Youthwrestlingguide20032004

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Competition, Winning & Losing

Unfortunately, many and most wrestling

tournaments available to your child do not take into

account your child’s athletic development or

experience. Tournaments take into account weight

and age or year in school. On occasion it is not

uncommon for your young wrestler to meet more

physically dominant and talented wrestlers.

Tournaments can be difficult on the development

of young, inexperienced wrestlers.

Regardless of whether your child wins or loses,

always reinforce the positive. In an individual

wrestling match, discuss the things that went well.

Emphasize the importance of participation, not

winning or losing. Losing can be more traumatic to

a young wrestler due to the individual nature of the

sport. Losing in a team sport may not be as

emotionally difficult because the loss is shared with

others. Our club has lost a number of good athletes

and potential wrestlers because of the lack of short

term wrestling success. Again, individual success in

this sport is not instant and develops with ongoing

practice, mat time (competition), and parental

encouragement.

Wrestling Styles

There are three primary styles in amateur

wrestling: folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Folkstyle is the traditional American style of

wrestling coached in the Lion Wrestling Club. It is

also the style wrestled at the junior high, high

school and American college levels.

Freestyle and Greco-Roman are the internationally

recognized styles of wrestling. It is the style you

will watch at the Summer Olympic Games.

Although similar to folkstyle, there are differences

in scoring, strategy and technique. Freestyle

wrestling is encouraged for the advanced youth

folkstyle wrestler. Most of the place winners at the

state high school tournament have strong freestyle

backgrounds.

Equipment & Dress

For club practices: shorts, tennis shoes and a tight-

fitting T-shirt are all that we require. Loose and

baggy clothing is discouraged because hands and

fingers can get twisted or bent. Sweat pants or

kneepads can be worn if the knees become tender

from contact with the mat. Wrestling shoes,

headgear, and wrestling singlets are optional. At

the youth level practices, there is generally not

enough contact to warrant the use of headgear.

Headgear, however, is recommended to prevent

rubbing, banging or twisting of the ear causing

“cauliflower ear” (swelling and hardening of ear

soft tissue). Mouthpieces are not required but

encouraged.

We ask that all wrestlers wear a clean pair of tennis

or wrestling shoes. Do not wear the same shoes

that you wear outside. Stocking feet are not

recommended because they provide limited

traction. We need to keep the wrestling mats clean

at all times.

The same type of clothing worn at practice is

accepted at most tournaments. Some tournaments

may require headgear and most youth are dressed

in the full wrestling attire to include headgear,

singlet and wrestling shoes.

Equipment can be purchased from most local

sporting goods or shoe stores. Wrestling catalogs

are available from the club coordinator or coach.

The Play It Again Sports store often has a stock of

used singlets and wrestling shoes.

For free wrestling equipment catalogs call: