Mr. McCarthy,

Not entirely sure what the 2002 6A KSHSAA High School Championships has to do with this topic.

My original inquiry was simply a question. Trust me, it wasn't an attack by any means, even though some seem to think that. I've been involved with KS wrestling in some way or another since 1992 (not very long, but long enough). I wasn't trying to discredit anything that you've done for this sport, at the state or national level. I've obviously never met you, nor have I been involved with the "board" enough to know the behind-the-scenes details of your involvement.

I was just curious what team (club/HS/collegiate) has had the "system" implemented within it that you were/are affiliated with and what the results were? I assume that during your time coaching that you followed the guidelines put forth by the ADM (or something similar if it was before it had been presented) and I was curious as to how it resulted. Short term? Long term? Is it still in place in that club?

I know there's studies of this team and that team, this sport and that sport, across the entire country that show the system being used. I'm not knocking it at all. I was just wondering what the results have been in the past on a more "local" level.

Statistics don't lie. There is obviously a drop in numbers (across all sports) throughout the entire country. This I will not argue, but I believe there are a number of factors affecting this, not just kids being coached to a "high" level at too young of an age, or kids competing too much in a particular sport and getting "burnt out". Not saying that these factors don't come into play here and there.

There were 162 teams represented at this year's Kid's Folkstyle State Championships. Tons of different opinions on youth wrestling and how wrestlers should be brought up. Within our district alone, you can see a huge gap between how the clubs are ran. I'm not saying ours is right and theirs is wrong. We can all agree that it should be "fun"... but one child's definition of fun can be much different than another's. Where do you draw the line?

I've been with the Maize Wrestling Club for 8 years now and we have had very little turnover during that time, with 60-80 kids in our room each year. We have moved to a 3-room system the past few years to keep the intensity levels separate, and it seems to work very well. Again, not saying that we are doing everything right as there's always room for improvement in any aspect of life.

Derek Patterson