Is there a possibility of changing the kids to Folkstyle? I could see in the past when kids primarly wrestled Freestyle, but in the effort to better prepare kids for high school Folkstyle is now the primary style wrestled by kids.

In fact IMHO freestyle at younger ages prevents burnout later and is safer on kids than folkstyle due to shoulder, neck and knee joint manipulation.

SDIKWA switched to Folkstyle last year under the guise that tournaments would be much bigger and more people would participate if only it were Folkstyle. What you got was less people, slower tournaments and more injuries.

As far as injuries there are several studies that support that fact in children. In children growth plates are still open and ligaments and muscles are not yet developed so positions of prolonged control or stress have significant effect on future joint stability and development.

I would like to see a great turn out so that my kids can get lots of mat time.

Weekly Blog:: January 24, 2008
Grappling with Wrestling Injuries
By Dr. Dawn Comstock

Average Injury Rates
• Folkstyle: one injury per every 550 practices and one injury per every 250 matches
• Freestyle: one injury per every 143 matches
• Greco-Roman: one injury per every 200 matches

Most Common Injuries
• Folkstyle: sprains/strains (48.1%), fractures (16.2%), and dislocations (7.6%)
• Freestyle: sprains/strains (45.7%), concussions (12.3%), and fractures (12.3%)
• Greco-Roman: sprains/strains (33.3%) and concussions (24.1%)

Most Commonly Injured Body Sites
• Folkstyle: shoulder (18.6%), knee (15.4%), trunk (12.0%), and elbow (10.1%)
• Freestyle: head/face/neck (28.0%) and knee (23.2%)
• Greco-Roman: head/face/neck (48.1%) and shoulder/clavicle (20.4%)

Most Common Activities Leading to Injury
• Folkstyle: takedown (39.0%) and sparring (14.7%)
• Freestyle: pulling/twisting force (40.8%) and contact with opponent (26.3%)
• Greco-Roman: driven into mat (54.8%) and pulling/twisting force (21.4%)

One thing that concerns me about this study is the relatively small numbers used in this study. 143 matches is smaller than a local tournament. I would be interested in looking at the sample and demographics of the study used. For those interested here are a couple more:

http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?doi=10.1159/000084288&typ=pdf

http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/4/509

-I am not a statitician, but I think it is safe to say, the sample used more than 143 matches. IE, 1 injury every 143, actually was derived from 10 actual injuries over 1430 matches, or something like that.

In regards to your last comment concussion vs. sprain. if you look at the attachements I posted. They give very specific data regarding ages of athletes. The groups under 10 were virtually injury free (injury defined as needing medical treatment at a hospital or doctor) in freestyle wheras folkstyle athletes of the same age had a marked increase.

Both styles had essentially the same injury rate for high school participants.

With all due respect. There are some kid wrestlers that may wish to compete beyond high school. There are so many opportunities for kids to enjoy wrestling at the regional and national level. If you limit the wrestling to folkstyle only those opportunities fail to exist. Additionally, there may be some wrestlers that also consider international competition and that means freestyle and greco.

Look at the number of successful wrestlers from Poway that have competed and some that still compete in freestyle. If you look at the most successful wrestlers nationally you will find that the majority have a background in all styles.

I am not trying to covince you of anything, but as you know this is an age old arguement with many on both sides.

The articles below indicate NYC will be adding Freestyle Greco to their high school season.

If you read the studies you would see that wrestling is actually safer than many sports especially for kids. The discussion is about folkstyle vs. freestyle for younger wrestlers. Educating parents and athletes about the sport is not a bad thing. Talking about injuries and MRSA in wrestling perhaps will reduce both.

Before this past season how many of us really gave MRSA any real attention? I know I did not. But it hit close to home for many of us and we became more diligent about prevention.

For EYE and those that are interested USA Wrestling has created a great link for MRSA and infectious disease prevention:

Poway Elite is a year round training club that participates in Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Greco Roman, with the emphasis in that order, because that is the historically proven way to help kids become the best high school wrestlers and eventually college wrestlers.

The suggestion to have the Cal State Games be a Folkstyle event was only an attempt to encourage more participation. For those that were not there last year, the kids event did not have overwelming numbers from San Diego. People complain about having to drive to Bakersfield, Fresno, San Jose and Reno for tournaments (Brawley excluded - I see them everywhere, they are very dedicated), here is an oppurtunity to get an off season tournament in our back yard.

There are ample FS/GR opportunities, but very few take advantage of them. I love FS/GR, but also advocate having the kids wrestle folkstyle during the season. The ones that want to continue to wrestle in the spring can wrestle FS/GR.

I also think that a lot of half wit parents and coaches really ruin the whole idea of wrestling for kids and sour them on the sport by the time high school hits. I have seen it around here, parents getting into a 9 year old's match like it was the Olympics. It is so funny and so pathetic. These people should be ashamed of themselves. Wrestling should be fun for kids.

"An athlete must be a California resident for 30 days prior to the first day of competition.