grecowrestler13

Aleksandr Karelin, the only 3time Greco-Roman Olympic champion, started wrestling at the late age of 13. He said in his interview that when he started wrestling he had no muscle, and could barely do one pull-up, but managed to turn himself into 286lbs all muscle in no time by his late teens

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TRAIN LIKE A MADMAN!

ua540ftr

I disagree with the 2 year no tournaments idea. You don't get any better wrestling with or practicing with the same kids all the time. My kids love to go out of town to go to a tournament.

Also where we live there are about 10 tournaments that are held every year between Oct - March we probably go to 5 of the toughest ones and bypass on the rest. Because wrestling the same kids week in and week out does not help you in the long run. Seeking out better competition is the key.

I have one son that usually places first in all of the local and state tournaments. We live on the east coast (VA) and I take him to PA to hit some tournaments. He usually places but he has to work for it.

He wrestles in tournaments because he wants to and we have fun along the way. There have been times he wanted to stay home and we have. If you keep it fun and don't push hard I think it will work out.

My kids also loves to play football go to the driving range, swim, ride their bike/skate board, play video games so we mix it up and have fun.

legridder155

Big, As I respect your view about Russian wrestling...this is the US.
Not all kids that wrestle youth are looking to be international wrestlers. Some will go on to high school and wrestle, some may wrestle in College. Not all kids want to be like the Russians.
There are many youth wrestlers who will be attorney's, doctors, business owners and so forth. My oldest son wants to be a D.O.. With the character that youth wrestling builds is what is most important.

stangwrestler

the key is to keep it fun. i just graduated high school and i can tell you that when i was younger, i would hate the practices that were all work and no play. i'd dread them. i found the competition fun, no matter what kind it was. whether it were sprints across the mat and back, wrestling for a medicine ball(this one's fun*) or just position and live wrestling. i started when i was nine, and i think thats the best age to start a kid because they are mature enough to decide whether they like the sport enough to stick with it, which is very important. although 9 is a good age to start, any age is good depending on the kid. i say this because there are 8 kids in my family. of the 8, 6 of us wrestled, and we all started wrestling at the same time. we were 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 14. we were all pretty successful, with my 2 younger brothers going into there senior year next year. my dad and mom kept it fun for us and took us to a tournament a month. they made us hungry for the competition, which allowed us to learn. it all helped me as i was a 2 time state qualifier in california, and i only wrestled 3 high school years. so keep it fun and make them hungry for the competition.

*this game is played by putting a medicine ball in the center of the mat(size of medicine ball depends on the size of the wrestlers) and having 2 wrestlers place there palms on the top of the ball with there heads on each others shoulder so not to bump heads. when the whistle blows, the wrestlers try to take the ball from the center and put it outside the large circle of the mat(out of bounds line). the kids should be wrestling for the ball and trying to get it to there out of bounds line behind them. if you have smaller kids you can use the smaller circle in the center.

Big

2 years when you first start should be used to learn how to wrestle, not to become a better wrestler. Of course if you start at 12 or older you may need only a year as you learn faster at 12 than at 8 or 9.

Practices can be fun if you incorporate games and stuff.

If your kid is trained by a master technician, you will need at least a year to master many of the moves he shows. But if your kid starts at 8 or 9 he needs to spend at least 6 months just to do basic physical training and gymnastics.

M Richardson

Perhaps the most profound post on this board. Thank you, bgg888.

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