State tourneys prior to high school

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Buckeye1st

Member
How important are the big tournaments before high school? Listening a great podcast that just got released from the Wrestling Mindset crew and re thinking a lot of things we do with youth athletes in the US.

How important is youth state to prepare someone for high school state? Do the risks out weigh the rewards in regards to pressure, cutting weight too young, etc.?

There are obviously different arguments and I would love to hear from some folks on both sides as my boys are still super young and I am constantly trying to figure out the best path for them.

You have the David Taylor's of the world who competed non stop and youth/Jh state meant a ton to them and worked out great.

Then you have Carson Kharchla and Marcus Blaze who both only did OAC districts as an 8th grader. For Marcus Covid cancelled his opp to wrestle at State and I have heard the Miron interview for Carson... But I would love to know any thoughts on why either is better
 
 
Buckeye1st said:
How important are the big tournaments before high school? Listening a great podcast that just got released from the Wrestling Mindset crew and re thinking a lot of things we do with youth athletes in the US.

How important is youth state to prepare someone for high school state? Do the risks out weigh the rewards in regards to pressure, cutting weight too young, etc.?

There are obviously different arguments and I would love to hear from some folks on both sides as my boys are still super young and I am constantly trying to figure out the best path for them.

You have the David Taylor's of the world who competed non stop and youth/Jh state meant a ton to them and worked out great.

Then you have Carson Kharchla and Marcus Blaze who both only did OAC districts as an 8th grader. For Marcus Covid cancelled his opp to wrestle at State and I have heard the Miron interview for Carson... But I would love to know any thoughts on why either is better
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Blaze lived in Michigan the majority of his youth and has wrestled throughout. Covid ended his 7th grad year but in 8th grade his Mom missed the confirmation date for attending states. Can't remember where I saw it but it was reliable.
 
Buckeye1st said:
How important are the big tournaments before high school? Listening a great podcast that just got released from the Wrestling Mindset crew and re thinking a lot of things we do with youth athletes in the US.

How important is youth state to prepare someone for high school state? Do the risks out weigh the rewards in regards to pressure, cutting weight too young, etc.?

There are obviously different arguments and I would love to hear from some folks on both sides as my boys are still super young and I am constantly trying to figure out the best path for them.

You have the David Taylor's of the world who competed non stop and youth/Jh state meant a ton to them and worked out great.

Then you have Carson Kharchla and Marcus Blaze who both only did OAC districts as an 8th grader. For Marcus Covid cancelled his opp to wrestle at State and I have heard the Miron interview for Carson... But I would love to know any thoughts on why either is better
Click to expand...
The best path for your son is to follow how you feel you need to raise them individually. My son and daughter are totally different. People that try to tell you that you need to do something specific with your son don't have a freaking clue.
David talks a good game but I can tell you 100 percent that he has m2 kids that cut massive amounts of weight as youth kids.
He talks about not overdoing it like he did. Well, it seemed to work out well for him.
ALL kids are different and one path isn't a fit all
 
What I have done with my son the last couple years is let him pick the tournaments that he wants to go to. He has done it long enough now that he knows the type of training it takes to win them. He has passed on a couple because he didn't wanna be training as hard at the time of the tournament. 5 months between tournaments was nice for him and he enjoyed the break from competing Last Summer.
 
wrestlfan said:
The best path for your kids will not be found by valuing the opinions of those on yappi You are the one raising them and you know them best
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appreciate it. it can be a bit intimidating looking at how much some folks do and trying to balance all that with keeping them healthy, etc.
 
My 2 cents. Understand that it’s a long road and the goal should be to still have them love wrestling by the end of that road- whenever that may be. If you have any doubt, err on the side of competing less. Trust me, these youth / jr high State and National level tournaments feel big, but in the big picture they really aren’t. What’s important however is the preparation, and experience gained. Celebrate success of course, but not too much. Let them make mistakes. Remind them it’s all part of the journey. Finally as a Dad, it goes fast- enjoy the ride!
 
LucMurphy134 said:
My 2 cents. Understand that it’s a long road and the goal should be to still have them love wrestling by the end of that road- whenever that may be. If you have any doubt, err on the side of competing less. Trust me, these youth / jr high State and National level tournaments feel big, but in the big picture they really aren’t. What’s important however is the preparation, and experience gained. Celebrate success of course, but not too much. Let them make mistakes. Remind them it’s all part of the journey. Finally as a Dad, it goes fast- enjoy the ride!
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Totally appreciate and respect your post. I agree and ar the same time disagree.
Some coaches that I have massive amounts of respect for believe that the end goal is for kids to love the sport "when it matters"
They will make practices non stressful and easy amd say let's get them to love it and push them hard later. In my mind I'm thinking well, wrestling is hard. Why let them think it's easy until "it matters"
People/ kids either love the hard work that is required or they don't.
Tricking them for years isn't going
to produce the end result of loving the sport.
Some people naturally embrace the grind and some don't.
 
wrestlfan said:
Totally appreciate and respect your post. I agree and ar the same time disagree.
Some coaches that I have massive amounts of respect for believe that the end goal is for kids to love the sport "when it matters"
They will make practices non stressful and easy amd say let's get them to love it and push them hard later. In my mind I'm thinking well, wrestling is hard. Why let them think it's easy until "it matters"
People/ kids either love the hard work that is required or they don't.
Tricking them for years isn't going
to produce the end result of loving the sport.
Some people naturally embrace the grind and some don't.
Click to expand...
Appreciate it, and just to clarify, my larger point was to encourage the love in the younger years by focusing on the process not necessarily the results. Develop work ethic, set goals, teach them how to compete, teach them how to win and how to bounce back after losing, chase competition rather than awards, rankings or accolades. Above all enjoy it!
 
The first wrestling tourny a kid needs to be in is at the hospital nursery, winner gets the hospital bill paid for.

Youth sports is outta control
 
wrestlfan said:
Totally appreciate and respect your post. I agree and ar the same time disagree.
Some coaches that I have massive amounts of respect for believe that the end goal is for kids to love the sport "when it matters"
They will make practices non stressful and easy amd say let's get them to love it and push them hard later. In my mind I'm thinking well, wrestling is hard. Why let them think it's easy until "it matters"
People/ kids either love the hard work that is required or they don't.
Tricking them for years isn't going
to produce the end result of loving the sport.
Some people naturally embrace the grind and some don't.
Click to expand...
Yes and no. You shouldn't sugar coat the hard work required but if you want the young kid to keep wrestling you need to also make it fun. 6U wrestling doesn't need to be a year round commitment just because the best HS wrestlers do it year round.
 
CedarBuck92 said:
Yes and no. You shouldn't sugar coat the hard work required but if you want the young kid to keep wrestling you need to also make it fun. 6U wrestling doesn't need to be a year round commitment just because the best HS wrestlers do it year round.
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Can't disagree with that at all
 
Going back to the original question- I have a 6 yr old and a 13 yr old. My 13 yr old wrestles on the top dual teams in the top tournaments in the country. It wasn't always like that. He would wrestle on regular teams and I would be jealous of the kids on the top teams. I got him training hard and he worked his way up. In doing so I am very fortunate that we didn't develop a bad relationship. I dont want my 6 year old to grow up being on the those teams. Being on those teams isn't about going and having fun. It's about going and dominating in a big big way. My 13 year old makes his own choices now. He chooses to train to be on those teams. I hope it's more about fun for my 6 yr old!
 
I was hard-core about it to start out with, but it quickly became obvious that was the wrong approach. All it did with my youngest was add anxiety to the situation. So, I changed it up and they had to practice as they committed to that. What I changed was letting them decide when to compete and when not to. I think that worked out really well as it gave them a voice in it and eventually they were just deciding to compete pretty much every weekend. Since then as they've gotten older, I've told them we would support what they wanted to do financially and with the time commitment, but how committed they are is up to them. The extra work that they put in (or don't) is up to them and their goals.
 
I have a senior, who is a two time finalist and state champion at middle weights. He began at about 11 yrs old and never really competed outside of the school season during JH and HS. I would think he probably has at least 300 less matches than his peers.

We asked him once if he’d give 6 years of his childhood and our family time for a state title. He emphatically said, “no.”

The most valuable training we could provide our kids is to train them up to honor God as best they can in all aspects of their lives. Too many kids and parents lose sight of the main thing.

A kid with a good foundation will put in the strength and honor to really enjoy wrestling.

I am far from a pastor but an extremely well respected wrestling coach shared the below with me. If you’ll watch it, it will mess you up and pump you up.

 
Nicolas Nickleby said:
I have a senior, who is a two time finalist and state champion at middle weights. He began at about 11 yrs old and never really competed outside of the school season during JH and HS. I would think he probably has at least 300 less matches than his peers.

We asked him once if he’d give 6 years of his childhood and our family time for a state title. He emphatically said, “no.”
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Was he a state champion or not? You conflicted yourself in your story. Which was it?
 
And I know some kids that would sell their soul to the devil to be a state champ.
Everyone has a different aspect on the matter.
 
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