My son is 7 and he has joined a wrestling club. He has had 6 practices and 1 tournament where he was pinned twice in seconds. He wrestles 8U and 60 and 66. The coaches encourage tournaments even as a beginner because reps will make you better.
Anyway, I got a message from his first grade teacher today because he politely refused snack because he needs to lose a half pound by Saturday morning. That’s a failure on me for not packing him a healthy snack. I’m sure I am failing in other ways. I’m asking for general advice from those that have been there done that.

Just for reference, he has Taekwondo 3 days a week and Wrestling 2 days a week for an hour each. He doesn’t want to give up either sport.

quote:

Originally posted by xd45man:
My son is 7 and he has joined a wrestling club. He has had 6 practices and 1 tournament where he was pinned twice in seconds. He wrestles 8U and 60 and 66. The coaches encourage tournaments even as a beginner because reps will make you better.
Anyway, I got a message from his first grade teacher today because he politely refused snack because he needs to lose a half pound by Saturday morning. That’s a failure on me for not packing him a healthy snack. I’m sure I am failing in other ways. I’m asking for general advice from those that have been there done that.

Just for reference, he has Taekwondo 3 days a week and Wrestling 2 days a week for an hour each. He doesn’t want to give up either sport.

I see you are in the FL panhandle. I am in west-central FL, so maybe we'll cross paths someday.

My son is a HS senior, he started wrestling in 9th grade, but trained MMA for 4 years prior to that. I don't have direct experience with wrestlers as young as your son, but the clubs my son attends all have training and competitions for the youngest wrestlers. That being said, my wife and I are heavily invested in our son's wrestling, and he is now being recruited for college wrestling teams.

In no particular order, here are a few general observations/thoughts.

1) I noted your son is looking to cut 1/2 pound. Not sure of all the details surrounding that, but in general, wrestlers that age should not be cutting. Half a pound is water weight easily lost, so not a big deal. I mention it so that you are aware if his coaches/team focus a lot on cutting weight, find a new team. Even at the upper-division HS level, the best coaches do not recommend serious cutting. By serious, I mean wrestlers dropping from 150lbs to 132lbs in a week. The best thing to do is find a weight your son can easily maintain, on a healthy diet and proper activity level, and wrestle that. When he gets to wrestling HS, I can give you insight into how it works within the FHSAA.

2) Do not put pressure on your son, he will have enough to deal with as it is. All sports have mental pressure, but combat sports, of which wrestling is one, are harder than most, if not all others. The most important things is to comfort and support your son. Fact is, he will lose many, many matches before he starts to win. That is expected. Even the top wrestlers in the world still lose matches occasionally, sometimes even embarrassingly. Over coming that mental hurdle may be the most valuable lesson to come out of wrestling. Coaches or others that blame, or criticize a wrestler after a lost match are shit and to be avoided at all cost. My son suffered for 2 years under such an asshole, and it has taken a year and a half for him to bounce back. Fortunately, we found top-notch coaches, clubs and wrestling academies that did wonders for him. The mental game is harder than the physical game.

3) It is early still for your son, but start to think about how serious he is about wanting to compete and at what levels. Regular season wrestling is one thing, but to get good, he will need to train year-round and compete year round. Many new wrestling parents do not realize the level of intensity of training. It's ok to say that one only wants to participate at a certain level, but one also has to accept that they will be wrestling against those that are training because they want to be Olympians. More at the HS level, but the difference between a wrestler that only trains during wrestling season and one that trains year-round is tremendous. A wrestler that isn't training year round stand virtually no chance of ever wrestling in college. Continually review goals and evaluate trade offs.

4) If your son decides he wants to train hard, he still needs to pay attention to down time. His training regimen should be designed for the long haul, i.e. one that he can sustain for years. Don't over train so that he burns out, or fatigues his body. A good coach recognizes this and should encourage, or even force down time.

5) Plan on spending a lot of time driving all over the region. Two hundred miles is not too far to drive for a tournament. At the HS level, my son travels all over the state, the southeast, and has competed as far away as Cleveland, OH. In 4 hours from now, I will be heading out for a 5 hour drive to a weekend long tournament.

6) The more parents participate, even if that just means attending tournaments, the better the wrestler. Your child intuitively knows if you value his wrestling, and if you do, he will be happier and more motivated.

7) If you and your son get hooked on wrestling, understand you just might find yourself never able to leave. Many other HS parents I know express relief whenever their child finally is not in band/football/tennis, or whatever activity they did. Most wrestling parents keep coming back long after their child is gone, because it's addictive.


There are probably a thousand more things to cover, but I'll stop here for now. Feel free to reach out if you have any other, or more specific questions.

Is it normal for 7 year olds to be worrying about their weight for this? Sounds crazy and not healthy at all to me.

I know little about wrestling but I think I'd keep an eye that his healthy weight increases as it should for proper development. Unfortunately it's just the opposite for most US children who sadly struggle with obesity.

One grandson just began wrestling a couple weeks ago had his first meet Sunday, I believe in a 10 and under novice class. Anyway he went 4-0 pinning his opponents in all matches, 3 actual pins but the official called one a technical pin when he was up 15 points to 0. He's 10 years old, daughter says he's up to 70-71 pounds, and in the 74# class. A few months ago at his last check-up he was still 68# which is light for his height and unchanged from the prior check-up. Doc was concerned it'll affect his growth and gave my daughter some ideas to help such as vegetable smoothies, etc.

Daughter says he loves wrestling but she said she's going to make sure he keeps adding healthy weight. He'll age up (I suppose to 12 and under) when he turns 11 in April so that'll be a whole different experience.

About his weight. Without cutting, he weighs 60 in the morning and around 61 or 62 in the evening. So, we want to have him at 59.5 to be safe. All we have done for cutting is avoid sugar. Don't eat candy or the bag of cookies at snack. Drink water instead of juice or milk. He is still eating full meals and having snacks of meat and cheese or fruit. I wouldn't consider having him cut weight for a match if he didn't already wake up at 60 pounds. So, a half pound is not extreme even at his weight. He has a lot of Christmas fat. I think we will be good just having him wake up Saturday morning, don't eat or drink before 7am weigh in and then afterwards give him hydration and a light breakfast. Matches generally don't start until after 8 or 9.

He's 7, let him have fun.

Ringworm and a variety of other bacterial infections from the mats , gear, and everything else will happen.

quote:

Anyway, I got a message from his first grade teacher today because he politely refused snack because he needs to lose a half pound by Saturday morning

^^^^^^^^
Trying to make weight at his age is crazy and beyond stupid. This is the stupidity of amateur coaches. Eating disorders are VERY EXPENSIVE to treat and create life long problems. Iowa has the best college wrestling team by far. Ask their coach for an opinion. Wrestling is not about strength it is about learning the proper moves.
Be on the lookout for male creeps. All sports have them. Remember Dennis Hastert former speaker of the House?