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There are way more non-year rounders than there are that wrestle year round. In order for the sport to thrive those that do not wrestle year round need to be there. If not we will become like gymnastics with about 20 teams. Today kids are almost being forced to be one sport athletes. They have to choose whether to be average at multiple sports or good at one. Guys like Mason Parris are an anomaly. Only two of our state champions this year were multi-sport kids(Keys and Fowler) this past year and by my rough calculation only four runner-ups played another sport(Fielden, Willhelm, Aiken, and Cartwright). Our top end talent is as good as it has ever been. Our next tier guys who are 3-5th placers are likely better than they have been in the past, however past that I think our talent levels are down in terms of quantity more than anything.

I think that you are talking about depth of talent, more or less. I think I get what your talking about. It just comes down to the softening of our society in general. Back in your day, if you committed to be a part of a team or do something... your parents made you do it, and follow through with your commitment. Also... there was a lot less for kids to do back then. It seems now we as parents (yes... myself included) are allowing kids to do what they want. Back when... football had two a days. You had no choice. You went to practice! That doesn't exist anymore. Seems that more and more parents are giving kids a choice on rather or not to put in the work to excel at stuff like sports. Guess what??? If you give most kids a choice on rather or not to go to a tough practice, the majority will say... “naw”. The kids that are excelling are the kids that either (A) don’t want to miss a workout to play video games... or (B) parents do not allow them to skip workouts. With all of that said... I think that you have been referring to the gap between the haves and the have nots. Where as a typical (non year round) varsity kid is not that “tough”. It is just a sign of the times my friend. Society is changing. With all of that said, I don’t think that the talent level is decreasing..... yet. Youth football numbers are currently taking a plunge. Our youth numbers seem to be remaining strong. Who knows???.... wrestling may be the next football. If that does happen, that’s when we will see the decrease in talent.

Yes, the talent coming out is great. But the kids just wrestling in high school...what about those kids? Or is that not even an issue since they don’t continue after high school? We spend a lot of time focusing on the lifers, but they’re not the ones who will ensure the sport endures for decades to come.

Human Nature is to always say things were harder yrs ago and not just in wrestling but all aspects of life.....the truth is the kids nowadays wrestle a lot more across the country in bigger tournaments and Duals from a very young age. So IMO I think the sport of wrestling with talent coming out of Indiana will be just fine

Here was the proto-type design of shirts that almost got made for the club team the one year they did more traveling. Based on the tag at the bottom that team was likely during the 2012-13 season. I recall that the design being made by one of the members friends. So maybe finding that person could give you a led to the prior group too.

You may want to talk with someone from the athletic department and/or intramural sports. Not sure who’s jurisdiction a club team actually falls under. At one point I believe a club had to have a faculty sponsor to hold your practices on Ball State campus and call it a Ball State Club. Not sure if that’s still true. Then it’s just finding a way to get the word out and hopefully enough interested people show up to the meeting. Ball State has had a short-lived club team a few different times in the recent past. Some times it just been open practice at the school. Other times some members went to participate in open event or during the ISWA season. During one season the group actually got enough support to have decent singlets and a larger group traveled to a few college events, but then the team seemed to fall apart the next season. Not sure if those singlets are around the athletic department or they were bought outright by team members. It could be of use to fret and locate the leadership from that year though since they clearly have a decent idea of some do’s and don’t to help build thing if you want it to go beyond just a open practice. Time commitment, cost, and leadership graduation often takes a toll on keeping fledgling club teams going long term. But good luck to you. I’d love to see a long term club team get formed. And I’ll be the first to buy a t-shirt if you get to the point of selling them.

I think that is the biggest thing affecting the middle tier guys. I can see the resource inequality to an extent. Why I think it is important to move the focus a little more on the team dual side of things. Kids want to have an opportunity in big moments and most of the middle and lower aren't going to have many on the individual side past sectional or maybe regionals. However, in team duals moving up a weight and keeping it to a decision or not getting pinned/teched can be a big thing. Why the IHSWCA is a big deal to Prairie Heights and Adams Central and etc. Yes those teams have really good kids, but being a Jet/BAGUBA there has only been 1 individual state champ before I was ever born and I've been out of school awhile now. Maybe for our multi sport athletes we push the benefits of wrestling in helping football and etc and have them focus on the workouts of wrestling without cutting weight.

Just in case you would like to see all the entries at the Super 32 Challenge. https://www.super32.com/page/show/2909947-entries

So you'd say your semi-state is as competitive as it's ever been? Regional?