Maybe it is time to talk about moving HS Wrestling permanently to the spring?

[Longdayrunner]

It is a given that the North Carolina 2020-2021 Wrestling Season will be a spring sport.  So with that in mind, why not consider the value of making wrestling a permanent spring sport.  I know that many of you will think that this idea is a stupid one or without merit, but just consider the following:

1.   John Smith of Oklahoma State University has advocated this for years.  And has made several proposals to the NCAA regarding that topic.  https://www.stwnewspress.com/sports/osu_sports/smith-nwca-discussing-the-potential-of-shifting-college-wrestling-to-spring/article_00176159-d0d1-50a7-b2ac-9e1751eaba86.html

2.   Moving wrestling to the spring would allow the recruitment of football players to be more successful.  Think about it, in the 2019 football season there were a possible 80 schools involved with the post season, that is a minimum of 2260 participants.  How many times have I heard that the football players competing into December have little interest in coming out after a month of wrestling competition has gone by?  We know that college head football coaches are impressed with football prospects who wrestle and those coaches know that wrestlers make better football players.
http://www.nwcaonline.com/football-players-wrestled/ 

https://www.stack.com/a/why-wrestling-makes-you-a-better-football-player#:~:text=NFL%20stars%20with%20prolific%20wrestling,Jeff%20Saturday%20and%20Roddy%20White.

3.   There would be at least six months of in school skills sessions before the start of the season to develop kids and have the work carry into the season without the summer interruption. 

4.   There would be at least six months of kids working on a safe and comprehensive body control weight loss program before the season starts.

5.   There would not be the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holiday interruptions.

6.   Better weather to exercise outside and without worrying about lost days of competition.

7.   You will only need to keep the wrestlers academically eligible for one semester and/or have a semester to get them eligible.

8.   You will not have to deal with the winter flu or sickness months.

I could list more reasons to wrestler in the spring.  What are your thoughts?

[Coach Atwood]

Another supporting aspect of this would be immediate availability of the gym.  In other words, no scheduling conflicts with basketball.  This would be really helpful to schools that do not have wrestling rooms and have to juggle practice times in the gym(s) with multiple basketball teams.   Also, wouldn't have to consult with basketball schedule when scheduling home duals and tournaments.

[jtutterrow]

Biggest negative to moving wrestling to the spring is now instead of competing with Basketball and Swimming only for kids you have more sports. Basketball only carries 24 and not many males in high school swim anyway and if they do they usually do both. With baseball, golf, tennis, and track and field already being in the spring now we risk losing more athletes that we currently get during the winter. I am not and never will be a proponent of spring wrestling because of competing with other sports for kids. I get where most of you are coming from, I do, but it is not that simple for all of us coaches. For those of us that have baseball players that wrestle it will already be tough on sustaining the program for a year.

[psu9wrestler]

Moving wrestling to Spring is a bad idea. I had to respond to this post.

1.   John Smith of Oklahoma State University has advocated this for years.   Because it might make better sense in College doesn't translate to High School or youth.  If you want to hurt wrestling and diminish numbers, move it to the spring.  College Wrestling is a different animal.  BTW he is only recommending the sport to move to after the 1st semester. ie Jan, Feb, Mar.  (Still cold and in Northern States, Still mainly winter.)  The semester break is a bigger deal in College.

2.   Moving wrestling to the spring would allow the recruitment of football players to be more successful.   If wrestling required the recruitment of Football players to be successful, we are not doing a good job of just recruiting wrestlers.  Football players should be recruited before high school age before they are pressured into a "this sport only mindset"  Recruitment of Football players has been aided by the singlet vs Fight shorts.  The other issue is the ego, It is tough for a  HS football player who thinks of himself as a badass to put his reputation on the line and face defeat.  It takes special coaches that understand the psychology of kids to encourage and cajole the HS Football player that is starting wrestling for the first time.  The love of the sport will prevail when they get their feet wet and the coach is encouraging in the process. Moving it to Spring will not open the flood gates for football players

3.   There would be at least six months of in-school skills sessions before the start of the season to develop kids and have the work carry into the season without the summer interruption.   This contradicts the recruitment of football player point.  Not all wrestlers will want 6 mo. of prep from HS coach.

4.   There would be at least six months of kids working on a safe and comprehensive body control weight loss program before the season starts.  Kids grow all year round, but mainly in the spring!  Working on weight loss program for six months is ridiculous.  Weight control management should not even be a discussion point


5.   There would not be the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holiday interruptions.  What about those great traditional Christmas Holiday Tournaments.  The competition season should start after Thanksgiving.  When I think of Wintertime - I think of Family, Friends, Holidays, and Wrestling.  Not the Easter Bunny or Spring Break Tournaments - no one will attend.  People have cabin fever and want to get outside in the spring.


6.   Better weather to exercise outside and without worrying about lost days of competition.  Bad weather and the cold is what brings people into gyms to train and stay warm.  Again, if you want to hurt wrestling and reduce the numbers move it to the spring.

7.   You will only need to keep the wrestlers academically eligible for one semester and/or have a semester to get them eligible.  Kids should;d be academically sound period.  Today's academic standards are so weak, that it doesn't take much to stay academically eligible.

8.   You will not have to deal with the winter flu or sickness months.  The flu doesn't know when the wrestling season begins or ends.  Yes it is more prevalent in wintertime, but it doesn't kill seasons

Other arguments against - Freestyle season is in Spring/Summer.  Post HS Wrestling tournaments are held in Spring.  Please stop advocating for Spring wrestling and work to strengthen the sport where it currently resides and belongs.

[Tapout]

Moving to spring although your have great supporting reasons, I would just wonder how that would effect freestyle and Greco season. How would wrestlers compete at all the national spring competitions, the cadet/ Jr World team trials/ Pan Am trials etc. After all that is where a lot of the recruiting happens.

[Longdayrunner]

Actually, a Feb 1 start date and finish mid to late May fits that late spring and summer schedule for the major events.  The wrestlers would benefit from not having the 3 to 5 month lay off for the late spring and summer events.  Pushing local events to the fall would be a big benefit to developing wrestlers and boost a stronger start to the season.  In fact, I think you would see an increase in participation for off season events, in the fall, because kids will be getting ready for the start of the season.  If a wrestler was thinking about wrestling in college, this spring schedule would boost recruiting as college coaches are available.

[Jacobshook]

I am for the spring season.
I think that the PROS out weigh the CONS dramatically.
I think participation and coaching retentions would increase. I think the wrestling would improve. I know the argument will be that kids will want to be outside after a long winter being inside and kids will have to make a choice with some spring sports but they are making the same types of decisions in the fall and winter either way.

[jtutterrow]

While I agree kids are having to choose between sports either way there are more choices in the spring for males and not enough athletes to go around at some schools as it is already. There are believe it or not more sports in the spring season than there are any other season for males. If we move wrestling to the spring some of us have to compete with Lacrosse, Baseball, Track, and Tennis. In the winter you really only have to compete with basketball. Kids that swim can always swim and wrestle since the two sports go together. In the fall you have football, soccer, and cross country. So in all reality wrestling in the winter season is in the perfect spot for not having to worry about losing athletes.

[Jacobshook]

I agree that the math is on the side of wrestling staying in the winter but we still aren't seeing MOST NC high school programs carry 40+ on their roster throughout the winter season, which in my opinion, would be ideal. JV duals, freshman teams, multiple entries at varsity tournaments, etc would be much more common, and appropriate.  Also, coach retention is a REAL PROBLEM. Look. at all the vacancies posted every year. These guys aren't leaving bc they want to hunt, they are leaving because they have wives, family, and events over the holidays during a 4 month season with most weekends included. I also believe that kids will choose wrestling over many of the spring sports currently offered.