Streetsboro, sandusky and JOhnstown are next

It has been brought to our attention several times recently that there are wrestlers who are signing up for Rookie that are not in fact rookie wrestlers, which is defined as 1st and 2nd year wrestlers ONLY. Several points to make here:  

1.We ask that you keep in mind that the point of the rookie division is to allow beginners to not get essentially “throw to the wolves” by being pitted against veteran wrestlers that they will have no chance against and will likely drive them out of the sport.  In our experience, the parents who wrongly sign their wrestler are usually only thinking about getting their kids more mat time but are blind to affects other wrestlers. Sure, losing is part of the sport and every wrestlers journey, but a fair opportunity to compete is everything. We ask that you please do not take that away from the other kids.  

 2.If you see something, say something.  There are literally thousands of wrestlers who signup for the rookie division at our tournaments each season.  As you can imagine, it is impossible to research the background of all of these wrestlers, so this is done on the “honor system”.  However, what is possible for us is as a sport to police our own. If you see a wrestler that you know has been competing for more than two years, please bring it to our attention and we will look into the situation and if appropriate, advise that wrestler to move to the open.   

Please note that we would need to be notified by 6PM the day before the tournament in order to make changes to the brackets for that specific event. 

3. In some cases, your wrestler may be a first- or second-year wrestler, but if your wrestler has gotten a tremendous amount of mat time in that time or maybe just demonstrated an extremely aptitude for the sport (which is a great thing) it may be time to move up to the Open Division.  For instance, if you find that your wrestler is pinning and tech falling their way through brackets multiple weeks in a row, it is likely time to move up.   Thank you to all for your cooperation and efforts in making our great sport as fair as possible!