Recently read the article in the WIN magazine that dealt with the impact of the new weight classes. Here are the four issues of concern with the new classes written by Willie Saylor:


The Impact
While each and every detail of the 2011 weight change might not rear its head for a season or two, there are a few issues that seem inevitable.

1. The Talent Glut in the Middle
High school wrestlers from 130 through 145 pounds have historically been some of the most talented and competitive athletes in our sport. Now, high school wrestling is giving them fewer opportunities. The consolidation within this range, from four spots to just three, will create situations where many talented wrestlers are cutting heavily, bumping up or sitting on the bench.

2. The Watered-Down Effect
In 2001, there were three weight classes above 170 pounds: 171, 189 and heavyweight. Just a decade later, we have five. What rationale is there for it? Has the talent level amongst these upper weights increased so dramatically that a 40 percent increase in varsity spots within this range is warranted? This is one of the biggest contentions of the new weight classes, and one of the most legitimate criticisms of the state boards exacting such measures on faulty studies and logic. Creating more weight classes because the population is up at a certain weight range, doesn't exactly help the sport. The problem is, you can't quantify talent. And this is something that eludes state decision-makers. Expect to see JV-level athletes occupying varsity positions in this range.

3. College Recruiting Mess
Good luck to the college recruiters who have to figure out if the multiple-time state champion upper weight is a legitimate college prospect or not. And expect to see more fifth-place finishers at, say, 138, go on to college success than what has historically been the case. The playing field isn't exactly level and the high school weights aren't doing any favors to college scouts.

4. The '103 Debate'
This is virtually a separate issue. It isn't likely to dramatically affect teams nationwide, but is a more ethical decision. What is more important: providing opportunities for, and development of, smaller athletes, or enabling smaller programs that can't consistently field a 103-pounder to remain competitive in dual meets?


Comments?

The weight class decisions were not made by talent level but by the average weight of kids. They wanted to have 7% of kids at each weight based on their studies. I do not see how they came up with the numbers though. How many coaches out there can say they have 28% of their kids in these weight classes 182, 195, 220 and 285? I have been around the sport for a long time and to me it is pretty common knowledge that it is harder to get bigger guys out for the sport. This seems like a decision made by a bunch of number crunchers and not by people who truly understand the dynamics of the sport.

I do agree with bumping up the 103 to 106 though. There are very few kids on a roster that are that small anymore. And if they are is the extra 3 pounds going to make that big of a difference if you weight under that? I think this will more benift the kids that are making the cut to 106. In this reguard the extra 3 pounds makes a big difference.

“The change in weight classes resulted from a three-to-four year process utilizing data from the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Optimal Performance Calculator,” said Dale Pleimann, chair of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee and former assistant executive director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association. “The rules committee was able to analyze data from almost 200,000 wrestlers across the country, with the goal to create weight classes that have approximately seven percent of the wrestlers in each weight class.

Did anyone take into consideration the argument of childhood obesity? By adding 40% more positions in the over 170lb weights are we not enabling and promoting kids to be heavier than the national standards? I have seen some, and I am sure you have too, kids that are in the upper weight classes that could definitely use some exercise and weight management. We have now made it easier for these kids to say I don’t need to lose any weight. In my opinion, for most kids, high school sports are there to promote a healthy living through exercise and activity, not to see if we can get more over weight kids on the mat.

the 103 debate is cyclical.
One year we had 4, the next zero (and in many of those years there were kids I tried to get to come out who could have been 103). It was always like that. I think there are kids that small and enough to warrant 103. I wish they had left it.

Likewise, I agree Blaschko that most teams don't have 28% of their kids at those weights. I 'think' and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the rationale is that if the weight class or opportunity existed...more kids who were heavier (FB players) 'might' go out for wrestling. The 215 was supposed to provide this and semi-succeeded. So this hasn't really changed.
What did change was the huge gap between 171 and 189. We ALWAYS had 6 kids who came into the season between 185 and 190. Too small really to be top level at 189 and too big to drop to 171.
Should they have cut? (How healthy is it for a FB player to bounce 20 pounds in and out of season every year?)
perhaps, but staying at 189 was unrealistic because they weighed about 180 as the season progressed. With the new rules...some might not have been able to get to 171 without circumventing the season and cutting before the fat test.

I like the added weight class at 180...because I think it adds an opportunity. But, I dislike the loss of the middle weight between 130-145.
Hmmmmm....

If the weights were established based on the 7% idea in the general population and then generalized into the wrestling community, it is an unfortunate mistake because the general population is not representative of the sample that decides to go out for wrestling. This would explain the reason why 28% of the athletes are not represented in the upper weights.

Ok, so now that the season is begining with the preseason nationals, lets take a look at how many wrestlers signed up voluntarily in each of the newly established weigh classes. From the mid point of 152 and up there were a total of 221 high school wrestlers signed up. From 145 and down there are 599 entered. The lower weights have nearly a 3-1 participation rate over the upper weights.

myred65 - If you look at a typical high school football roster, there is probably a 3-1 ratio of kids who would fit in the upper weights as opposed to the lower weights, which is most likely the reason for the turnout you are seeing at preseason nationals.

I might be wrong on this but I believe that they got the numbers from the weight management stuff. They used the first weigh in to determine where kids were at.

These numbers don't necessarily represent the wrestling numbers because a lot of kids under 150 pounds are more likely to only wrestle and not play football (I know there some kids under 150 lbs that are extremely good football players especially in smaller towns but we are looking nation wide) That means these kids are probably down to weight and spread out by the first weigh were as larger kids are just coming off football season and not down to there wrestling weight.

myred65 this is the reason why pre-season national numbers look like they do. Think about it, wrestlers are usually the toughest, hardnosed kids in the school. Many of your top level kids 150lbs and up are playing football and have a lot of pressure on them to play football from the coaches. (Who wouldn't want a wrestler out for football especially larger kids) Where as kids in lighter weights are more likely to only wrestle and be freed up to participate in preseason nationals. Nebraska starts playoffs earlier that most states and preseason nationals are right around the end of the football season.

Other thing to consider is that the other fall sports end earlier than FB. Cross Country is completely over with by then. That allows your littler guys to wrestle at Preseason Nationals without being active in a current sport.

Then lets roll it all the way through all of the age brackets.

7-8th grade 238 to 56
5-6th grade 182-42
3-4th grade 160-18
1-2nd grade 93-21

now you can't tell me that is all because of high school football.

"3. College Recruiting Mess
Good luck to the college recruiters who have to figure out if the multiple-time state champion upper weight is a legitimate college prospect or not. And expect to see more fifth-place finishers at, say, 138, go on to college success than what has historically been the case. The playing field isn't exactly level and the high school weights aren't doing any favors to college scouts."

I don't like or dislike the new weights, but from personal experience the new weights actually make it easier to recruit some kids for college! Before the new weights it was very hard to recruit a 184 or 197 that were appropriate size for the weight class, especially 184. The good kids are still going to go to college and find a spot on a team and get their opportunity. A good recruiter can spot a kid who takes 5th that is waaay better then a 2x state champ from another weight or class for that matter.

106-126 = 125
126-132 = 133
132-138 = 141
145-152 = 149
152-160 = 157
160-170 = 165
170 = 174
182 = 184
195 = 197
220-285 = 285