Why Should your Child Wrestle?

Unlike in the midwest and east coast, wrestling is a little understood sport in Southern California. Many parents don't naturally gravitate towards wrestling when it comes to their child: they prefer the more popular sports like football, basketball, and baseball.

This is unfortunate, for there are a lot of good reasons to wrestle.  For one, what I just said is actually an advantage of wrestling: why not give your child something different...a change of pace?  Secondly, wrestling has been a part of every culture known to man throughout all of human history; there are even records of wrestling on Egyptian tombs over 4-5,000 years old, so when you get involved in wrestling, you are stepping into a rich legacy that is as old as the hills itself.

Here are ten more reasons your child should wrestle:

1. Wrestling provides recreation just as any other sport does.
2. It provides the physical exercise that growing kids need.
3. It brings more muscles into action than any other sport. It is the best sport for all around development that we have for our youth.
4. It is one of the few common school sports in which the “little kids” have a chance. Kids are matched according to weight as well as age/grade.
5. Its individual character makes victory or defeat a personal matter. Yet the team aspect is very real and important in wrestling. The individual competes for his team, as well as themselves. With a victory or defeat, the wrestler can still help his team win the meet.
6. Wrestling is a test of strength and endurance; conditioning and head-work; it aids in the development of self reliance, perseverance, and mental alertness.
7. It is one of the safest of all youth sports. In youth wrestling every hold or move which might endanger or injure a participant is absolutely prohibited and penalized. The referee is always very close to the action to stop illegal moves.
8. Wrestling is the natural thing to do. It is just as natural for kids to wrestle as it is for fish to swim or birds to fly.
9. It is one of the best conditioners for other sports and is one of the best sports with which to remove awkwardness and to develop muscular coordination. Examples: It is good for football players as it helps develop quickness and strength against an opponent. For those who participate in track and field it helps to keep muscles trim and pliable . It develops and strengthen the arm muscles for the kids who play baseball or softball.
10. Wrestling is fascinating because many situations can be planned for. There is very little “chance” or “luck” or “accident”. Results can be easily measured. It is fascinating because there is continual movement; there is constant change of position, and new situations come into play with every move. 

So why not?

For more information about a youth wrestling club for Mission Viejo and San Juan area youth, see www.bigkatwrestling.com or contact Rich Bordner at rdb268@hotmail.com