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Wrestling is Unique
Wrestling will make your child more confident and self-reliant. Wrestling is an individual achievement where just like school, if you pay attention in class, practice what is taught, and give your best effort and you will pass with honors.

Fun we keep wrestling fun. Most kids get into wrestling because they want to have fun. Their experience with wrestling is usually from TV, the movies, or wrestling with Dad. Some parents bring their kids because they believe that wrestling will be good for them. Others find wrestling the perfect sport because their child is too big, small, slow, or shy, for other sports. Regardless of why your boy or girl is in wrestling, never forget that he or she will not want to continue unless it's fun. This means that all parents and coaches have a responsibility to remember that we are here to keep wrestling fun for the kids. If we take the fun out of sports, the kids will find fun things to do outside of sports.

9 Years Old and Over* 58, 63, 66, 69, 73, 77, 81, 86, 91, 96, 103, 110, 120, 145, 175**

* For League purposes, a wrestler's age is determined by age ON December 31, of the current year. Participants must be 12 years of age or younger on this date.

Girls compete under the same age and weight classifications as the boys.
Every year for the last few years the number of girls learning to wrestle has increased steadily. No one expects the girls to outnumber the boys soon, but there are already enough participating to support the girls in their own State, Regional and National Championship tournaments. Girls learn the basics by competing and training with boys and girls in the practice room and at local tournaments

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from
6:00 to 7:00 PM for 8 and under and 7:00 to 8:30 PM for 9 and over at
MATTSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
For the whole season from October through January.

*Important* Allow enough time to get your wrestling shoes on and be ready to go by the indicated times.

Please visit our web site at kentwrestling.org and check the calendar or News Letter for any late-breaking changes to the practice or tournament schedules.

Your wrestler will soon be bugging/begging/pleading for knee pads, wrestling shoes, sweats, head gear, wrestling T-shirts, singlets, warm-ups, video tapes and side trips. We try to find the best deals in town and will inform you of any deals we come across on the web site.

Horseplay
Keeping wrestling fun does not mean that we allow horseplay. The training sessions are kept fast moving to keep the interest level up and to discourage roughhousing. Your wrestler is more likely to get hurt at practice than at a tournament. Total mat time at a tournament is usually less than 20 minutes and your wrestler is on guard every second. Time spent in the wrestling room is measured in hours and the kids tend to goof around. We do not get the bone crunching injuries where kids are crashing full speed into each other. Wrestling injuries tend to be soft tissue trauma to the tendons and muscles.

Competition & Nutrition
What your wrestler eats will affect performance. Never give an athlete a big breakfast the day of competition. The body wants to take a nap when it has a large amount of food to digest. Beef, pork, fried food and dairy products must be avoided because they hog the oxygen in the wrestlers blood system. Poor competition nutrition effects the wrestler psychologically because it does not become apparent until the third or fourth minute of the match. The wrestler begins to run out of gas. The opponent seems to become stronger. The wrestler is doing everything correctly, but it is not working.

General Nutrition
Wrestlers tend to eat the same junk food as everyone else. If your family already has healthy eating habits, don not change anything. On the other hand you may be able to use "wrestling" as a reason to eat more vegetables etc.

Warming Up
Practice sessions will always begin with a series of warm up exercises designed to stretch muscles and tendons to reduce injuries. We play games to make the warm up drills fun. The normal warm up time is 10 to 15 minutes.

Parent Etiquette
We do not allow parents, wrestlers or coaches to blame the refs, or anyone else, for our losses, especially when we get ripped off. Wrestling is about learning to take personal responsibility for your actions or lack of action. It is better to lose with dignity than win with shame. The important thing is to remember that you can wipe out years of training in a few minutes by losing your temper in front of your kid(s) and a gym full of spectators.
On the other hand, the day will come when your car breaks down on the way to the tournament, you leave your wallet at home, your kids act like monsters and the referee's rip off your wrestler match after match. This is no excuse for making a fool of your self. Bad calls are part of sports from the Super Bowl & the Olympics to the beginner ref's at our local tournaments.

Ride Sharing
It makes no sense to have 50 cars clogging the parking lot when we all live close to each other, and it's not always convenient to get your wrestler to practice on time. First year wrestlers need the training more than the experienced wrestlers, and new wrestlers are much more likely to want to skip practice because no matter how much fun we have, practice is still physically challenging.
Car-pooling & caravanning to tournaments makes sense because you can save money, the kids enjoy the trip more, you get to know other parents and it's more enjoyable if you stop for Pizza on the way home.
If you're not able to car-pool, it's a good idea to caravan with at least one other family because cars break down and people have accidents.