BigWoof31 said:

Question for wrestlers and wrestling dads.
I have a very young little boy that I think would enjoy the sport. He's six and has never really show much enthusiasm towards basketball or soccer but I think he might like wrestling and he certainly has the build for it.

I've started the process of looking into several "youth" teams for him to try out for. Keeping in mind, he has ZERO exposure to the rules, conditioning, fitness...etc
How young is too young for something like this? Are there places to get him introduced to the sport before he looks into one of these teams.


FWIW - my only exposure to something similar is youth swimming where they very much have a "we take kids of all levels" approach.

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I was on a wrestling mat since I was 5 and up until then me and my older brother beat the crap out of each other wrestling in the living room, mom always heard crashing and started yelling at us. But a lot of local youth teams will let your kid come early to watch, learn and sometimes participate with kids close to their size. If he just wants to do that for awhile and not attend meets, do that until he wants to. Or, if he was like me and wants trial by fire, let him compete and just remind him if a kid is more experienced or bigger, he is still early on. Key is don't let them get too discouraged and try to gently teach through the mistakes at first.

My experience is kids can be a sponge at a young age if it's for them. That said, stick to absolute basics and doing them well. Single and double legs on your feet (emphasize level change drills early) with a couple simple set ups like inside collar ties, wrist ties and head position. At Graham we would call out the setup/tie, move and takedown so we could do it on demand, the more advanced kids usually could pick it up early on after repetition.

If you keep any sort of pulse on it and talk to the coaches, you'll get it as you go. Who knows, maybe you'll get roped into coaching and that's when the real fun starts haha. But you'll pick up the sport quicker than you think, my dad was the same way and now he is an avid fan that watches all the college meets and knows what he's talking about despite never having wrestled himself.

Did not realize I shared a birthday with the Golden Bear!
Happy Birthday Jack!
GO BUCKS!

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Buckeyetology: Ohio State On the Bubble After Back-to-Back Big Ten Wins​

Ohio State hoops has held serve in January on its quest for the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in four years. No more, no less.

The Buckeyes didn't overachieve by sweeping their West Coast road trip, but did defeat Oregon before falling to Washington in the pair of road games. They had chances to upset No. 7 Nebraska in a 72-69 loss, but handled business at Rutgers and during their two-game homestand vs. UCLA and Minnesota.

Securing those last two wins was especially key after Ohio State lost to Washington, given that the Buckeyes now travel to Ann Arbor to face rival No. 3 Michigan as heavy underdogs on Friday. There are three winnable games to follow that contest, though two are on the road: Penn State, at Wisconsin and at Maryland. It will be an important sequence before a brutal back end of the schedule for the Buckeyes.

NCAA Tournament Outlook​

Ohio State is firmly defined as a bubble team by the experts and projectors, leaning more toward the inside after a 13-5 start to its 2025-26 season. "Consistent" might not be a word many use to describe this Buckeye team, or many college basketball teams in a sport of high variance, but it's one of the biggest things going for OSU on its résumé.

The worst loss of Ohio State's season came in Quadrant 2 (that's out of four), a road letdown at the buzzer vs. Pitt, which is 8-10 on the season and 118th in the NCAA's NET rankings. A game the Buckeyes should have had, certainly, but not considered a bad loss by those who select the NCAA Tournament field. On a neutral court, it would be, but not on the road where it remains Quad 2 and not Quad 3.

Ohio State has won each of its Quad 3 and 4 games and only lost that contest to the Panthers in Quad 2. Each of the Buckeyes' four other losses came in their four Quad 1 games. By the same token, however, they haven't won any Quad 1 games yet. They'll get two chances the next two weeks vs. the Wolverines and Badgers.

A high NET ranking of 36th is the other metric boosting Ohio State onto the right side bubble. The Buckeyes are one of the last four teams in the tournament, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, and outrank each of the other three teams in that category from Lunardi: USC (48th), New Mexico (41st) and Texas (42nd).

CBS Sports' coalition of experts actually has Ohio State in a safer spot as a No. 10 seed. That's about the highest projection the Buckeyes are earning around the country. In total, they are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament by 58 of the 84 brackets aggregated by the Bracket Matrix, which averages them out to be the fifth-to-last team in.
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Happy 86th Birthday Jack! Go Bucks!

dragurd said:

Matt P with an OL? Is there something we don't know?

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Could be a region he's familiar with

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Class: 2028
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brodybuck21 said:

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Matt P with an OL? Is there something we don't know?

If not for whatever they did the last half of the season he was a lock for offensive rookie of the year

Ending the portal and NIL and going back on transfer rules you know the good ole days.

Romanowski said:

I’d ask your local high school or middle school coaches if there are any youth organizations in your area. They may even hold an open house to gauge interest with young kids in the community or school district. I grew up in Cleveland and the YMCA in Westlake was the premier destination for youth wrestling. It started young too, as in kindergarten young. Sometimes there will be youth camps that occur on the weekends during the off season. A lot of times wrestlers will hold a daily or weekend camp at a middle or high school too.

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Thank you - I will do so.
This is not a sport I participated in so I'm not going to be much help for him. I'm just looking for someone who can teach him the basics and also help him to protect himself, move safely...etc