1. I’m assuming you have yourself and just 1 assistant coach. So here’s what you do. Take your best kids to a tournament that matches their skill level. Have your 1 assistant coach run practice for the 16 kids that are left behind. That shouldn’t be an issue. If you need an extra coach at the tournament to help you, get one of your parents of one of the “best” kids to sign up as a volunteer assistant. Usually just a background check, maybe a CPR class. Even if its just you at tourneys, ref can’t start a match without a coach in the corner…so you wont have kids without a coach. Even if they did, most your “best” kids have probably wrestled enough freestyle that they’d be fine without a coach in the early rounds.

2. Take your “not so great” kids to a JV tournament. Have those “better” wrestlers come in for a 60-90 minute practice…drill hard, work on a little technique, a few live goes and get outta there. They’ll get more done than in a regular practice and have time to catch up on schoolwork/relax/condition or whatever.

3. Email tournament directors and ask for (also, search out and attend) tourneys with second chance brackets, JV brackets, etc. Off the top of my head, I know Hanford Winter Cup had girls and boys JV in addition to varsity. Many others do as well.

4. Don’t go to regular tournaments. Hit JV mix-and-matches or dual tournaments.

5. Find another team/coach with the same issue and hold a joint practice with your and their “not as good guys”. Now, this still counts as an outing for your team (which I’m assuming should not be an issue) but new practice partners, extra coaches, etc is a great way to boost your new guys. If you want, you can pair guys up for matches at the end and have a little more control ad far as getting well matched partners. A rising tide lifts all boats.



As for mat side weigh ins… duals maybe, tournaments, no. You’d see a ton of FF for kids missing weight. When that happens, now you end up with 2 other kids who do not get to wrestle a match. You can’t just have kids move up a weight. Weight management is a part of the sport, and the weight assessment and decent plan rules make it much safer than it used to be.

Nothing wrong with side by side weigh ins…especially now that they’re wearing singlets. And weigh ins are not that hard. If kids want to wrestle, they’ll be quiet and listen for the official to call the weight classes out. Thats just a poor excuse and a lack of discipline.