There are many reasons children should wrestle. Wrestling helps develop many skills, features, and life experiences that athletes can use on the mat and after their wrestling careers. While this is hardly ever debated, the age at which youth athletes should start wrestling is highly debated.

When Is The Best Time To Start?

While it differs from athlete to athlete, sometime between the ages of five and nine is considered the earliest children should start wrestling. During these early formative years, wrestling practices should be around an hour and not be longer than 90 minutes as well as consist of basic skill learning by lots of repetition. The main purpose of wrestling practice at this age is to develop athleticism and a love of the sport of wrestling, not winning matches.

When Is It Too Early?

If your child is four years or younger, they are likely too young to be wrestling.

When Is It Too Late To Start Wrestling?

Never! Even if your child is in high school, they shouldn’t be deterred by a lack of knowledge. No matter what age a person is, they can gain valuable experience from wrestling. Some NCAA D1 wrestlers didn’t start wrestling until they were in high school. 

When Should My Child Start Competing In Tournaments?

This is debated amongst youth coaches across the country, but Ben Askren, who runs the highly successful Askren Wrestling Academy, encourages his wrestlers not to compete until 3rd grade or 8/9 years old. Even then, he limits his wrestlers to 10-15 matches per year.

“Kids are not emotionally stable enough to be competing frequently.” - Ben Askren

Problems With Youth Wrestling

Kids should make decisions, set a goal, and be accountable for it. The problem is that 5-to-9-year-old kids can't make those decisions for themselves, which is a reason they should not compete a whole lot. Sometimes parents try to make those decisions for the kids and push them toward those goals, but in most cases that does not work out well in the long run. When kids are young, they absolutely should not be cutting weight and wrestling 60 matches in a year. Temporary success typically won't produce long-term success.

Skip to the 1:15:40 mark to hear Ben Askren talk about improving the club wrestling scene in America below.

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