- Location
- north jersey
i need some constructive input/advice.
my 13 and 9 yr. old sons had been wrestling for a few years now. we will focus on the 13 yr. old since he's at the age where many kids are going through the growth spurts. here is the situation, my son was always one of the smaller kids in class. he's a 5'1" and 100 lbs. 8th grader. last year he was 84 lbs. and wrestled at 85 lbs. class. he did very well....took first place in district.
however this year his "walking" weight is 100 lbs. but my wife and the coach wanted him to wrestle at 98 lbs. instead of the 105 lbs class. their reason is that at at 100 lbs., he is actually wrestling kids at 110 lbs. on the tournament day. and at this age, the 10lbs. "mass" difference put him at a big disadvantage. i don't buy into the "everybody is cutting weight" idea, i don't get why the wrestling "authority" don't implement the same day weigh in right before the match. i'll buy the 2 lbs. leeway but if they would actually dq wrestlers who are over that 2 lbs. limit, we wouldn't have to deal with kids dropping 10-15 lbs. to make weight and then put them back the next day and the advantage/disadvantage issue.
even though i have never wrestled, i did compete in tae kwon do and judo tournaments. there were some "eyeball" weigh guide lines but they were fairly lax. the belt color was more of an issue than the weight. i also played football in high school and as a 162 lbs. defensive end and outside linebacker, i was used to playing with kids who were 180-220+ lbs. so the "eyeball" weigh class at judo tournaments were no big deal. i did very well at those tournaments because i felt i was much stronger and cardio was never an issue. i used to do the whole day tournaments and hit the weight room afterwards.
i don't want my son to have to worry about cutting weight. i told him about how training with a heavier kids may help but it seems he hasn't developed the "extra strength" to cope with the 10 lbs. differential. i also see his frustrations of placing 3rd. in many of the state qualifying tournaments where only the top 2 qualifies. he had been preparing for the state tournament since the end of last season. he has been wrestling year round. he is working very hard and wrestling almost every day, many times doing a double session of 2 hrs each.
i would like to hear from those of you who wrestled in high school or college and how you dealt with this issue.
thanks for reading such a long post.
my 13 and 9 yr. old sons had been wrestling for a few years now. we will focus on the 13 yr. old since he's at the age where many kids are going through the growth spurts. here is the situation, my son was always one of the smaller kids in class. he's a 5'1" and 100 lbs. 8th grader. last year he was 84 lbs. and wrestled at 85 lbs. class. he did very well....took first place in district.
however this year his "walking" weight is 100 lbs. but my wife and the coach wanted him to wrestle at 98 lbs. instead of the 105 lbs class. their reason is that at at 100 lbs., he is actually wrestling kids at 110 lbs. on the tournament day. and at this age, the 10lbs. "mass" difference put him at a big disadvantage. i don't buy into the "everybody is cutting weight" idea, i don't get why the wrestling "authority" don't implement the same day weigh in right before the match. i'll buy the 2 lbs. leeway but if they would actually dq wrestlers who are over that 2 lbs. limit, we wouldn't have to deal with kids dropping 10-15 lbs. to make weight and then put them back the next day and the advantage/disadvantage issue.
even though i have never wrestled, i did compete in tae kwon do and judo tournaments. there were some "eyeball" weigh guide lines but they were fairly lax. the belt color was more of an issue than the weight. i also played football in high school and as a 162 lbs. defensive end and outside linebacker, i was used to playing with kids who were 180-220+ lbs. so the "eyeball" weigh class at judo tournaments were no big deal. i did very well at those tournaments because i felt i was much stronger and cardio was never an issue. i used to do the whole day tournaments and hit the weight room afterwards.
i don't want my son to have to worry about cutting weight. i told him about how training with a heavier kids may help but it seems he hasn't developed the "extra strength" to cope with the 10 lbs. differential. i also see his frustrations of placing 3rd. in many of the state qualifying tournaments where only the top 2 qualifies. he had been preparing for the state tournament since the end of last season. he has been wrestling year round. he is working very hard and wrestling almost every day, many times doing a double session of 2 hrs each.
i would like to hear from those of you who wrestled in high school or college and how you dealt with this issue.
thanks for reading such a long post.