I'm going to put my 2 cent's in here even though I'm new and this thread has been dead for a bit.

Novice tournaments are not a bad thing. My 5 year old who is in his second year of wrestling but 1st year of actively participating in tournaments as he only did 1 tournament last year which was at his home club. But at the end of this year will have done 7 is still a novice. I have to say that since he has done novice tournaments he has improved. He went to the OCWKC Novice tournament and realized that his matches were suppose to be somewhat longer then a few seconds. He also has realized that he needs to push himself and try not just lay there on his back which he did at his open tournaments because he was against opponents that already had things click for him. Then last Sunday he went to Silver Lake Novice/Open and actually made his first pin.

Since he has such a hard time at opens, does this mean he won't be in open tournaments? No! He actually enjoys himself and comes off the mat smiling. I don't want to watch my son get whooped on every time he's in a tournament but I do know he needs that experience. If it was a fact that he didn't seem to enjoy himself then we would have to re look at his options and reevaluate the wrestling option for him. Novice tournaments are a great thing for our kids but does need a limit on when the kids can enter them.

In all honesty I'd love to see my son get into a novice tournament next year but then again he may not need it. I need to keep an eye on him and just see how he does these next two tournaments and what ever tournaments he does next year and talk to his coaches. But have a feeling the club will tell me no they won't allow him in a novice tournament, which is fine. And after next year if he decides he wants to wrestle and continue he won't be doing novice he will have 2 good years of experience under his belt besides practice under his belt. And in all honest if he had his way he'd do every tournament he could sign up for if we would let him but I don't want him to get burned out.

Please don't take me as a medal or trophy hunter because I'm not. I would rather see my son earn his medals and have something to be proud of then be given them just because he participated. And I have been know to say in front of him that he has earned a medal and trophy by default because he didn't win any of his matches. But when he won his 3rd place at his last tournament I told him he actually earned it. And I was very proud of him. Right now his reward for trying is a shirt which will be ending in a couple of years also because I want him to understand that he's there to try not just to get a shirt for participating. To some of you I probably spoil him that way but for now that is a way for him to at least not come home empty handed and he will still be able to have something from that tournament to look at later.

As far as those that want to go to a Novice so their kids can get 1st place or what ever then that's just not fair to the kids that actually need to be there to get some experience and be against someone that is on their own level. To me novice tournaments should be for kids that are against kids that are on their own level. If my son was known for getting 3rd or better on his own accord in an open tournament then I would have rethought entering him in novice tournaments. There would be no reason he would need the experience he gets from novice tournaments.

Sorry for my long response but I felt that since this is also my second year of dealing with wrestling that my opinion needed to be heard. In all honesty I feel that the 2 novice tournaments have helped things click for him. He has learned that one he needs to not give up just because he's on his back, two that a match is suppose to last longer then just a few seconds and last that yes he can win a match if he tries hard enough. And I have one more thing to add, my son's second match his opponent may have been at an unfair disadvantage but that was not my intentions but then again I've seen a new wrestler pin my son also so it all depends on the wrestler.