what do you think of JV wrestlers

what is the importance of JV wrestlers?

1. It allows those wrestlers that are 1st year, to hone thier technique against other wrestlers of the same ability.

2. It also gives the varsity wrestlers someone to practice with.

Small teams have a disadvantage because they do not have JV teams.

They must take 1st year wrestlers and put them in varsity situations/matches. These kids eather sink or float. Those that sink quit wrestling, and never develop into good wrestlers.

example for reason #1:

TAKEDOWNS. 1st year wrestlers do not have good technique therfore their takedowns are always stopped. When this happens time and time again they quit shooting singles and double.

If they were wrestling equal competition they would be successful on a few of their shots and continue honeing thier technique.

Example of reason #2:

PRACTICE PARTNERS. Without the JV wrestlers a 119 lb wrestler would wrestle the 112,125 wrestlers ever day. This gets you no where day in day out. Your practice partner learns what you do and when you do it. By the end of the year nothing gets accomplished in practice. If you have several different partners to choose from then you get different looks at technique.

grappler-of-old, once again a great post. I think as our middle school wrestling is growing in leaps and bounds, we need to start encouraging schools to start hosting more JV tourneys. Our m.s. kids will need to continue on, and in some programs, it's just not realistic for freshmen to jump up to varsity. The lack of jv tourneys in our state is a real problem. (i think). I posted on this site at another time about possibly getting a JV state tourney going. I called Julian Tackett with the KHSAA. He stated any school could host a JV state championship. It would just have to be completed by the end of the regular varsity season (i.e. it would have to occur before h.s. state)

I may talk to some of the h.s. coaches and see who would be interested in putting together a state tourney for jv. I think it would help our state out tremendously and would be very worthwhile.

This is a great idea, but you run into problems.

In Nky we use to have a JV District tourney at the end of the year. They finally stopped it for a couple of reason.

1. There were not enough participants.

2. Who qualifies as a "JV Wrestler"?

Small teams like Dixie, Holmes, Boone Co., Lloyd. Either did not have J.V. kids or had very few. The second problem was that they would send thier varsity kids to the tourney.

In thier eyes their kids were JV kids wrestling vasity because they did not have enough kids for a varsity squad. In the big teams eyes they were allowing thier varsity wrestlers win JV tourneys.

Nky then decided if you wrestled in the JV district then you could not wrestle in in the varsity district. This was impossible to enforce.

Once again the small schools stated this was unfair to them because then they would have no-one to participate in the varsity District, and thier kids would lose the opportunity to wrestle kids of thier same ability.

You then still have those varsity kids that get hurt the last week or two of wrestling and the JV fills their spot in Districts/Regions.

The larger teams have solved this problem by sending thier JV teams to lower level varsity tournaments. The small teams also send thier teams to these tournaments.

i'm sure we would have the same headaches & problems we have at all levels for sure. we'd just have to hash out some rules. and for coaches that would like to bend the rules to win a prestigious "JV state title", more power to them. ;-) I just can see that the middle school wrestling in the state over the past few years is going to cause a bottle neck for kids fighting for varsity spots. the kids that don't make it will be stuck in a lot of cases as wrestling dummies. it would just be nice to have more JV tourneys to keep these kids sharp. i have some m.s. kids that have moved on 2 years ago that are still stuck behind some good varsity kids. they rarely get into JV tourneys.....they get some dual meet action, but still..not like a tournament.

what about the JV wrestlers who can compete in varsity tourneys

Look at JV and its importance for Campbell Co. How many guys did they lose after they won it all in 2004, and still placed 4TH last year.

You're never gonna have a great team unless you have a good program for your JV guys. Thats why if you get gifted guys who wrestle JV behind a more gifted guy, you send the JV guys to varsity tourneys. That way they can step in and take your team to 4th after you lose all your seniors.

There's several good tourneys close for the NKY teams ... and might be worth the drive for teams down state to send their jv teams to. Western Brown, Batavia, Bethel Tate, and New Richmond all have jv tourneys where you get around 8-10 guys show up for a tournament in any given weight class. Those are only like 20 minutes or so at most from Cincinnati in the surrounding areas over in OH. Mix in a few varsity tourneys to push the guys and you give your JV guys awesome experience throughout a whole year.

This is one thing that Woodford does very good, they have people that stick with it and become champs. Prime example is Tyler Baldwin and i think Micheal Jackson may have been JV some behind Chris Dunn. Both Baldwin and Jackson went on to be state champions.

How about Mike Nolan ? He was jv at 152 the year he won varsity STATE. Yes, the varsity guy from Campbell beat him in wrestle offs nearly every week ... but it played out such that he had to step in and wrestle the class at varsity from time to time ... the end of the year being one of them. He put it together and won it all, as close to a Rocky movie as you get.

Never throw away the JV guys. Of course, not everyone's gonna be a state champ ... but its just a part of development for the vast majority of guys out there.

Woodford's real good at it ... i noticed Chad Scott stepped right in this year and is productive.

Great comments on JV wrestling. In order for Kentucky wrestling to grow and get to the next level we need JV wrestlings more than middle school. When kids become freshman and have been wrestling in middle school but can't make varisty right away they give up and quit. If we had a strong JV program throughout the state it would really help all programs. We need more JV tourney's for this kids to compete in, rather than enter varsity tournaments that they can't really compete in and place at.

I am in agreement of the importance of JV wrestlers. They help the varsity wrestlers out with scrimmage time in practice & can fill in when necessary. Some of the JV wrestlers turned into next season's varsity wrestlers. If some schools are blessed to have a full JV team, sometimes they wrestle in a varsity meet (i.e. Trinity's JV wrestled at a varsity 6-way at Providence HS in Clarksville, IN back on Jan. 7th.) and gain some varsity experience.

So to all JV wrestlers out there, you are important to your team. Whether you get a shot at varsity or not, the coaches are glad to have you. Without you guys, it can be tougher for the varsity guys to succeed on the mat. You're there through thick and thin and cheer on the varsity guys when they compete. The varsity guys do appreciate your support.

So to all JV wrestlers out there' date=' you are important to your team. Whether you get a shot at varsity or not, the coaches are glad to have you. Without you guys, it can be tougher for the varsity guys to succeed on the mat. You're there through thick and thin and cheer on the varsity guys when they compete. The varsity guys do appreciate your support.[/quote']

Dont forget the dues you pay as JV's are repaid when your varsity and you have the JV's to support you!