After attending several tourneys in other states, I've found a format I really like. Now, I'm not going to comment on the weight classes, ect..., just the way the tourney is run. We've attended several tourneys that offer three sessions with the first starting at 9am. They run it with peewee and intermediate in the first. Bantam and novice in the second and MS in the third. All middle school starters are required to wrestle the MS session unless they are a first yr MS starter. Then they can wrestle their own division.

This set up gives kids the option to wrestle in more than one division if they are looking for a challenge. It also gives those running the tourney an opportunity to make more money because those wrestling two sessions pay double. It also gives MS kids more opportunities to compete, especially those who don't earn a starting position.

We will be using this format for our tourney this year. We will also us USA weight classes and weigh ins. I don't want this topic to go down the weight class route but I'd like to hear what others think about running the youth tourneys in this format.

Many of the staggered tournaments that I have been to are at smaller gyms where it would be pretty crowded trying to squeeze in the wrestlers and families for PK - 8th Grade.  If the gym are big enough, then it is nice to run all the age groups at once.  I have two wrestlers that are spread out in age, K & 6th grade so the staggered tournaments can be a long day.  Most of the tournaments that we attend have a youth tournament coupled with their high school tournament.  The youth tournament is hosted either on Friday night or Sunday with a high school tournament on Saturday.  I see kids wrestle multiple divisions whether the tournament is staggered or not. 

I actually see very few local tournaments with set weight classes in the state that I live in (It is a big wrestling state).  I really only see set weight classes at USA and AAU sanctioned tournaments which are a small percentage of the total number of youth wrestling tournaments.  If the youth tournaments don't have enough wrestlers, then the set weight classes can hurt the competition.