After Nationals

[TDArtist]

We've all done lots of griping (discussing?) about the Challenge Cup, who's tops in this or that region, the top 5 from the 90's, and everything else. BUT, how and what are we going to do to get our programs up to the level needed to compete at the elite tournaments? We all run summer programs but that's not getting us there.

[wrestlingfan]

I think we need to be as serious about year-round wrestling programs in the same manner that the folks who play football are. I think kids who want to wrestle should go to summer practices / workouts, get involved in the USA or AAU wrestling programs. We need to make it a priority to stay involved year-round, in some form or another. Only when we treat wrestling in that manner will we be able to see our kids wrestle top-notch teams successfully and be picked to attend colleges on wrestling scholarships. I think the talent is there, we just need to be more serious about it. I can just about guarantee you that the people who wrestled and won in Senior Nationals last week didn't take time off during the summer and rest when regular season was over.

[cbg]

It takes 4 things to have elite high school wrestling programs.

1. Good college programs with clubs that allow and encourage the college wrestlers to workout with the high school wrestlers. This will raise the intensity level of the high school wrestlers. Many of the high schools in PA will have an NCAA All-American helping coach and working out with the high school athletes.

 

2. Above average middle school and high school coaches.

 

3. Great athletes wrestling. (there is no substitute for this)

 

4. More wrestlers participating in the Summer programs. Tennessee needs to send a full Greco and Freestyle team to Fargo each year. The experience cannot be measured.

[CoachBruce]

when we talk about competing with Football, we have to know our competition and what we're up against.

 

in Tennessee (maybe more than anywhere but Texas) kids grow up wanting to play Football. thus, alot of kids don't figure out till late in the game that they're NOT going to play for UT...and that they're more suited for Wrestling.

 

I think it takes youth programs, and Lots of them. I also beleive that the Drastic Rise in youth programs over the past few years (think Cookeville and Murfreesboro) will start to Gradually pay dividends over the next Decade or so.

[PUMMELKING]

It most definitely must begin with getting more young coaches envolved into the programs. i believe that alot of the older coaches dont want to put the year round effort into it. granted that most of them have families to take care of and also may coach other sports as well. the younger coaches tend to lean more towards freestyle and greco because they have recently seen the results that those types of wrestling pay off.

[3MatRats]

For our kids to be competitive on a national level, they've got to start before middle school. We have got to come together and have year round programs for the elementary age kids. Three to four months FCI does not build your state champions and collegiate wrestlers.

 

Fortunately there are some people out there working to turn things around. Coach Blair at Brentwood and Coach Deaton from Ravenwood have agreed to provide freestyle instruction for the elementary/middle school wrestlers.

 

Beginning Monday, 4/7, in the BHS wrestling room, Coaches Blair and Deaton will teach freestyle techniques from 5:30-6:30. This session is open to all elementary & middle school wrestlers who obtain a USA Wrestlng card. The cost is $30.

 

For more information contact:

 

Stephanie Garrett

Franklin Wrestling Club

frwrestlingclub@aol.com

 

Also, Franklin Wrestling Club has an email database of nearly 200 area youth wrestlers. If you email us details on your summer wrestling camps and programs we will send them out to all our members.

[rcpatriot]

i'm in agreement about what should be done to bring our state to the national level. but, i don't believe that you are going to get many elementary or middle school kids to dedicate themselves to a year around wrestling program. heck, for the most part, you can't get your high school wrestlers to dedicate themselves for the whole year. especially during the summer! don't get me wrong, i'm in agreement that we need to push wrestling to the next level and get going into the same direction that baseball is,(spring, summer, and fall teams).

our team has been in existance for 5 years now. we have grown our club from 4 to 68. the majority of those being elementary kids. most of the "good" wrestlers are good athletes that play baseball and football. most moms and dads are not going to tell little johnny at age 9 that he needs to pick one sport and concentrate on that sport. me personally, my 9 yr old has been wrestling for 5 years and loves the sport, but he also loves baseball and football. which one is he going to have the best chance of getting a scholarship at? thats a crazy question to ask! i just hope that he continues to excell at what ever he does and when his sophmore year is done, we will take a better look at it.

sure, you may have a hand full of elementary and middle school kids that want to give up their other sports to wrestle year round. my guess is that you may lose some of them due to "burn-out" by the time they are in high school. so, whats the answer? keep building quality programs at the youth level, find a way to bring fci and aau together for better competition, and by all means, get more wrestling programs in colleges so those kids that do excell can be rewarded for the dedication and hard work.

just my thoughts! good luck to everyone!

rcpatriot

roane co. wrestling

[garyjkel]

I'll throw my .02 in to this discussion. I have heard it said, and I believe it to be true that "To be the best, you have to wrestle the best". In terms of sheer numbers, Tennessee is a small wrestling state now, so we have to go to where the best wrestlers are at. Most of the time, we don't have to go too far, for example the week after next AAU will hold the Elementary National Duals in Kingsport there will be teams from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina. Most of these states will send 2 teams. How many teams from Tennessee will there be: 1. Why is that? The AAU Middle School National Duals had teams from Iowa, Illinois, Penn, Michigan, NJ, Ohio, NE, MT, ND, SD and Texas. This is an event held this past year in Illinois, not that far away, how many teams from Tennessee went: 0. AAU World Folkstyle championships will be held in Tulsa, how many will go? USA will have their folkstyle nationals in Topeka, KS. How many Tenn. wrestlers will be there? The only tournament where we have a significant number of TN kids going to is the Ohio Tourn. of Champions: 58 wrestlers. USA has a number of Regional/State events that are not that far, the Central Regionals are in a suburb of Louisville, the Southeastern Regionals are in New Orleans, there are several state tournaments as well. We need to encourage wrestlers, and their families to go to these events, in order to become better.

 

I think if you want to build a successful state-wide program, you need to model what others are doing. Look at Penn., Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, OK and see what they do, and use the best parts of those programs as the model for Tennessee. I don't believe that year round wrestling for kids is a good idea, I have seen kids get burned out by the time they get to high school and never live up to their early success. However, when you look at other states, there are local tournaments from November until May/June. We need to encourage more people to get involved in coaching kids programs. With the AAU program many of the high school coaches also run the AAU program, which is one of the reasons their season is so short. They don't have the time to run a high school program and a kids program at the same time. Granted, the numbers of kids involved in wrestling in Tenn. right now are not very big, but they are growing every year. We need to start planning and developing a strategy right now to encourage the continued growth of this sport. We don't have to have NCAA all americans to teach kids about wrestling. We need to encourage people who have an interest to get involved and learn how to teach kids the fundamentals of wrestling. There is no reason that Tennessee kids cannot duplicate the success of Phillip Simpson in the years to come, if they start to learn how to wrestle while they are still kids.

[3MatRats]

I agree that young kids should not have to commit to a single sport, but if there is something happening on a regular basis and word gets out, those kids that enjoy wrestling will come.

 

Getting the word about youth wrestling is a weak link in our chain. We continually hear "You mean there is wrestling available for younger kids?", "What is youth wrestling?".

 

Franklin Wrestling Club went from 35 wrestlers in 2001 to over 100 in 2002 & 2003. Plus Heritage started their own club this year and added another 30. This is from spreading the word to the local football programs and in the middle schools.

 

If we can sign up 100+ and average 70-80 per practice and and average of 50 competing at each weekend, how many other kids are out there waiting to hear about wrestling?

 

If we make it available, they will come!

[PUMMELKING]

we must all keep it to a level of fun and participation at the younger levels.

no stress on performance or expectations set on them or they will burn out.

make things fun and interesting and they will continue to enjoy the sport and the benefits it entails.