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TN 8th grader wins NCAA college open


durdon
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Cody Chittum the TN 8th grader who won D2 state last year for McCallie in his first 8th grade year won the Nuway College Open in Lexington, Ky at 133 pounds.  Cody bracket was no joke either as he had to beat a NAIA AA who finished 4th at NAIA Nationals last year in the semis.  He won that match 9-2. Chittum is going to Blair next year before you ask.  

Ok, serious question.  Has any TN middle schooler or High schooler in our history ever won a college open tourney before?   

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49 minutes ago, Hamblin said:

How many 8th grade years does one get?

If this was Alabama or MS I would say 3-4, but I guess some people like their 19 year old to just be graduating high school as long as it's for wrestling purposes. I love wrestling but never has or would any sport take precedence over schooling. Of course right now my senior could have graduated as a junior but is taking some college DE classes instead so he can graduate with his high school class in May.

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3 minutes ago, cobrakid8 said:

If this was Alabama or MS I would say 3-4, but I guess some people like their 19 year old to just be graduating high school as long as it's for wrestling purposes. I love wrestling but never has or would any sport take precedence over schooling. Of course right now my senior could have graduated as a junior but is taking some college DE classes instead so he can graduate with his high school class in May.

You can have as many repeat MS or EL years as you want.  Their is an 8 semester rule that you have to complete consecutively once you start HS nationwide.  Every state has different rules as to how old you can be to compete in athletics.  In TN, the rule is you can’t turn 19 before Aug 1st of your senior year.  TN also has a rule that if you repeat 7th or 8th grade that you are not allowed to compete in MS or HS sports. 

Close to 1/5th of all HS kids in TN, will turn 19 in HS or before they enter college and the vast majority of those kids are not being held back for athletic reasons.  There is significant research showing that some children especially boys mature socially and acedmically later than other kids so elementary schools, doctors, and therapists are starting to encourage the late bloomers to start school later or to repeat a grade early on.  

Now the majority of kids in TN that repeat in 8th grade are doing it mainly for athletic reasons but I would argue that repeating 8th grade is in most cases the best thing for most of those kids both academically and socially.  The homeschooling program that most of the wrestling kids take when they repeat 8th grade is a very crueling program with heavy emphasis on developing the skills needed to prepare them for Act/sat and to excel in HS  Academically.  Basically,  these kids are spending an entire year taking an extremely intensive Act/Sat prep course which the company that offers this program makes the claim that it will increase ACT scores 3-5 points which is massive.  They also claim that they have a large percentage of kid that are using their program as they repeat 8th grade soley for acedmic reasons and not for athletics.  

Bottomline is that what is best for each kid is different.

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1 hour ago, durdon said:

You can have as many repeat MS or EL years as you want.  Their is an 8 semester rule that you have to complete consecutively once you start HS nationwide.  Every state has different rules as to how old you can be to compete in athletics.  In TN, the rule is you can’t turn 19 before Aug 1st of your senior year.  TN also has a rule that if you repeat 7th or 8th grade that you are not allowed to compete in MS or HS sports. 

Close to 1/5th of all HS kids in TN, will turn 19 in HS or before they enter college and the vast majority of those kids are not being held back for athletic reasons.  There is significant research showing that some children especially boys mature socially and acedmically later than other kids so elementary schools, doctors, and therapists are starting to encourage the late bloomers to start school later or to repeat a grade early on.  

Now the majority of kids in TN that repeat in 8th grade are doing it mainly for athletic reasons but I would argue that repeating 8th grade is in most cases the best thing for most of those kids both academically and socially.  The homeschooling program that most of the wrestling kids take when they repeat 8th grade is a very crueling program with heavy emphasis on developing the skills needed to prepare them for Act/sat and to excel in HS  Academically.  Basically,  these kids are spending an entire year taking an extremely intensive Act/Sat prep course which the company that offers this program makes the claim that it will increase ACT scores 3-5 points which is massive.  They also claim that they have a large percentage of kid that are using their program as they repeat 8th grade soley for acedmic reasons and not for athletics.  

Bottomline is that what is best for each kid is different.

Most of that 1/5 that graduate at 19 are because they failed a grade and were not held back. That is a much smaller population and a lot of those are because of athletics! Most of the time this isn’t what is best for little Johnny but what’s best for the parents to say little Johnny is a badass in a sport. Since Cody went to McCallie already I am pretty sure he did fairly well in grades and he is being held back right now because Blair doesn’t have an opening for him as a starter so it would be a year spent as a JV wrestler. I graduated at age 17 and was in college at that age also, I think back many times to what more I could have accomplished if my parents held me back a year. The added weight training and work on technique as well as added maturity, but they didn’t and it allowed me to grow more in college. We also did a 3 month program with my oldest with ACT. Went from a 26 to a 31couldnt imagine needing a year of prep, would just end in him burning out, but alas I guess my teaching has clouded some to what parents will do to their children so much as for their children. I guess it’s good my oldest is terrible at sports and just good at academics so I don’t have to worry about it but my youngest is a great  soccer player and good academically so he will just stay where he is at and I won’t worry about how far sports will take him as long as he has fun with it!

Good luck to Cody and my opinion doesn’t mean a thing for him and his life!

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2 hours ago, cbg said:

Congratulations to Cody.  Winning any college tournament while in middle school or high school is a major accomplishment.

cbg,  you are the king of understatement :).  Winning any college tournament is a major accomplishment.  Winning one as a high schooler is rare and exceptional.  Winning one as a middle schooler is virtually unheard of.  

cbg:  " Sending that rover to Mars?  Yeah that's kinda cool."    

 

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