rookie78 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Just wanted to know how many schools lose freshmen to basketball even though they were able to do both in middle school...it seems like there is always a few kids that make the decision to go the bball even though they were good wrestlers at the junior high level. How can we keep those kids in the wrestling room? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbburn12 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Though few will ever be scholarship basketball players in college the greater opportunity to play and receive some money in college is incentive for freshmen. Then you have the whole "Indiana basketball" mythology. In wrestling you essentially win or lose,in Bball you can lose and if you score 15 points everyone is still patting you on the back saying great game. Add in physical demands,weight cutting, other factors which can be discusses for hours I don't think it is a stretch of the imagination why many choose basketball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1oldwrestler Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 The gym tends to be a little fuller for bball games as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosgrove Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 well heres the thing if he quits to play basketball you probably dont want him wrestling he is trying to find the easy way out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayruss Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Basketball is also more accessible, you can pick up a ball and find a court anywhere. People don't always have an opportunity to wrestle, it is coming more prevalent, but back in the day it was easier to just pick up a ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabio Jr. Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 This is where some sort of youth program is huge....you have to get the kids in the system young and coming back. If they were good at both in Jr. High its gonna be a tough battle. But if they were tough in wrestling and average in JR high you should be able to sit em down and just say you will whave a chance to do big things in wrestling, and start as a freshman, etc. Won't work all the time but most kids who truly like wrestling will keep at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbburn12 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Though the preference is wrestling I do give any of these kids a great deal of credit who play the "non game" sports like cross country,swimming, wrestling ,track and field and others of the like. Still wrestling is a different animal. No great swimmer has ever been quoted as saying "once you have been on the swim team everything else in life is easy". To add to this I give any student credit who is involved in ANY school extra curricular activity,sports the arts whatever. These might not be the best years of a young person's life but they should be among the best. There are so many distractions now a days that being involved in after school activities takes a real effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I guess the slightly good news is you are at a school that is able to have them participate in both sports. At our school because of how the seasons fall you have to be in one or the other. Many of our MS wrestlers are only there because they wanted something to do after getting cut from the MS basketball teams. But some of the better MS athletes end up riding the bench in basketball, never get to try wrestling during that time, eventually get cut from the team by their Freshman year, and then feel its to late in life to give wrestling a try. I think having the ability to try both sports may actually help get a few kids interested that otherwise wouldn't be. I agree with Fabio though that building a youth movement is helpful. It ensure some kids have a little prior experience so they are more comfortable with joining the team, give some kids a better chance of making it through the "awkward" start & hopefully give them a better chance of at least a little success, and the prior knowledge helps those students in being a great recruiter of their classmates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Every kid is different and that makes it even more difficult to find out the one key thing that will get a kid to come out for wrestling. Many I have seen in high school at the small school level are the "varsity or bust" kids. The ones that will come out next year when there is a spot on varsity. Those are some of my favorite kids(note sarcasm). Having the older guys approach the kids seems to work better sometimes than the coach constantly berating them to come out. They can emphasize how great the team is going to be, how the coach gives out candy bars to everyone after practice and other great things the program is doing. Other things like more recognition during the year with things like tshirts, locker decorations and other things that the other kids in the school will see and want to be a part of. You could also tell the kids they get a free tractor if they wrestle for four years, that would be a great incentive at PH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie78 Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 well heres the thing if he quits to play basketball you probably dont want him wrestling he is trying to find the easy way out Not so much that kids are necessarily "quitting", just that our ms kids can wrestle at the conclusion of bball, then they ultimately are the ones who have to decide one or the other in hs. Some tend to go where their friends go (bball for the most part) even though we have been able to keep some on the good side (wrestling) each year. Some decide to to do neither which is even worse yet for whatever reason. We have had and still have a great elementary program, we also have ms team that compete s with 6-8 graders, our fifth graders can compete in exhibition matches against other 5 graders from other schools as well as our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie78 Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 You could also tell the kids they get a free tractor if they wrestle for four years, that would be a great incentive at PH. If that's the case then we'll have to up our prices of our world famous pork burgers we sell at football games in order to cover costs from booster club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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