Weight Class Discussion

[Bearbub10]

Has anyone noticed the weight class changes? They took out 110 a few weeks ago and added 70 and 215. Now its showing that 110 is added back including 70 and 215. I am all for adding 70 and 215. I think that 110 is a very popular weight class that should also stay. My opinion though is there are too many weight classes now. Its showing that the HS only has 14 weight classes and MS now has 16. It doesn't make sense at all to have 16 weight classes in MS where only 3 grades can wrestle and 14 for HS where you have four grades wrestling. This will hurt a lot of teams that struggle filling spots already. If they are going to keep 70, 110, and 215 I think we at least need to knock it down to 15. I feel like if there is one place to take a weight class out, it would be 123 and 128. You could combine those two weight classes and make it either 124/125/126. Let me know what everyone thinks!

[aacoach117]

Kids are much more likely to experience significant growth spurts during middle school. It isn't out of the question for a kid to go from 95lbs to 115lbs in a years time. Puberty is kicking in causing them to add bone and muscle mass very quickly. I think the weight classes address that by not requiring such a big jump in weight class just because a kid gained 6 pounds due to puberty. If you take 123 and 128 out and make a 125, then a kid could easily weigh 116 at the start of the season and gain 10 or 11 pounds during the season and end up having to wrestle 135 because he can't make 125 anymore. So he could end up going from wrestling 116s that he matches in weight to wrestling 135s and giving up a 6-9 pound advantage in the span of 6-8 weeks by no fault of his own.

I am more concerned by the jump from 215 to 285. In high school a wrestler might weigh 225 lbs and wrestle 285 and be just fine because he is a strong 225 lbs. In middle school a 225 lbs is often going to be a chubby, "big-boned" kid, but not necessarily a strong kid, and facing someone 50-60 lbs heavier is actually an injury risk to them.

[WMScoach]

I believe at the 6th 7th and 8th grade level the more kids we can get involved in the sport will be beneficial to the future of our sport in high school. I would hope that having more weight classes at the middle school level will encourage more participation by more kids in a wider range of weight classes at this age.

[Bearbub10]

I never thought about the significant growth factor. I agree the jump is a little much from 215 to HWT, but it is way better than going from 190 to HWT. Our HWT last year only weighed a little over 200 and would have to wrestle kids way bigger than him. I also agree that it does open things up for more participation which will be good for the future of the sport.