7 p.m. CST tonight on YouTube: Matt Hart, Dylan Villers, and Madison Newbern on Power Hour Podcast!

[TNUSAWrestling]

7 p.m. CST tonight on YouTube: Matt Hart, Dylan Villers, and Madison Newbern on Power Hour Podcast!

This week's Power Hour Podcast with TNUSAW State Chairman Mike Hatcher and NAIA National Champion co-host Kenya Sloan features a recap of another very competitive weekend in the state of Tennessee, as well as the Ironman Tournament in Ohio!

Special guests this week will be Baylor's Matt Hart, McCallie's Dylan Villers and Madison Newbern of Riverdale.

Hart placed 7th at the prestigious Walsh Ironman last weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. The Ironman is widely considered the toughest high school tournament of the season!

Eighth grade sensation Dylan Villers took home the 126lb. title at last weekend's McCallie Invitational, helping his team win the team championship as well!

Madison Newbern was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year and was told she'd never wrestle again. Fast forward four months and she was back on the mat, placing 5th at last year's TSSAA State Championships! Be sure to tune in for an outstanding episode!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl4L6z2Cen4

[KidGloves]

Is it a big enough accomplishment to call him a sensation when he’s a holdback? He’s not a real 8th grader. Heck of a wrestler. Just not a real 8th grader. 

 

[matpitts81]

2 hours ago, KidGloves said:

Is it a big enough accomplishment to call him a sensation when he’s a holdback? He’s not a real 8th grader. Heck of a wrestler. Just not a real 8th grader. 

 

Call him what you want, but he's currently in 8th grade and 14 years old.  Held back in 1st grade for reasons not associated with wrestling.  

[littlejohnny]

3 hours ago, KidGloves said:

Is it a big enough accomplishment to call him a sensation when he’s a holdback? He’s not a real 8th grader. Heck of a wrestler. Just not a real 8th grader. 

 

Pretty weak Kidgloves. You sound jealous. Did Villars beat your kid or something?

[KidGloves]

And Ledbetter? And Williams? Held back for reasons not related to wrestling as well? 

[littlejohnny]

1 minute ago, KidGloves said:

And Ledbetter? And Williams? Held back for reasons not related to wrestling as well? 

What a hater... take your spite and jealousy somewhere else. 

[KidGloves]

33 minutes ago, littlejohnny said:

What a hater... take your spite and jealousy somewhere else. 

I think im happy to stay here. Thanks though. 

[KidGloves]

36 minutes ago, littlejohnny said:

Pretty weak Kidgloves. You sound jealous. Did Villars beat your kid or something?

Not at all. Not jealous one bit and I don’t take anything away from him on the mat. He’s a stud. 
 

He’s just not a true 8th grader. Everyone wants to paint these reclassified kids as something they’re not. We all see the posts. “Our 8th graders wrestling high schoolers” et al. The problem is that they’re not true 8th graders, are they? Jaxon Lane is, so to me, he stands out, but the rest are doing what they should be doing because they’re supposed to be HS kids anyway. 

i know, I’m the jerk for pointing it out. Here comes all the vitriol because how dare I say the truth. 

[cobrakid8]

1 hour ago, KidGloves said:

Not at all. Not jealous one bit and I don’t take anything away from him on the mat. He’s a stud. 
 

He’s just not a true 8th grader. Everyone wants to paint these reclassified kids as something they’re not. We all see the posts. “Our 8th graders wrestling high schoolers” et al. The problem is that they’re not true 8th graders, are they? Jaxon Lane is, so to me, he stands out, but the rest are doing what they should be doing because they’re supposed to be HS kids anyway. 

i know, I’m the jerk for pointing it out. Here comes all the vitriol because how dare I say the truth. 

I usually don’t agree with the holdbacks but Villers comes from a great family and he was held back all the way in the 1st grade, this isn’t like going into middle school and taking 4 years to finish 6th, 7th and 8th like some of these kids are doing just because of sports. 

[KidGloves]

17 minutes ago, cobrakid8 said:

I usually don’t agree with the holdbacks but Villers comes from a great family and he was held back all the way in the 1st grade, this isn’t like going into middle school and taking 4 years to finish 6th, 7th and 8th like some of these kids are doing just because of sports. 

4 years? Some take 5. I know of at least 2 that will be driving prior to their freshmen years.

I don’t know the particulars in Villers’ case so I defer to the greater wisdom of this board if for no other reason than to avoid being lynched, but there are several others out there, and we all know who they are, that are paraded around as 8th graders who aren’t. Period. heck, some of the 8th graders aren’t even true 9th graders, but we are all supposed to play along and be real proud of them. How courageous. 8th graders wresting those big bad HS wrestlers.

I’ll even go as far as Chittum, *gasp* not the sacred cow of Tennessee *gasp*  we all watched him in that Iowa v Iowa St dual. The “true freshmen” phenom. Only, he was probably older than the Iowa kid. Too close to home? Ok  

Bo Bassett is a 17 year old. In a lot of cases, he’s college age. But the headlines are HS Sophomore beats Ranked college wrestler. Well, he’s college age. But we are supposed to play along.

Look, these are the rules of the game we all play, and I get that. I think it’s dumb. That’s my personal opinion, however until there is a rule against it, it is what it is. That being said, let’s just not paint it up as something it isn’t. Most of these 8th grade kids aren’t 8th graders. They’re HS aged kids on a victory lap in MS. Call it like it is. More folks will respect it that way. 

[cbg]

2 hours ago, KidGloves said:

Not at all. Not jealous one bit and I don’t take anything away from him on the mat. He’s a stud. 
 

He’s just not a true 8th grader. Everyone wants to paint these reclassified kids as something they’re not. We all see the posts. “Our 8th graders wrestling high schoolers” et al. The problem is that they’re not true 8th graders, are they? Jaxon Lane is, so to me, he stands out, but the rest are doing what they should be doing because they’re supposed to be HS kids anyway. 

i know, I’m the jerk for pointing it out. Here comes all the vitriol because how dare I say the truth. 

What is the correct age for true 8th graders?  In the past I have known two different heads of private schools that would not admit 90% of 5 year old boys to kindergarten. She said that the vast majority of young boys were not ready to sit at a desk and take academic instruction from a teacher at five years of age.  BTW, these ladies were at K-6 schools so it absolutely had nothing to do with athletics.  As someone that began college at 17, I can say unequivocally that I was much too young and immature to be a college student/athlete.  I was 17 and we had a 20 year old freshman on the team.  There is a big difference between 17 and 20.

[cobrakid8]

19 minutes ago, cbg said:

What is the correct age for true 8th graders?  In the past I have known two different heads of private schools that would not admit 90% of 5 year old boys to kindergarten. She said that the vast majority of young boys were not ready to sit at a desk and take academic instruction from a teacher at five years of age.  BTW, these ladies were at K-6 schools so it absolutely had nothing to do with athletics.  As someone that began college at 17, I can say unequivocally that I was much too young and immature to be a college student/athlete.  I was 17 and we had a 20 year old freshman on the team.  There is a big difference between 17 and 20.

At that point it’s pretty simple, don’t send your kids at that age to private school lol. I started at 4 because of my birthday, my son is a 9th grader and turns 15 Monday, he’s about average for his classmates as far as age. My 22 year old was about the same with his classmates turning 18 in February of his senior year. So that is about average for a 9th grader being 14 when starting and turning 15 during the school year. Should graduate while 17/18 years old, held back because of either bad grades or maybe issues like autism(2 of my nephews were). As far as that headmaster, how about we just make kids not learn till they turn 8-9 and let them graduate at 21(boys only) since males brains don’t usually fully develop until 21 while females are further ahead.