“Where are you going to wrestle in
college?”
This is a phrase seldom heard at the state high school
tournament in February. Much of the reason you do not hear that phrase is
because South Carolina wrestlers are unknown, untested, and unproven. Simply put,
there are not enough South Carolina high school wrestlers out there at national
tournaments, regional tournaments, and summer wrestling camps. One of the best
ways to get your name out for college coaches to notice, is to wrestle outside
of high school and the great Palmetto State.
Try going to the NHSCA Senior Nationals and look at some of
the major states’ wrestling teams. States like Minnesota, California, and
Pennsylvania who carry senior national teams of over 50 wrestlers each year.
This is one national tournament that narrows the possible numbers of
competitors because of age (only high school seniors) as well as state
placements (most states can only enter
previous state finalist where some of the tougher states can petition to have
the top 4 placers). In this one tournament, states are carrying twice as many
wrestlers as South Carolina and college coaches can really take notice of how
serious our kids, coaches, and the state as a whole are about the sport of
wrestling by the lack of participation and lack of yearly success. Simply put,
our state needs more wrestlers going to national tournaments, regional
tournaments, and summer camps. It’s the only way to learn new skills, develop
those skills, and grow into a successful wrestler.
Another example would be to look at the Cadet and Junior
Nationals out in Fargo, ND. Bigger and better states have pre-national camps
preparing their wrestlers for the national tournament. South Carolina barely
knows what 5 to 10 guys are going to show up for the plane ride the day or two
before they leave. Speaking of our 5 to 10 guys going to nationals, the bigger
states are taking an incredibly larger number of kids (some 30 to 40 wrestlers
each style and age group) to Fargo and having tremendous success. South Carolina
needs to go to Fargo for Greco and Freestyle Nationals and other national
tournaments that took place last year in Delaware and Virginia. High school
coaches need to start wrestling outside of South Carolina in close states like
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. If you cannot make it out of
state, then invite these out of state teams to come to South Carolina and
wrestle. More exposure to our state by getting these Regionally and Nationally
ranked teams is only going to increase our wrestling competition, experience,
and exposure.
A few last things to keep in mind when it becomes time to
pick a college that you would like to compete for. First off, one common
misconception about wrestling is that there are a large number of scholarships
available for high school wrestlers to receive. Wrestling is a non-revenue
sport and for most of the roughly 300 programs we have left in the nation the
money they do receive from the school is enough to get them from tournament to
tournament, dual match to dual match, and help pay for some of their kid’s
college education. A Division I wrestling team is only allowed 9.9 scholarships
to split up between an average of 20 to 30 wrestlers on a team. To my knowledge
schools like Iowa and Oklahoma State (two of the most storied programs in
wrestling history) have never given out full wrestling scholarships and they
get some of the best high school wrestlers in the country to come to their
programs. Many coaches offer very little if any scholarship to kids coming out
of high school and use that freshmen year as a warm-up season to see how hard
you work, how much you improve, and then give you some more each year as an
incentive to work harder and succeed. However, one of the most important parts
about getting that scholarship and a place on the wrestling team goes back as
far as college wrestling itself. After talking with many South Carolina high
school coaches the past few years about why their kids did not go to wrestle in
college, the common answer is “they were lacking the grades to qualify for a
scholarship or to meet the standards to get into school.” It is so simple to
just make good grades, keep them up, and make yourself eligible for that
college wrestling team or scholarship. Many of our top wrestlers over the past
few years could not pass the NCAA clearing house to get into school or become
eligible to accept a scholarship. Students need to do well in school and I
cannot stress that fact enough. All you freshmen out there need to start the
9th grade year off right and not dig yourself in to a hole. If you do it is a
deep hole that you do not want to be worrying about during your junior and
senior years of high school.
Just to recap our state needs more wrestlers wrestling on
the national level. We need more kids wrestling outside of the high school
season and outside of the state of South Carolina. Remember there are tons of
kids wrestling outside of their state and on the national level and only a few
scholarship opportunities out there. Those wrestling outside of their state and
on the national level are getting their name out and putting themselves in a
better position to get that college wrestling scholarship. More wrestling
outside of your state and on the national level seems to simply produce more
success. Just look at the bigger wrestling states and how they fare at the NCAA
Division I Tournament in March over the past few years. The only thing that
these numbers tell you is more wrestling outside of high school produces
results. It makes you better, possibly earning you a scholarship, and leading
you to becoming an All-American or National Champion. So get out there and
wrestle because…
SUMMER WRESTLING MAKES WINTER CHAMPIONS
*Look at the numbers of bigger states at national tournaments for high school
age kids. These states that take tons of kids to national tournaments during
their high school years and produce the most NCAA All-Americans each year. The
numbers do not lie!
(All of these states have large numbers and huge success at Cadet /Junior
Nationals, Cadet/Junior Duals, NHSC Senior Nationals, and the 2 open nationals
in Virginia and Delaware the past 2 years)
Number of NCAA Division I All Americans by State the Last 3 Years (2000, 2001,
2002)
1. Pennsylvania 34
2. Ohio
23
3. New Jersey 21
4.
Iowa
18
5. California 15
5.
Illinois 15
7. Minnesota 14
8. Oklahoma 12
9.
Michigan 8
10.
Utah
7