time. I'm curious you keep speaking of TRACK, have you had any dealings with the WRESTLING aspect of this? Believe it or not for alot of wrestlers, parents, and clubs this really is a difficult situation.

Beeson; Yes, I am in my 13th year of coaching with the kids wrestling program. When I gave you my opinions as a Junior High (middle school) coach it is in the sport of T&F, I do not coach Jh wrestling. I also have a unique perspective of this situation (Independent vs. Club), My 13 year old decided to start this year as an Independent wrestler, after 5 years with his club. I applied for his card through Kathy Juby, and he spent the first two months of the season practicing with whatever club we could find. After that period, he decided to join one of the clubs that he visited, recieved some excellent coaching, and had a great year. To sportsfan02 and Beeson; judging from your previous post on this board, you both seem like very caring and supportive parents. The whole point of my post on this subject is to help you to understand that not everyone has the support staff that your kids do. Without revealing to much more about this young man, I'll let you know, he has both parents out of his life, is raised by his Grand-Mother, and she has many medical problems. So once again do I believe in giving a kid like this an opportunity, regardless of what the establishment says? YES! Also, our T&F club season is currently in swing along with my JH & HS seasons, so the situation is not unique to wrestling. I feel like you have raised some very valid concerns on this subject and we could probably debate this subject for months, I just wan't everyone to understand, not all situations are the same.

There is nothing to prevent a wrestler from just going to another club if they really do not want to wrestle Middle School, but do want to wrestle club. Personally, it was one bad experience with the Middle School wrestling team that caused my son to quit wrestling completely after five very strong years in club. I sometimes wonder if I should have just let him continue in the local club last year and let the "problem" at our Middle School program go away, as it did this year.

I think it all depends on the individual kids skill level, interest, and his goals. My kids have dealt with this issue before, and they decided not to wrestle middle school in their last year of middle school because they felt bored, unchallenged, and actually felt as if they would not advance in the sport by wrestling middle school. I was very supportive of their decision and offered an alternative season involving practicing at different clubs as well as working with them individually and competing at competitive tournaments. Well the decision was the best decision that could have been made for their particular situation, as the following year they were well ahead of their rivals when they stepped on the mat and wrestled them in high school.

Again, this is possible when a child has someone that can take him to various clubs and places to practice, as well as take him to selected competitive tournaments. Not all situations are the same, nor not all kids are afforded the same opportunities. But if a highly talented kid who does not feel challenged in middle school wrestling has the opportunity to continue to grow technically and competitively, and has the support of a parent, coach, brother, or other mentor, then yes, I would recommend him to skip middle school wrestling and take a different route if that means he will be happier and experience a more enjoyable wrestling experience.