Pojoe

Urban dictionary .... not me... but it made me laugh anyway. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yolo

I didn't say football doesn't help wrestling.... I said it doesn't help wrestling the way wrestling helps wrestling. Football is better for wrestling than twinkies and tv. My son doesn't entirely focus on wrestling ... he was a regional qualifier in track, also runs cross country. He played every sport in middle school except baseball. I don't leave all decisions to my kids. I frame their choices. What do YOU want to be best at? What do you want most.... to participate in many things or to be really good at one or two? He has had a lot choices when it came to sports. In a small school if you are athletic you can do everything on the varsity teams. He was literately going to be allowed to play baseball and run track at the same time time.. dividing practices and games with meets. And that's what he wanted to do. As a single parent, with a single income, that's entirely too expensive in time and money. So I decided.... yes me.... that he had to pick one. Any problem with that? Or should that be entirely up to the CHILD? I personally feel two full contact sports back to back is not beneficial. Risks go way up.... and kids don't think about risks, or feel susceptible to them. But they are there. And explain to where football helps wrestling? And don't say the weight room... that's not football that's weight lifting. Every sport spends time there now. Tackling doesn't do anything that working on shots for two weeks won't teach em. Running the ball behind a blocker? Throwing catching or kicking? Possibly some blocking drills might but wrestling probably helps that more in reverse. I am not sure where football is that helpful in any other sport more than the reverse... unless they don't translate at all with one another... like swimming and golf. None the less... HS football was out. My choice. No regrets about it either. When you are beyond your 25 years and have teens.. you can decide to not not make any decisions for them. But I bet you will. It may not be the same as mine, but you will be making lots and lots of 'em.

Considering I have had kids in wrestling for almost 20 years, and this was first post ever.... exactly how fanatical can I be? That's the funniest thing eva coming from 1500 posts, .8 posts a day! ;D

Personally I am not a fan of my kids playing football. If it were no sport or football, I probably would begrudgingly give into that. I did let them play through middle school. But wrestling was always both of my sons' sport of choice. If you want to be the best you can be at wrestling, football is no help. There was no way being on the football field was going to improve my son's wrestling this summer as much as being on the mat. I also feel two contact sports back to back is just too much. Also, aside from the concussion injuries, it's all the other ones ... knees, bone breaks, muscle tears, sprains, that football sends into the wrestling room that takes away from the wrestling team. I know there are football dad's, and they think it's da bomb. I get that. It's my favorite team sport to watch. But when I take into account whether football is actually likely to be good for my kids vs. bad, I feel it's the most likely one to be bad. Also, choosing a sport is not up to my kids in the long run. It's up to me, and in the long run, whatever outcome from the sport is on me as well. Kids are, all in all, idiots if given half a chance to be. I follow that rule of thumb generally with just about every decision I make. It means saying no to what they want most of time. Saying no to football wasn't that hard for me. Had they played, this would have been my seventh season of HS football, and I am sure there are multiple doctors visits I have never made, and probably an emergency room trip or two as well. They would play football like they wrestle, all in, and I am sure they would have suffered something for it. Just the way I look at it.