I am curious of your opinions on this topic. Obviously, somebody mentioned that Hockaday didn't "cut weight," but do you feel its necessary to cut weight weight? I'm in a coach's group message and we have awesome debates all the time.
In my opinion there's a difference between cutting weight and managing weight. For example, our champ, Chase Leech, weighed 182-184 pre season, and practiced a couple of days and was under 175. When we arrived back to the hotel after the finals, Chase was 4 pounds under weight. I would say Chase managed a weight and did not cut weight. *This decision to go 175 was based on focussing on getting better at wrestling and not fighting the scale.
All of that being said, I don't think it's as possible to do what Chase did at the lighter weight classes. (Hockaday would be the exception, and possibly Hockaday "managed" his weight as well.). In many cases I think it can give a kid a mental edge if they have to do work to make a weight class...
Thoughts?