Are wrestlers today wrestling too many matches?

digimon · February 22, 2016, 09:19:17 AM

Too many

DocWrestling · February 22, 2016, 09:29:15 AM

I read an article a while ago written by a college baseball coach but can't find it now after a google search. I would love to find it again.

The coaches opinion that he was getting players into his program that had played more games than ever before through their youth and high school careers but he felt they were less competitive. All the games just kind of run together and are the same. The players do not learn to compete and get up for the big games or peak at the right time because they have played so many games.

This makes sense to me in wrestling as some D3 coaches told me they recruit (as a first priority) very good high school wrestlers that did not start wrestling until 5th grade and after. These wrestlers have a higher ceiling yet and most importantly their retention rate is much better (very important in D3 where numbers matter to keep the programs and coaches keeping their jobs). These wrestlers are more likely to wrestle in college all 4 years because they still have that competitiveness.

Now these are generalizations but make sense

littleguy301 · February 22, 2016, 09:18:35 PM

I read something like that also Doc.

I think it was written that everyone has 8 or so years in them and when do you want to start it.

Like I said I dont have a problem with the matches but what about fitting in some good hard practices.

ramjet · February 22, 2016, 09:53:17 PM

Doc I will affirm what you are saying my son started in 7th grade. He got hurt in FB so had to miss most of his 7th grade season then really stepped it up from 8th grade on. He is in his 3rd year in College still loves it. In fact said he is really going to miss it after next year.

lizard king · February 23, 2016, 07:38:09 AM

All of this depends on the kid. Coaches and parents need to understand this and know the kid. In the early 80's it was possible to get 100 matches a year counting out of season. My personal kids wrestled 100 out of season matches and 40-50 during the season, but we lived it. Kids I coached I didn't want to do that many because I wanted to keep them on the team, and they didn't live with me. They will be emotionally done at some point though, keep that in mind.

DocWrestling · February 23, 2016, 08:07:10 AM

The funny thing is that we are debating high school kids and 50 matches when many youth wrestlers get even more than that.

I just cannot understand in any circumstance how youth sports have come to a point where the seasons are longer than the high school seasons and they have even more competitions than high schoolers.

Why? I think it is because youth sports has become a big business and then there is parent fear that if they don't do it, their kids will fall behind, etc.

lizard king · February 23, 2016, 08:58:14 AM

Doc, you are correct about kids losing the competitiveness from too much wrestling. The problem is, to be really good, like good enough to be recruited, you need to have that mat time. Some kids are talented enough, but most need a lot of mat time. Then when they get the time and become that good, it is hard to stay mentally competitive. So what do you do?

imnofish · February 23, 2016, 09:04:10 AM

We love to say that it depends on the kid, but what a kid wants (or is convinced he wants) now does not accurately predict the future effects of wrestling that many matches. The cumulative physical and emotional effects will not be known for a long time. Is the risk really worth it? What critical childhood experiences are being lost, due to this extreme participation?

ramjet · February 23, 2016, 09:23:49 AM

These decisions should be made by the parents and thier kids not by any governing body.

If it's too much the kids will push back in a variety of ways.

To name a few;

Quit in High school from burnout.
Not even try and compete.
Loose interest.

Physical activity is a great thing for all kids intense competition may not be. But agin this decision a parent and the family have to make.

DocWrestling · February 23, 2016, 10:03:43 AM

Quote from: lizard king on February 23, 2016, 08:58:14 AM
Doc, you are correct about kids losing the competitiveness from too much wrestling. The problem is, to be really good, like good enough to be recruited, you need to have that mat time. Some kids are talented enough, but most need a lot of mat time. Then when they get the time and become that good, it is hard to stay mentally competitive. So what do you do?

I don't entirely disagree but it is mat time that is needed and that can be done I think better, more effectively, and in a more fun way through practice when done right.

The key is practice partners. You need to have a great practice partner. This is why the wrestling schools are helping WI wrestling as they often provide practice partners that are not available on a high school team. I agree you need to put the time in on the mat but from youth to high school the trend is towards more competitions and less practice.

Proposal that I have said should be done at the the youth level but could be done at the high school level...
Could a coach get 4-6 teams together and run a camp on a January Saturday where they have a 2 hour practice, lunch break and something fun, and then another 2 hour practice? Could they count that as an event? Probably would be more fun for all and would lead to more improvement for the wrestlers versus a tournament. A good wrestler might only get maybe 10 minutes of good wrestling at a tournament.

lizard king · February 23, 2016, 11:51:52 AM

The hard part about this is, as a coach I believe 100% that we need to concentrate on quality practice time and keeping things interesting (fun). I really do, but not with my own children. They did everything and much more including 100 matches in the off season. So I really have a hard time criticizing parents? I think the key is also the focus, if you focus on winning those out of season matches, or even make that important, that is where you lose. But, if you wrestle those matches and focus on learning, improving, trying different things, the pressure is off and so is a lot of the burn out.

DocWrestling · February 23, 2016, 12:32:32 PM

Too many parents/coaches just copy what others are doing and even try to do more thinking it will make them even better without actually thinking what is best for their kid and team. There will always be wrestlers that can do 50+ matches but those are in the minority and the problem is that the parents of the majority of other kids think then they have t do it also rather than create a path that is best for their team/child.

Then parents need to understand everyone is different and not lash out at each other. We don't need one parent berating another because they are doing too many matches or one parent telling another that their son will never be good because they don't go to a tournament every weekend. Every athlete is different