Richard, I to believe that rules should be followed and we are in complete agreement with that. I also believe that when possible that rules should be changed if it is to benefit the sport and the kids in the sport. In the case where there are not enough kids to fill a bracket we can make a fairly safe assumption that those very kids are going through the season without many matches. I firmly believe that rules are intended to encourage and allow for a fair playing field. When you have smaller or heavier kids that receive half of the matches then we need to allow for additional mat time to encourage the kid to become a better wrestler. When a wrestler can not wrestle more than one division to get more mat time I believe that rules need to be looked at to allow for that option during the regular season. My son is smaller, and unless we wrestle in Oklahoma tournaments at the beginning of the year he never gets to wrestle more than 3 matches at any tournament and many times he will only get one. That is unless weights are combined then he might get three. I honestly don’t think that we had more than three matches all year, in our division outside of nationals unless there was combined weights.

We all know that mat time, in competition mode makes better wrestlers. I agree that the rule needs to be followed but in weights and divisions where the brackets are not filled, what harm is there in making a rule change, through proper methods, to allow more kids to wrestle so they can obtain more experience, especially at a state tournament? It is not as if we are advocating for more wrestlers, just a full bracket or opportunities for our children to get the same amount of experience wrestling, as do other kids. Yet, because of the size God made them, they are punished or forced to gain or loose weight and become something they are not. I have appreciated your posts over the time I have been here and find myself usually agreeing with you. On this matter, I agree, but I also believe that rules need to be changed when not providing the best opportunity for all of our kids, whether they are heavyweights or lightweights.