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When to start a young wrestler?


inmarine77

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Hello everyone, I was just wondering what is the best age to begin a lil munchkin's wrestling career? My son turned 5 in October and he has been around the mat his whole life, but I don't want to start him to young and make it a chore or a burden for him instead of something wonderful. Any input on this subject will be much appreciated.

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Hey I am right there with yea.  As a high school head coach my son tags along to all of our meets and attends several of our practices.  He is 4 (turn 5 in July) and I am on the fence about letting him wrestle this soon.  He keeps asking me and as long as it is his idea I will prob let him wrestle now.  I don't want to turn into one of the overbearing parents I see at alot of meets that seem to want their kid to wrestle more than the youngster does.  We might hit the beginner circuit and see how he likes it.  I have been very careful to not start showing him alot of moves and just let him have fun with it if he wants to.

 

 

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My son will be born with a pair of headgear on.

 

I am betting your wife wont like that one bit.....

 

But seriously folks, as long as the child enjoys it, I would say let them start as soon as they want, I have been in rooms for a long time, and have seen just about everything from 1st year kids that are 14-15, to kids as young as 3-4 in the room rolling around. I would say that if they are exposed to it at a young age, you do need to protect against burning them out. I know for the 1st few years of my sons wrestling, it was always up to him if he went, or where he went, within reason.

My daughter wanted to do what her big brother did, she was 5, I took her to a practice, set her up with another 5 year old, and showed her how to get into a stance, and explained a few things to her about the sport that I thought she could handle. I let them go live for about 10 seconds. The other kid put her in a head lock, when she got up she asked if she could go play with her dolls. That was the end of her time on the mat. She now is involved with swimming. so ya just gotta let them find thier own way.

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Thanx to everyone who replied. Here is another deli ma, the local school's wrestling program is going downhill quick. The teachers want the wrestling room for their own use and the supposed coaches dont care that there isnt even going to be a middle school program this year let alone a clinic. So where do I look for help? I live in the rural Lafayette area and I know that there used to be a river city wrestling program but I do not know if it still exists.

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Thanx to everyone who replied. Here is another deli ma, the local school's wrestling program is going downhill quick. The teachers want the wrestling room for their own use and the supposed coaches dont care that there isnt even going to be a middle school program this year let alone a clinic. So where do I look for help? I live in the rural Lafayette area and I know that there used to be a river city wrestling program but I do not know if it still exists.

 

Talk to some of the high school coaches in the area to see if they can help you set up a club that runs correctly, failing that, go outside your area to some nearby schools and see what kind of help is there. This is some of the problems that our sport faces, teachers, and administrations not supporting the development of young wrestlers. Depends on what side of Lafayette that you live on as to who might be in the best position to help you.

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I think any age is okay as long as it's their choice to start it and not yours.  If they do it for a while and want to stop and pursue something else, that has to be okay as well.  Always keep it fun for them by not forcing anything on them.

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As soon as they show interest.  My son started wrestling at 4.  Most school club/feeder programs I think field kids on the team at 5, but I see kids younger than that in the wrestling room sometimes.  The sooner you get them started, the sooner you begin building a love of the sport.  BUT BE CAREFUL...if you push kids too much at a young age you can really burn them out.

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I think any age is okay as long as it's their choice to start it and not yours.  If they do it for a while and want to stop and pursue something else, that has to be okay as well.  Always keep it fun for them by not forcing anything on them.

 

I might agree to this up to a point; however, children make poor choices based upon short term wants and needs.  Also, wrestling is generally not something they can pick-up from watching TV or from friends as it gets much less exposure than baseball, football, and basketball.  For example, if little Johnny doesn't want to start wrestling because he doesn't know anyone else, is scared, or doesn't even know what it is, then you should sign them up.  If they want to stop because practice interferes with their video gaming, then you need to encourage them to continue in some manner or substitute something productive/active.  Try to give them the sense of choice by allowing them to choose tournaments and such.  Also, if there is sense of team then the tournaments and practices are generally fun because all their buddies are there too.

 

I am sure this will get me some boos, I use the analogy of homework or chores.  Just because they don't want to do it, doesn't mean they can get out of it or that it is not good for them.  If dads and moms didn't put a boot in the kids butt every now and again, I think there would be less kids involved with wrestling.

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I have the same dilemma.  My son turns 4 next month and he likes to wrestle around with me in the living room.  He'll be in pre-k next fall and they allow them to start wrestling at that age.  My wife isn't so sure.  Anyway, we bumped into Randy Helfrich last night and my wife asked him if kids really need to start wrestling at age 4 to be good.  He said, "No, they can wait until they are 4 1/2"  ;D

 

I am planning to introduce him to wrestling next winter.  He he likes it, great.  If not, no big deal.  He'll also be introduced to t-ball this summer and possibly soccer this fall.  If you get them involved in more than one activity, then the risk of burn out is not there.  Now, if you have a 4 year old wrestling year round, that's another story.

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Actually, the whole armpit thing was supposed to be a big joke, but I forgot to put the smiley face in there.  Although, I made the mistake of driving back on US 41 from Chicago down through the region.  No a good choice.

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I am sure this will get me some boos, I use the analogy of homework or chores.  Just because they don't want to do it, doesn't mean they can get out of it or that it is not good for them.  If dads and moms didn't put a boot in the kids butt every now and again, I think there would be less kids involved with wrestling.

 

I see no reason why a parent should not but there boot in a kids butt once in awhile. Most kids if given a choice would choose to sit and play games, or not go work hard. It is up to us as parents to make sure that while they get plenty of time to be a kid, they also need to get plenty of time to put in some serious work, as long as it is not forcing, but making them realize this is what they need to do, I see no problem with it.

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I think any age is okay as long as it's their choice to start it and not yours.  If they do it for a while and want to stop and pursue something else, that has to be okay as well.  Always keep it fun for them by not forcing anything on them.

 

I might agree to this up to a point; however, children make poor choices based upon short term wants and needs.  Also, wrestling is generally not something they can pick-up from watching TV or from friends as it gets much less exposure than baseball, football, and basketball.  For example, if little Johnny doesn't want to start wrestling because he doesn't know anyone else, is scared, or doesn't even know what it is, then you should sign them up.  If they want to stop because practice interferes with their video gaming, then you need to encourage them to continue in some manner or substitute something productive/active.  Try to give them the sense of choice by allowing them to choose tournaments and such.  Also, if there is sense of team then the tournaments and practices are generally fun because all their buddies are there too.

 

I am sure this will get me some boos, I use the analogy of homework or chores.  Just because they don't want to do it, doesn't mean they can get out of it or that it is not good for them.  If dads and moms didn't put a boot in the kids butt every now and again, I think there would be less kids involved with wrestling.

 

I agree, but I think you missed my point.  I never said it was okay to quit so they could play video games.  I said it would be okay if they wanted to pursue something else.  Maybe if they want to stop wrestling so they can try swimming or indoor soccer or band or some other productive activity then as a parent that should be okay.  They should try to get a taste of as many things as they can while they are young so they can find out what they enjoy. 

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I agree with smooth.  I was recently asked. "What if my son didn't want to wrestle".  I said that i was ok with it but he would be doing something after school ie. band, another sport or donating his time to charity somewhere not running the streets or playing video games.

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As a father of 5 maybe 6 boys (in May), I give this one a lot of thought.

Each kid is a little different of competing.  Practicing and learning fundamental technique can happen at any age, but if the kid ain't feelin' it don't try to make them concentrate, it will just make you mad.

Competition with other opponents, start slow.  Smaller is better than bigger.  Bigger tournaments require many wins in order to place and awards are good.

As far as training the way most of us consider it, only a few wrestlers can handle hardcore stuff before about 6th grade.  After that if they are going to wrestlers they will.  I have a Pee Wee, Bantam, and Novice.  The youngest hasn't wrestled yet, Bantam wants to be Indiana Jones and I took Novice to FS/GR State last year.  He won a couple and made great progress but he burned out too and he isn't competing this year.  At 10 years I am not giving up. 

 

I used to think kids that started early had an advantage.  After over 20 years of watching kids divisions at local tournaments, many of the kids wrestling young are not the same ones in high school.

I would rather my kids wrestle later rather than earlier.

 

eryc

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