Every wrestler begins at the Beginning Level until the coaching staff determines that he or she is prepared to move into the Advanced Level. Moving up is not based solely on:

• Age.

• Grade.

• How long you’ve been in the club.

• What group your friends are in.

• What group a parent thinks you should be in

Moving up means a wrestler has demonstrated enough knowledge, maturity, and independence to function efficiently in an advanced wrestling practice. Before moving up, a wrestler should have:

• A clear understanding of how weigh-ins work.

• Knowledge of all wrestling starting positions.

• A basic understanding of the rules and scoring.

• The ability to listen and follow instruction.

• The ability to work hard throughout practice.

• Enough emotional control to handle difficult practices without constantly crying, quitting, or shutting down.

• The ability to perform basic wrestling techniques simply by being asked. For example:

  • • “Show me a double leg.”

    • “Hit a single.”

    • “Show me a high crotch.”

    • “Give me a half nelson.”

    • “Show me a stand-up.”

    • “Show me a knee slide.”

If the wrestler needs each of those movements completely retaught before performing it, he or she is not yet ready for the Advanced Group.

That’s okay. Learn the skills. Build the foundation. Then move up

This is not an exhaustive criteria to move up. Ultimately we will use the coaches discretion to keep both groups as competitive as possible. 

A good rule of thumb is “learn everything you can first. Be a good partner/teammate. If you break all your toys, we will get you a new one.”

Club pricing will be established on an hourly training model. The final cost of a session will depend on:

• Length of each practice.

• Number of scheduled practices.

• Length of the session.

• Seasonal workload and programming.

Sessions may run six, seven, eight, or another specified number of weeks. The hourly model gives us a consistent way to determine what a session should cost based on the amount of wrestling being offered. Again, understand the distinction: We may calculate the cost by the hour. We are not providing daycare by the hour. Parents are expected to be involved, particularly with young and beginning wrestlers.

Final session pricing will be published with registration information for each session.

Our goal is to offer wrestling a minimum of four days per week and, when possible, five. Families will primarily register for either:

• Monday/Wednesday, or

• Tuesday/Thursday.

The purpose is organization. We need to have a reasonable understanding of who will primarily attend each practice. However, registration for Monday/Wednesday does not mean you cannot attend Tuesday/Thursday.

If you want more wrestling, come wrestle.

There is no additional charge for attending the corresponding weekday practices during your session. Monday through Thursday practices will generally mirror one another closely enough that motivated wrestlers can get additional repetitions without being thrown into an entirely unrelated practice. That means a family willing to put in the time may have the opportunity to wrestle four days per week.

Friday / Fifth-Day Practices

When available, the fifth practice may look different. It could be:

• Friday Night Live.

• Additional technique.

• A technique or position we didn’t have time to cover during the week.

• Situational wrestling.

• Open mat.

• Additional live wrestling.

We want families who desire more wrestling to have opportunities to get it. More mat time is available. What you do with it is up to you.

Expect the wrestling room to be hot.

We intentionally like a hot wrestling room. It adds another difficult element to practice and helps develop the mentality required to work when you’re uncomfortable. During the spring and summer, it may be extremely hot. 

That means preparation matters. 

A wrestler who shows up poorly hydrated, eating garbage, and already physically depleted is going to have a very difficult practice. Hydration doesn’t start when practice starts. Parents should encourage wrestlers to drink water throughout the entire week:

• Send them to school with a water bottle.

• Keep it full.

• Drink throughout the day.

• Eat decent food.

• Show up prepared to work.

There is only so much we can accomplish during the hours we have your wrestler. What happens in the wrestling room is often determined by the preparation that happened outside of it.

We are fortunate enough to have a private space for our mat room, however this facility is a commercial property and out of respect to the landlord, parking is limited to the front of the mat room and the gravel parking right above that. DO NOT park on the road on either side. Do not loiter around any of the other parking areas or buildings. Keep an eye on your kids. There are commercial vehicles that need to have access at all times. This is especially important during the winter sessions. We will not be held responsible if your child gets hurt if left unsupervised.

Reformed Wrestling welcomes both boys and girls. We also recognize that families have different convictions regarding boys and girls wrestling one another. Some parents do not want their sons wrestling girls. Some parents do not want their daughters wrestling boys. Wherever reasonably possible, we will honor those wishes. Parents have a responsibility to communicate that to the coaching staff. Don’t assume we know.

If you do not want your child wrestling members of the opposite sex, tell us.

We want to recognize and honor the differences between masculinity and femininity and, wherever practical, keep boys wrestling boys and girls wrestling girls—even during practice. One important consideration is safety. As children develop, biological differences between boys and girls can create meaningful physical differences. If parents have questions or want to discuss a particular situation, talk directly with the coaches.

We do not encourage parents—particularly parents who have never wrestled—to have young children cutting large amounts of weight. Weight is relative to body size. Five pounds off a 150-pound wrestler is completely different from five pounds off a 55- or 60-pound child.

If you don’t understand what an appropriate weight looks like, ask the coaches. Ask:

• What is a reasonable weight for my wrestler?

• Should my child even be trying to make this weight?

• How much weight is reasonable?

• What should we change nutritionally?

• What does proper hydration look like?

For youth wrestlers, parents can make enormous improvements simply by cleaning up what their children consume:

• Get rid of pop.

• Reduce junk food.

• Improve the quality of meals.

• Drink water.

• Stay hydrated.

The answer to becoming a better youth wrestler is generally not cutting more weight.

• Get better at wrestling.

• Get stronger.

• Get more flexible.

• Improve your conditioning.

• Understand positions.

• Learn movements.

• Get more mat time.

Those things will take a young wrestler much farther than chasing a lower number on a scale.