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► Add to the Discussion Page 1, 2  Next Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Joe Boardwine added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 FCA Wrestling is on Facebook: FCA Wrestling is writing some regular updates and posting videos, information and ideas we think you will find interesting. Check the link below and become a fan on Facebook to get all the updates. FCA Wrestling on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/FCA-Wrestling/176528353770?ref=ts Today’s topic is : What age should someone, who wants to be good, start their wrestling career? As I travel and observe little guys getting started in wrestling, I see parents who feel a sense of urgency to start their son wrestling as soon as they can walk- for fear if they don't, their son will lose an edge and be left behind by the competition. I understand that fear - after all, we all want the best for our boys and for them to have every opportunity we can give them. With more and more opportunities for competition, including national competitions and state titles on the line in grades 3, 4, 5, 6…. Conventional wisdom might be that it is critical to start earlier today than ever before in order to be competitive. In today’s FCA Wrestling update, I have posted a link of Olympian, 2x NCAA Champion and 4x PA State Champion, Cary Kolat discussing what the best age is for a child to start wrestling. He challenges the notion that starting at 5 is essential. He addresses what is actually learned between ages 5 and 10 and suggests what he thinks is the best age for a person to start wrestling and why. I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Lou Demas added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 Now I agree with Colat on everything except age. I feel up to age of 10 youth should be introduced to wrestling but the focus should always be structured Play that incorporates games and drills that teach body movement and control. Play is the most important aspect for them, for if they do not enjoy the sport the will not continue when it gets harder at the high school or college and international level. Secondary is body movement, I do believe that if they learn proper body movement they will have an advantage at the higher levels. Gymnastics is also a great for teaching body control and movement. What I would hate to have parents interpret the Colat video as they should hold off getting their kids into wrestling until age 10. However, if they only had a choice of a highly intense competition driven wrestling program or gymnastics,I would tell them to pick Gymnastics!        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Erik Nell added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 Mr. Demas, I have a very young son, that I was blessed with last year. I have been fortunate enough from time to time to see your son train since he was a freshman, and he seems like a super kid. I am a coach, and I struggle about this topic presented. In my thought process I am thinking I continue to be a coach, and let my little guy just be around it. I don’t know if it is right or wrong, but in my mind I feel that if he it is around the sport enough he’ll want to jump in at some point and do what his daddy does. I believe that this sport can be a little nerve racking for any age group, but if you’ve grown up in it and want to do it, it can make the mental aspect as well as the physical, a little less overwhelming. What do you think?        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Mark Palumbo added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 Obviously ever kid is different, but I asked Dan gable the same age question his response took me by surprise. He thought early middle school was best, but he stressed that wrestling should not be the only thing they do. I thought this was odd because he stated in the past that he like when high school recruits focused on nothing but wrestling. I remember him verbally jabbing Mark Ironside because he like to fish as well. My own personal belief is middle school is a great place to start to learn wrestling but it has to be fun. (I know winning is fun) I think if a kid starts too early he may miss some of the great things wrestling teaches. As a coach, I’ve seen more than a hand full of kids (who started very early) coast in practice because they were so much better that everyone else in the room, thus not working hard, then when the field starts to level they lose interest and we call it burn out. I don’t like that term at all, but it is used.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Mark Viviani added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 I started in 5th grade because I wanted to, but I never really took wrestling to serious until around 8th grade that worked for me, I really think what age to start kids in wrestling depends on the kid.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Brian Nicola added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 My 1st grader convinced me (against what I believed to be best) to let him try youth wrestling last year. And even though he knew the sport, was around it and all the other reasons, it was just way, way too early. It was a good program (not my own youth program) but he was just too young. I think 5 is too young for just about anyone. Some people might argue that there are 5 year olds that do well..i say show me that kid as a 18 year old senior. The number of 18 YOs wrestling is a fraction of the 5 year olds that were on the youth team 13 years earlier. He is still interested, but I did the parent thing and overruled. He did gymnastics and soccer and still comes to stuff with me sometimes. Eventually, if he wants, we'll give it another go. I've got 5th grade in the back of my mind and I can't imagine that you can't excel in a sport if you start then. And if he doesn't excel or he finds another thing that suits him...well, I can live with that. I'd rather he be my son than the coach's kid that was shoe-horned into wrestling.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Erik Nell added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 Quote from Brian Nicola's post: "My 1st grader convinced me (against what I believed to be best) to let him try youth wrestling last year. And even though he knew the sport, was around it and all the other reasons, it was just way, way too early. It was a good program (not my own youth program) but he was just too young. I think 5 is too young for just about anyone. Some people might argue that there are 5 year olds that do well..I say show me that kid as a 18 year old senior. The number of 18 YOs wrestling is a fraction of the 5 year olds that were on the youth team 13 years earlier. He is still interested, but I did the parent thing and overruled. He did gymnastics and soccer and still comes to stuff with me sometimes. Eventually, if he wants, we'll give it another go. I've got 5th grade in the back of my mind and I can't imagine that you can't excel in a sport if you start then. And if he doesn't excel or he finds another thing that suits him...well, I can live with that. I'd rather he be my son than the coach's kid that was shoe-horned into wrestling." Thanks Coach for your response, you love wrestling and you make it so fun for athletes to wrestle for you, which is obvious from your turn out at West and Ready, I hope you can build a power at Orange. I think I want my boy to be around it, so he is not intimidated by it when he gets to 7th grade. There is always an exception, but being from Grandview most of our state champs started in the 4th grade or later. Kind of funny I moved into Licking Height district they’ve had their fair share of State Champs.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Pat Costilow added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 As early as possible- I have been hitting spladles on my two year old daughter for months now. (Very tounge in cheek)        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Dan Ransick added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 I have two young boys under 4 and as soon as they could keep there head up I was tilting them. Right now I headlock both from the feet and the front headlock as well. I have practiced shooting on them with different shots and try to get them to headlock me.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Ken Ramsey Sr. added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 Many good points are being made. Starting early is not a problem to me. My son started at 6, not by me, but by my wife who had brothers who wrestled. Every day after school my wife took the kids to the rec center to keep them active. Kenny couldn't stay out of the wrestling room, but they wouldn't allow him to participate until he was 6 years old, the day he turned 6 he started. Worked out pretty well for him to start early, but along the way he participated in most of the sports, baseball, basketball, football, and track as well as his wrestling. Kenny played these sports through his Middle School years and even played football his Freshman year in High School. After he won his first State Title as a Freshman, we made the decision to concentrate on wrestling only, a decision we now sometimes regret what he missed of the other sports. The decision to start him early never seemed to be a negative in our case.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Tony Salisbury added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 I started when I was 7 and it seemed to be a good age for me. My coach has his son out there when he was 3! But you gotta understand this family lives and dies wrestling so even when he was a 1 and 2 year old he was out there after the dual matches with his baby wrestling shoes out there taking us down. It was pretty cool. But his son was an awesome wrestler, 2X middle school state champ and state qual as a fresh and placed as a soph but he seemed to get burnt out on it after that and he ended up not even qualifying his last two years. It's always different for each kid but starting too early does leave the possibility that come those last few years of HS they might just get burnt out. I will make one more observation. I coach down here in South Carolina at a HS and we just now started our first youth program and this is a town with over 100,000 people and also has Rock Hill HS which won 15 state titles over a span of 23-24 years. And the other years they were runner-ups. You would figure with that kind of talent in the state they would have a youth program all these years but up until this year kids around here started when they began middle school 7th grade. When it comes to in-state wrestling I guess its all about even but Rock Hill HS would travel to the Midwest Classic at Worthington Kilbourne back in the 90's and they would go up there with 4-5 state champs and another 4-5 all state guys and they would just get waxed. Youth programs are for sure where the foundation begins. I would say anywhere from 6-8 years old would be the ideal age to start for the kids. -TS        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Ryan Peters added to this discussion on December 22, 2009 Guys, I wanted to chime in to this topic because after years of coaching at the HS and youth level I have seen our kids and society change as has my attitude of when the appropriate age to start. I started wrestling when I was 5 years old (back in the late 70's). We didn't have cable TV, we had only a few video games, and the internet was not even a thought. For the past 15 years I advised parents to start their kid when they have the attention span to sit thru a wrestling practice. As this stage of my life, I totally disagree with the notion of starting them when they are young. Society is different today. Kids quit much easier than in the past. When I was growing up, kids were not allowed to quit....today's parents make it a lot easier to quit. We are in a society where kids and parents want instant gratification and if they don't get it, they walk away and don't ever look back. I had had numerous kids in my youth program quit in recent years. The reasons all vary, "My kid doesnt like it."... "My son is not having the success that he had hoped for" , "My son wants to try basketball for a year because his friends are playing". "We are going to focus on one sport." It is very frusterating when you work with a kid for 2-3 years and they are at the brink of big success and they quit because they are not getting the instant gratification that the child and parents were expecting. Therefore, I think the sport of wrestling should not be introduced to a child until they are in the 4th or 5th grade. The maturity level of a 4th or 5th grader will allow them to deal with defeat and understand what needs to be done in order to improve. They at at a stage in their live where it is time to make committments to a team and a sport. I am extremly confident that if a child begins at this age, they can win a state title by the 9th or 10th grade and catch up to the kid who started when they were 5 years old. I am rather certain that the overwhelming majority of kids who start at the age of 5 or 6 will quit wrestling by the age of 9. My quess who be that one out of 10 kids who start at the age of 5 or 6 will stick it out until they graduate HS. It is just my opinion but I think in today's society we should be starting the kids at a later age so we don't lose them and their parents forever.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Scott Nicola added to this discussion on December 23, 2009 Quote from Pat Costilow's post: "As early as possible- I have been hitting spladles on my two year old daughter for months now. (Very tounge in cheek)" I try to focus on freestyle with my 2 year old Rosie and 11 month old Hope. Hope tries hard but her par terre defense needs alot of work.        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Brian Nicola added to this discussion on December 23, 2009 Scott- Have you considered just sending Hope away for training? I love my niece, but her inability to defend the gut wrench is just starting to piss off everyone in the family. Please advise.,        Discussion Topic: What is the best age to start wrestling? Leo Zimmer added to this discussion on December 23, 2009 I feel the pain here. I have two boys, 8 and 11. They both started at 5 yrs old. I think they have reached a point where the grind is too much. They still have fun... dodge ball before practice, throws on the crash mat after practice ect. We are really planning on dialing it back this year. Fewer tournaments, against lesser competition. At the end of the day, you don't wrestle because you LIKE it... you wrestle because you LOVE it. It's that love of the sport that I want to foster in the boys, and there is no drill for that!        ► Add to the Discussion Page 1, 2  Next