The Sorry State of Wrestling Today

Chief · February 14, 2015, 12:34:32 PM

There are 16 regionals (poss. 128 teams) being held in Wisconsin D1 wrestling today. Only appx 30 teams are starting with a full (14 man) lineup. These numbers are so depressing that I did not check on D2 and D3. It is not hard to look at each region and see who will be wrestling for a trip to team state.

Recon · February 14, 2015, 12:57:53 PM

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/nyregion/in-new-york-uzbek-immigrants-invigorate-high-school-wrestling.html

Maybe we need some Uzbeks.

bigG · February 14, 2015, 01:48:11 PM

Where I live, I see the Latino population receptive to rasslin'. Got a few thin years coming; but we usually come back strong.

ramjet · February 14, 2015, 06:11:45 PM

Well we can only blame ourselves for years we gave trophys for just showing up. We did celebrate and encourage strong work ethic then celebrate the achievements of those who took the bull by the horns. but then turned around and soft pedaled what it takes to be a wrestler.

Heck these days Parents worry about themselves instead of being Parents and supporting and pushing a kid a little to try wrestling. Easier for some to say they do not like the singlets and blah blah blah blah when if you really dig deep they just cannot handle loosing or taking the hard work to get better and not get pounded on. Those who do get credit from me win loose or draw. They should get accolades , encouragement for working every night and getting after it and for sacrifice. They should not get pass when it gets tough and mommy or daddy say "yea it's tough if you want to quit we do not blame you".

You know something every year I see these countless threads about why kids do not wrestle. Well I hate to tell you but a lack of pride, work ethic and the concept of "earning the trophy" has been watered down and could be lost it is encourage by the behaviour of parents and adults.

Wake up Wrestling his tough to be good and compete you have to sacrifice and work you're tail off you have be able to embrace defeat and self assess to get better. You darn right it's not easy. you better believe nobody is going to hand you a trophy you have work hard and have the commitment sacrifice and work hard to win that trophy.

The question we should ask is this; Do you have the drive, work ethic and commitment to be a wrestler. If not get out of our room!

CrossAnkle · February 14, 2015, 06:42:56 PM

Quote from: Chief on February 14, 2015, 12:34:32 PM
There are 16 regionals (poss. 128 teams) being held in Wisconsin D1 wrestling today. Only appx 30 teams are starting with a full (14 man) lineup. These numbers are so depressing that I did not check on D2 and D3. It is not hard to look at each region and see who will be wrestling for a trip to team state.

This has been no different for the past 10-15 years. We rarely have teams at our regional that have a full squad!

farmerbk · February 14, 2015, 07:14:23 PM

I'm not sure one has anything to do with the other and I'm sure this also gets brought up every year-but I would be all for no divisions for individual state. Qualify 32 in each weight and place to 8th. The logistics might be tough to work out-especially since the team state would almost certainly still have to have divisions but it would make qualifying for state more of an accomplishment, placing extremely tough and meaningful and give us a true state champ. Not to mention some of the matches would be unreal and the competition fierce. I was watching some old state finals matches when their were no divisions or classes and it was pretty intense (even though wrestling has clearly advanced since then).
It may not encourage more participation-in fact it may have the opposite effect-but the brackets wouldn't be watered down and those that would wrestle would be the right type of hard working kids that don't expect a trophy for showing up. Again, maybe it's not realistic logistically but a guy can dream!

philschanen123abc · February 14, 2015, 07:26:07 PM

Ram, I have no idea who you are but I think you have some connections with Random Lake which neighbored my high school. Please do not be offended ... only food for thought ...

dedication, determination, focus, concentration ...

postponing or excluding banal things or banality which end up being sawdust in the wind

...all those things can be great.

A person could easily argue that those things are not the highest things or the most central things.

A person could easily argue that love is the most central thing and the highest thing. Love for one's family, classmates, community, coaches, friends, etc.

[not saying you are doing this] ... if a person attempts to make dedication, determination, focus and concentration the most central thing instead of love for one's family, classmates, community, coaches, friends, then it could be counterproductive.

Ghetto · February 14, 2015, 07:48:53 PM

Been saying it for years. Too many weights. Will argue this point after state. Let's focus on the kids who did dedicate their lives to being great in our sport

ramjet · February 14, 2015, 09:35:20 PM

Quote from: philschanen123abc on February 14, 2015, 07:26:07 PM
Ram, I have no idea who you are but I think you have some connections with Random Lake which neighbored my high school. Please do not be offended ... only food for thought ...

dedication, determination, focus, concentration ...

postponing or excluding banal things or banality which end up being sawdust in the wind

...all those things can be great.

A person could easily argue that those things are not the highest things or the most central things.

A person could easily argue that love is the most central thing and the highest thing. Love for one's family, classmates, community, coaches, friends, etc.

[not saying you are doing this] ... if a person attempts to make dedication, determination, focus and concentration the most central thing instead of love for one's family, classmates, community, coaches, friends, then it could be counterproductive.

NOPE not even close. Just tired of folks focusing on the negatives and making excuses for kids failing to have guts, family support, work ethic and dedication to want to wrestle. It's like we want to mould wrestling to the idea we should compromise our principles,hard work, commitment, team work, work within and what has made wrestling so great. It's like we want to bring more attention to those who do not instead of those WHO DO. I want to bring more attention to those who do they deserve the credit the accolades and the celebration.

billymurphy · February 15, 2015, 12:47:32 AM

Been saying it for years. Too many weights. Will argue this point after state. Let's focus on the kids who did dedicate their lives to being great in our sport.

I totally agree with this statement. Heck, a Big Ten team (Northwestern) has forfeited at least one weight every single match this season and in college there are only 10 weights to fill.
It makes no sense to me to have a 195, 220, and a heavyweight. A grown man weighs around 200. Even Apple Valley cannot fill top level guys
at all three of those giant man weights. I was reading what Iowa wrestling fans said about the 195 lbs bracket. They said there were only 5 guys in a 16 team tournament
in the 195 lbs weight.

maggie · February 15, 2015, 06:57:00 AM

could it be that 2 many parents are simply pushing there kids to participate to hard at such a young age that they simply loss interest or maybe the fact that more kids have to stay home and help out around the farm/house with chores or take care of there younger sisters and brothers because parents can't make ends meet or because of one parent or another is absence from the household, after all we do see a heck of a lot of that theses days..so maybe it's not that the kids aren't interested, it just might be the situation that there in in life at this time and are not able ...and yes, Money plays a bigger part in the successes of our sport that what most would like to believe...just saying...

imnofish · February 16, 2015, 08:58:33 AM

Quote from: Tews19 on February 16, 2015, 08:42:37 AM
Can't we all stop posting on the downfalls of wrestling and how the numbers are dropping? Let's enjoy the next two weeks of the best wrestling of the season........

I agree that we need to recognize and build upon the positives we see. Locally, I see some programs growing their middle school numbers rather quickly, which bodes well for the future. These tend to be programs that have been down for a while, so the pendulum still swings and every dog can have its day. As for the number of weight classes, has anyone considered that having more weight classes minimizes weight cutting, which is a positive development? Expanded opportunities are a good thing; let's focus on finding more ways to gain participants that will take advantage of them.

ramjet · February 16, 2015, 09:02:08 AM

Quote from: imnofish on February 16, 2015, 08:58:33 AM
Quote from: Tews19 on February 16, 2015, 08:42:37 AM
Can't we all stop posting on the downfalls of wrestling and how the numbers are dropping? Let's enjoy the next two weeks of the best wrestling of the season........

I agree that we need to recognize and build upon the positives we see. Locally, I see some programs growing their middle school numbers rather quickly, which bodes well for the future. These tend to be programs that have been down for a while, so the pendulum still swings and every dog can have its day. As for the number of weight classes, has anyone considered that having more weight classes minimizes weight cutting, which is a positive development? Expanded opportunities are a good thing; let's focus on finding more ways to gain participants that will take advantage of them.

Actually less weight classes will have and result in less cutting and encourage more JV opportunities.

More weight classes is an absurd suggestion.

RollTide · February 16, 2015, 09:19:34 AM

When I watch the state finals in Madison, I have a hard time agreeing that wrestling is in a sorry state. Sure, overall numbers are down, but the upper level competition is outstanding. It is reality that there are fewer kids willing to do what you have to in wrestling, but there are plenty that do. Wrestling is never going to be football or basketball in popularity, but who cares.

I realize that changes could be made to create more full rosters (perhaps more co-ops), but I'm not too worried.

imnofish · February 16, 2015, 09:26:06 AM

Quote from: ramjet on February 16, 2015, 09:02:08 AM
Quote from: imnofish on February 16, 2015, 08:58:33 AM
Quote from: Tews19 on February 16, 2015, 08:42:37 AM
Can't we all stop posting on the downfalls of wrestling and how the numbers are dropping? Let's enjoy the next two weeks of the best wrestling of the season........

I agree that we need to recognize and build upon the positives we see. Locally, I see some programs growing their middle school numbers rather quickly, which bodes well for the future. These tend to be programs that have been down for a while, so the pendulum still swings and every dog can have its day. As for the number of weight classes, has anyone considered that having more weight classes minimizes weight cutting, which is a positive development? Expanded opportunities are a good thing; let's focus on finding more ways to gain participants that will take advantage of them.

Actually less weight classes will have and result in less cutting and encourage more JV opportunities.

More weight classes is an absurd suggestion.

I'm not saying that we should have more. I'm saying that as long as we do, let's focus on finding ways to make the most of what we have. One thing that I have noticed is that I don't hear parents complaining about how much weight their kids are cutting, which does cast the sport in a more positive light among those without a wrestling background. That's an important consideration with so many newbies getting involved to fill those weight classes. Increasing participation numbers will increase opportunities, regardless of the number of weight classes. We have more control over that factor than we do the number of established weight classes. Yes, fewer classes would be better, IMO, but we need to effectively deal with current parameters, which will still yield benefits if/when that changes.