Western Kansas went to the early season several years ago. It has absolutely toughened up the middle school programs. Almost all of the good middle school kids now participate for their respective school teams. Our middle school tournaments are much tougher than they were before the change, when many of the best kids chose to wrestle with their clubs during the late season.

I pushed very hard for this change for several reasons. We have had this conversation before, but I feel that TEAM should take precedence over individual success. With the early season, we have very little conflict with our more advanced kids wanting to wrestle the tougher kids tournaments before Christmas. Our team is not split, and I feel that is a very important aspect of building a wrestling program. The kids who want, have the opportunity to extend their season with their clubs and hit the big tournaments. Some of the smaller NW Kansas schools still go after Christmas, and I can assume that they have difficulty setting up a MS schedule. I understand that they may be moving their seasons to the early season, which will toughen up our tournaments a lot when you bring in some good kids from Hoxie, St. Francis and Norton, for example.

From an administrative stand point, kids who want to play BB can join those sports after Christmas. Girls BB plays before Christmas, during wrestling season. It works well. Academically, we all know of kids who wrestle for clubs when they would be unable to for their school because of ineligibility. That's another positive.

There are no negatives to the early season as I see it. It builds a team concept for MS wrestling and toughens those teams while allowing those more advanced kids to move on after Christmas. It does not hurt basketball. It allows the smaller wrestling schools to use their coaches more effectively as high school and middle school coaches. It's a win win.

Rick Cue
Ulysses