Popularity of the sport

[gopher15]

I have my opinions on this matter, but why are there so few schools that make wrestling anymore than just an alternative for the kids that don't make the basketball team? It seems to me like most people don't care about it.

[eddie haskell]

It seems pretty obvious that people don't like wrestling because it makes no sense. In basketball when the ball goes through the net you score, in wrestling you can see one guy do something and another guy do seemingly the same thing and it is scored differently. most people have no idea what the scoring means. Plus there are very few exciting matches. Most meets are one boring match after another with maybe one or two that are even close. Of course this is just my opinion.

[texas23]

Eddie, your right.

 

But, my thoughts are that it does not matter if it is popular for large group of potential fans or not. If I understand the scoring and like the competition, I don't care if there person sitting in the same gym gets it or not. That is what is kind of neat about this sport. Not everyone gets it. This is a small slice of the sports population that does get it. I don't think it will every replace any of those sports that I enjoy as well, like basketball, football and baseball, but who cares. This sport is for people who "get it".

[Aspen]

Top Ten Reasons Wrestling isn't more popular:

 

Growing boys like to eat.

 

Wrestling room stench is hazardous to your health

 

Little old ladies and folding chairs are not allowed on the mat.

 

Body piercing is prohibited.

 

Parents butts can't tolerate 12 hour tournaments

 

Can't use excuse: "He was bigger than me" to explain defeat

 

Matmaids wear more clothing than their WWF counterparts.

 

Moms can't stand seeing their babies' faces smashed into the mat

 

Some guys find grabbing sweaty body parts offensive.

 

Number 1 reason:

 

Wrestling singlets tell no lies.

[texas23]

call David Letterman...that is more funny than any of his top tens!!

[3rdchance]

This is my first time to post on CoachT. Wrestling is an outstanding sport for those men (and now some women) that want to compete one on one in a battle testing the psychological and physical limitations of the combatants. Let me offer a few reasons for it's lack of popularity based on over 20 years experience:

 

1. too many people associate it with WWF and all the lunacy that version provides

2. small percentage of schools fund programs due to lack of knowledge/coaches

3. (this won't be popular) some spectators consider the tights worn to be vulgar

4. lack of a true "professional" level like other mainstream sports

5. very few colleges/universities offer scholarships which makes it less appealing

 

Here's a few reasons why it's a great sport:

 

1. Size doesn't matter as weight classes level the playing field for participants

2. it's man vs man with no outside influences like the weather or the performance of team members

 

A lot more could be added to this post but am more interested in other thoughts or comments.

[BigZ]

Being now that i am from giles county, Home of the state 2A champs, i miss wrestling more tanh ever. Not many of the people down here even know what the sport is or is all about. Which i think is the reason that Basketball is more popular than wrestling. Since it already has a National fan base, and wrestling doesn't it don't suprise me. If there was a way to bring it to the main streem public it would be more popular, but its not for that pure and simple reason.

 

 

Word Life

[michael.geasley]

Does wrestling get any less notoriety than sports like tennis, cross-country, track or even baseball? Do many people other than parent go to high school sporting events other than football and maybe basketball?

 

One reason that wrestling may not have more spectators is that fans need a basic knowledge of how points are scored in order to keep up with a match. Without knowing the rules it is kind of like watching cricket for the first time, confusing.

 

A life time ago, 1977, when I wrestled at Franklin, we had one match during the school day to which everyone in the school got to go. (Luckily that day I had an opponent that knew even less than I did!) I don't know how the coach pulled that off, but it certainly improved the visibility of the sport in our school.

[pokey]

Location, location, location!!! The South has not been wrestling as long as other places in the US. Travel to places like Pennsylvania or Ohio and check out the support wrestling has. The attitude that football is God in the South doesn't help much either. Their are some (ignorant) football coaches that don't understand the benefits of wrestling and discourage their athletes from participating. I suspect that this has something to do with their insecurity and the fact that they couldn't wrestle. I suggest that wrestling is innate. Humans don't naturally play football or basketball, they wrestle. Every society in the history of man has, in one form or another, wrestled. The bottom line is that we are responsible for the promotion of the sport that we love

[BattleBornVolunteer]

Wrestling is probably the most popular sport at Bradley Central. Our football hasn't been very good these past couple of years, but our basketball teams are pretty good. Wrestling matches at home always have a full student section and if it's against a decent team the rest of the seats are filled up, too.

[3rdchance]

Here are some facts regarding wrestling popularity throughout the U.S.,

 

It ranks 8th in terms of total schools participating which is a better measurement than total number of participants since a sport like football requires more players. According to the NFHS 2002-2003 statistics, the top 10 boys sports based on number of schools participating are,

1. Basketball

2. Track & Field

3. Baseball

4. Football

5. Golf

6. Cross Country

7. Soccer

8. Wrestling

9. Tennis

10.Swimming and Diving

 

On a side note, there were 805 schools with girls wrestling in their programs with a total of 3,769 female wrestlers in total.

 

Also, the trend in popularity for wrestling isn't too positive. Soccer registered the largest increase among boys sports, adding 6,055 participants, while tennis added 5,361. Outdoor track and field (increase of 4,005), swimming and diving (3,914), lacrosse (3,800) and bowling (3,505) also registered gains in male participation.

Edited December 10, 2003 by 3rdchance

[eddie haskell]

Here are some facts regarding wrestling popularity throughout the U.S.,

 

It ranks 8th in terms of total schools participating which is a better measurement than total number of participants since a sport like football requires more players. According to the NFHS 2002-2003 statistics, the top 10 boys sports based on number of schools participating are,

1. Basketball

2. Track & Field

3. Baseball

4. Football

5. Golf

6. Cross Country

7. Soccer

8. Wrestling

9. Tennis

10.Swimming and Diving

 

On a side note, there were 805 schools with girls wrestling in their programs with a total of 3,769 female wrestlers in total.

 

Also, the trend in popularity for wrestling isn't too positive. Soccer registered the largest increase among boys sports, adding 6,055 participants, while tennis added 5,361. Outdoor track and field (increase of 4,005), swimming and diving (3,914), lacrosse (3,800) and bowling (3,505) also registered gains in male participation.

I would think that would be a worse measure not better. For example it takes 11 players to make up a full football team and 14 to make up a full wrrestling team. 9 for a baseball team and 11 for a soccer team. Football would be in the average range of # of players needed to make a full team. Basketball would be a much cheaper sport to run than football. In fact most all sports require less money to run than football. I would think that the most logical form of measurement would be players participating. I don't believe anyone is arguing that the sport is highly popular, just the reasons why it is not. Many parents don't want their children to get involved in a sport where it seems like kids are being put in danger because oe weight loss. Right or wrong I think that is a perception that steers parents and therefore children away from the sport. That combined with the fact that you on a Saturday you sit for up to 12 hours to see your kid wrestle a total of just a few minutes. That is hard for people to take!