"I keep reading about costs... what doesn't cost money when speaking of kid's sports?"

All of us are willing to pay the price or else we wouldn't be here. It's the ones that aren't here that we are worried about. Those people who look at other sports that pay a one time fee of say $50.00 for the season. You cannot compare such things as traveling teams because those are basically all-star teams where participation is generally at the pleasure of a coach or sponsor. Parents of traveling team members know the cost going in or in some cases have those costs paid by sponsorships. In our area, wrestling is treated more like a recreational league and is by far the most expensive of all. Thus, when a parent that doesn't have a previous love and devotion for our sport starts looking into signing their child up for a winter activity the options are these:

1. Both sports have nearly identical up front sign-up fees. But one has recurring fees throughout the season.
2. One has special equipment costs where the other has none.
3. Both practice several times a week up till the season starts then one is likely not to practice again. One's season is half as long as the other.
4. One travels to other cities while the other plays most if not all games in the same city.
5. One is gone for a couple of hours on Saturday while the other may spend all day in a hot over-crowded gym.
6. One gym has stands filled with parents cheering on their team and child while the other has a floor filled with parents/coaches yelling at referees.

You don't need to preach the values and virtues of wrestling to us. We are the believers. But as numbers continue to drop you have to concern yourself with the question, will there eventually be nobody across the mat for my child/grandchild to wrestle?