youth wresting

Cameron_1969

I have a 6 year old. He's on a gymnastics team and is getting incredibly strong. Another one of the adults in his life is eager to get him into peewee wrestling.

Anybody have experience or an opinion on this?

tcbutler

Wrestling a a great sport for building strength and character. I wrestled since I was about 4 years old, my Dad was a H.S. coach, and still love it to this day. Having said that, I have an 8 year old son, Cael, and I didn't start him with wrestling until he was 7 and asked if he could. I didn't want him to start too early and have him burn out. I know it is different today than when I was a kid in that if you want to truly excel in it, you almost have to wrestle year round, going to camps and tournaments. Right now, I just have Cael wrestling during the season. After a couple more years, if he is really into it and wants to go to camps and tournaments in the off-season, then I will let him.

If your son is strong and likes to wrestle around, I'd let him give it a try if he is interested. If he does gymnastics and is strong, he may very well be a good wrestler.

I was also a H.S. and J.H. coach for a few years and love the sport, so I may be a little biased.

P.S. My son, Cael, is named after Cael Sanderson, the current Penn State Head Wrestling Coach and (one of) the last U.S. gold medal winning wrestler and one of the best wrestlers in U.S. history.

Cameron_1969

That's great info! thanks. . .He's in Gymnastics 9 hours a week (MWF 3hrs). . So I'm worried that trying to add Wrestling would be way to much. . But I'm going to do more research and see what's available.

tcbutler

Yeah, I know what you mean about being too much. I want my kids to be able to enjoy being kids and not have to spend too much time practicing.