OldSchool712

I do understand your logic as well but again you are apparently large school and think small school is demeaning the big school title. Guaranteed most of these large schools are not coached by a PE teacher that is only coaching wrestling because the administrators told him he had to coach something. They are hired and payed to coach. They have money for weight rooms and training facilities. This is not the kids fault. He is performing at the top of his abilities with the opportunity he is given. You wouldn’t think someone can do calculus just because they had a basic math class freshman year. It is about opportunity. I don’t think having divisions hurts the competition. Even college has divisions based on sizes D1, D2, D3. It doesn’t make it any less of an accomplishment. Once again it is about getting kids involved. You said we should teach kids to compete for jobs and colleges but you wouldn’t expect them to perform well if they weren’t prepared. My whole argument is that getting kids involved in the sport is the important thing. You obviously do not feel the same. My kid has wrestled in both big and small school and performed well in both but that is because I do have the means to get the additional training and support. Not all schools or kids are that lucky. No not everyone deserves a trophy but let’s at least let the little guy know he can compete. Once again i think we need to grow the sport not egos.

I see this a totally different way because I think promoting the sport is much more important than having one state champ. Mainly because I love the sport and I think it build a tremendous amount of character and discipline if done correctly. Small schools don’t have the resources that large schools have nor do they have the population. Where small schools wrestle who they have in the weight classes, I know some of the larger schools may have 3 or more in each weight class. That is a distinct advantage to be able to train with a group close to the same weight as you. Not just one partner but multiple. It makes a difference. The small rural public schools also don’t recruit(which is a TSSAA violation but a lot still of schools still do it) . I know this is true because my cousin received an out of district scholarship to attend a neighboring school district. It just so happened she was a phenomenal softball player. Her brother was just an average athlete and still goes to the school in their district. Small schools usually don’t have the facilities or coaching staff to wow likely athletes to come there. A lot of the kids that wrestle for some of these schools have never even been to a class on the campus(virtual classes). High School sports used to be just that but now it is no different than college or pro. People are getting recruited to say they attend just so the school can brag about how good they are. Most of the small school athletes play multiple sports, not because they are trying to be superstars but because there aren’t enough athletes to play just one sport. If you want to kill participation in the sport instead of promoting it and promoting the love of it then have these small schools that may have 900 students total try to compete with schools that have 3000 students. Then there is the monetary issue. Most of these rural school districts are economically disadvantaged. The students do not have parents with the means for camps, private lessons, personal trainers, and nutritionist. I think it is awesome if some do because it will improve that kid tremendously but let’s not forget this is a school sport and the kids that fall in love with it will get more of their peers involved and grow the sport. I guess my point is what is the goal to grow the sport or to establish bragging rights?