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I do not like the new weight classes WV is using.

I have yet to talk with anybody that does like the new weight classes.

This football season, we saw more wrestlers making football news than we have in recent years.

What did WV wrestling do to encourage more football players to wrestle??? We eliminated the 182 pound weight class.

We have a 15 pound jump from 175 to 190. A lot of kids will be cutting too much weight or giving up too much size to fit into these weight class gaps.

I was just told today that a wrestler cannot wrestle tonight because he isn't allowed to be lower than 106.1 today. Of course he has to weigh in at 106.

You're spot on. Losing the 182lb weight class puts a damper on a lot of potential football players wrestling. Honestly I don't understand why there isn't a weight class in-between 215lb-285lb, if you look in schools today they're more big kids than ever before. Look at high school football rosters today compared to 40-30-20 years ago. Way more kids weighing over 200lbs than ever before.

My sons team has 5-6 kids 190 - 300 lbs on the team. All with a desire to wrestle. 18 or so kids on the team total..... 30% of the team competing for 3 spots.

Geoswaff wrote:My sons team has 5-6 kids 190 - 300 lbs on the team. All with a desire to wrestle. 18 or so kids on the team total..... 30% of the team competing for 3 spots.

Exactly this a prime example. The worst part is wrestling benefits offensive and defensive linemen (aka the big boys) the most in football. Wrestling obviously benefits every other position on the field, but its most beneficial to those on the line of scrimmage. There's a reason college offensive and defensive line coaches go after wrestlers and it shows on the field. Its just a shame there isn't more opportunity for these kids to wrestle with the limited weight classes.

Bearhug wrote:

Geoswaff wrote:My sons team has 5-6 kids 190 - 300 lbs on the team. All with a desire to wrestle. 18 or so kids on the team total..... 30% of the team competing for 3 spots.

Exactly this a prime example. The worst part is wrestling benefits offensive and defensive linemen (aka the big boys) the most in football. Wrestling obviously benefits every other position on the field, but its most beneficial to those on the line of scrimmage. There's a reason college offensive and defensive line coaches go after wrestlers and it shows on the field. Its just a shame there isn't more opportunity for these kids to wrestle with the limited weight classes.

I hate the new weight classes as much as the rest of you, but we need to stop looking to other sports as a gimmick to get more kids out for wrestling.

Wrestling is its own sport. It is not a football training camp. We need to get away from the attitude of using wrestling to promote football, we need to promote wrestling. A football player can obtain the skills needed to play football without wrestling. The kids need to wrestle because they love to wrestle. Are there benefits outside of wrestling? There sure are.

Do I think there should be another upper weight? Yes I do. Eliminating a weight class between 175 and 190 was stupid. Should there be a weight class between 215 and 285? I don't really think there should be. As a whole, most of the athletes still fit in the 150 - 200 range, that is where the majority of weigh classes belong. Should there be lighter weight classes for smaller kids? Yes, but I don't think they need to be 6 pounds apart. They could be 10 pounds apart and that would be fine. Most of the severe weight cutting happens at the lower weights anyway. Mentality is, its only another 6 pounds, I can do that. Plus the numbers don't justify having that many weight classes that low. thin them out there and add a few more up top.

mike.carman wrote:

Bearhug wrote:

Geoswaff wrote:My sons team has 5-6 kids 190 - 300 lbs on the team. All with a desire to wrestle. 18 or so kids on the team total..... 30% of the team competing for 3 spots.

Exactly this a prime example. The worst part is wrestling benefits offensive and defensive linemen (aka the big boys) the most in football. Wrestling obviously benefits every other position on the field, but its most beneficial to those on the line of scrimmage. There's a reason college offensive and defensive line coaches go after wrestlers and it shows on the field. Its just a shame there isn't more opportunity for these kids to wrestle with the limited weight classes.

I hate the new weight classes as much as the rest of you, but we need to stop looking to other sports as a gimmick to get more kids out for wrestling.

Wrestling is its own sport. It is not a football training camp. We need to get away from the attitude of using wrestling to promote football, we need to promote wrestling. A football player can obtain the skills needed to play football without wrestling. The kids need to wrestle because they love to wrestle. Are there benefits outside of wrestling? There sure are.

Do I think there should be another upper weight? Yes I do. Eliminating a weight class between 175 and 190 was stupid. Should there be a weight class between 215 and 285? I don't really think there should be. As a whole, most of the athletes still fit in the 150 - 200 range, that is where the majority of weigh classes belong. Should there be lighter weight classes for smaller kids? Yes, but I don't think they need to be 6 pounds apart. They could be 10 pounds apart and that would be fine. Most of the severe weight cutting happens at the lower weights anyway. Mentality is, its only another 6 pounds, I can do that. Plus the numbers don't justify having that many weight classes that low. thin them out there and add a few more up top.

No one said wrestling was a gimmick? Wrestling is its own sport that is made for everyone, I'm using football as an example because most wrestlers who weigh 170lb and above play football. Listen we all want wrestling to grow and the only way to make it grow is for kids who'd never play the sport, to give it a try. In order to get those kids, those kids need a reason to play the sport in the first place, then once they try it they can make up their minds on if they like it or not. I'm using football as a example coaches use to get kids out for wrestling. If you don't think high school or middle school coaches do this You're crazy. Its just like telling a 70lb 6th grader who doesn't play any sports, that he or she should wrestle because wrestling is a sport for little kids as well.

Promote this sport by any means necessary. I’ve been telling parents for years if they want to get their kid better at football then they need to be wrestling and I believe that 100%. The kids will either love it or not. Most competitive kids will fall in love with it. At the end of the day it’s all about growing the sport and exposing as many people to it as possible.

Bearhug wrote:You're spot on. Losing the 182lb weight class puts a damper on a lot of potential football players wrestling. Honestly I don't understand why there isn't a weight class in-between 215lb-285lb, if you look in schools today they're more big kids than ever before. Look at high school football rosters today compared to 40-30-20 years ago. Way more kids weighing over 200lbs than ever before.

How do you know there “are more big kids than ever before “.. do u have data to support that claim?
Must be a reason why the weight classes were changed?

Doyablameme? wrote:

Bearhug wrote:You're spot on. Losing the 182lb weight class puts a damper on a lot of potential football players wrestling. Honestly I don't understand why there isn't a weight class in-between 215lb-285lb, if you look in schools today they're more big kids than ever before. Look at high school football rosters today compared to 40-30-20 years ago. Way more kids weighing over 200lbs than ever before.

How do you know there “are more big kids than ever before “.. do u have data to support that claim?
Must be a reason why the weight classes were changed?

here is some data:
https://www.livescience.com/46894-how-h ... years.html

Of course, our nation has an obesity problem as well, but if you look at any high school football rosters today compared to 15-20 years ago, there are way more kids who weigh 170lb and above than ever before.

I was looking at Independence football roster, of the 45 kids they have listed, over half the players on the team weighed more than 170lbs, with 10 kids who weigh more than 200lbs and two who are above 300lbs. I saw the roster of the 1980 North team from the 1980 North-South game, and there is only 2 guys on the roster listed over 200lbs.

There's a reason high schools don't have the old weight classes 98lb-103lb and there's also a reason why they added weights in-between the old 185lb-Unl weight classes.

my boy wrestles 138 and i hate it cause he pretty much won't get nothing til the season over cause to many kids on the team are a weight class above 138 and he pretty much eats chicken broth very little food

Bearhug wrote:

Doyablameme? wrote:

Bearhug wrote:You're spot on. Losing the 182lb weight class puts a damper on a lot of potential football players wrestling. Honestly I don't understand why there isn't a weight class in-between 215lb-285lb, if you look in schools today they're more big kids than ever before. Look at high school football rosters today compared to 40-30-20 years ago. Way more kids weighing over 200lbs than ever before.

How do you know there “are more big kids than ever before “.. do u have data to support that claim?
Must be a reason why the weight classes were changed?

here is some data:
https://www.livescience.com/46894-how-h ... years.html

Of course, our nation has an obesity problem as well, but if you look at any high school football rosters today compared to 15-20 years ago, there are way more kids who weigh 170lb and above than ever before.

I was looking at Independence football roster, of the 45 kids they have listed, over half the players on the team weighed more than 170lbs, with 10 kids who weigh more than 200lbs and two who are above 300lbs. I saw the roster of the 1980 North team from the 1980 North-South game, and there is only 2 guys on the roster listed over 200lbs.

There's a reason high schools don't have the old weight classes 98lb-103lb and there's also a reason why they added weights in-between the old 185lb-Unl weight classes.

I’m not disputing kids are bigger nowadays, but I don’t think I’d take the height and weight listed on a football roster as being very reliable. Kids heights and weights are often exaggerated on the football rosters.

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