HS wrestling and MMA????

• THE4RINGZ

  

  Serious question.......
  
  
  Has the popularity of MMA fighting helped increase the number of kids turning out for the high school wrestling team?
  
  Obviously the skills and discipline required and taught to be a successful high school wrestler would pay huge dividends for someone interested in pursuring a career in MMA. Has that filtered down to the high school wrestling scene yet? And if not, do you think it will?
• Fab1b

  

  100% has IMO and I'm all for it! Finally a pro sport that wrestlers finally can earn a living using their skill.
• said_aouita

  

  Really depends on the school.
  I wonder how many first timers trying HS wrestling because of MMA actually last the entire season?
  
  One, maybe two out of ten? I'd say MMA does not hurt HS wrestling but the benefits to HS wrestling (from MMA) are minimal.
• CoachTim

  Fab1b;846354 wrote:100% has IMO and I'm all for it! Finally a pro sport that wrestlers finally can earn a living using their skill.

  
  I'm glad that wrestlers have a pro sport to move into, but i'm not sold that MMA is Pro wrestling.
  
  I had a freshman last year said he had to leave practice early twice a week to go to his MMA training. He said he's been doing that for a long time. I expected him to be a better wrestler than he was, about half way through the season he stopped coming to practice. But the kids who are already wrestlers enjoy talking about MMA and wearing the "Gear". So yes, it's a benefit to our sport.
• queencitybuckeye

  The idea of possibly doing a sport, any sport, professionally is the last and worst reason for anyone to go out for a team IMO.
• Gardens35

  Discipline.....yes!
  
  Some skills.....yes!
  
  
  If you get taken down go straight to your back.....No!........and that technique is the most prevalent in MMA "ground" wrestling, and it's the least desirable in folkstyle wrestling.
• CoachTim

  queencitybuckeye;848147 wrote:The idea of possibly doing a sport, any sport, professionally is the last and worst reason for anyone to go out for a team IMO.

  
  So if a little kid wants to play in the NFL some day, he should NOT play biddy football and see how he does....
  
  I think you are impressing that not many players actually make it to the pro's... But everyone needs a dream, a goal, and it should be set high. Otherwise why do anything in life.
• Fab1b

  

  If kids want to dream of big time MMA contracts and they wrestle because of it, that is alright by me. IMO wrestling will make them better as a person and in life anyways!
• queencitybuckeye

  CoachTim;848459 wrote:So if a little kid wants to play in the NFL some day, he should NOT play biddy football and see how he does....

  Little kids don't have the thought (unless planted in their heads) of playing pro ball, they play because it's fun. That should be their only goal at that age.
• CoachTim

  queencitybuckeye;848471 wrote:Little kids don't have the thought (unless planted in their heads) of playing pro ball, they play because it's fun. That should be their only goal at that age.

  
  I agree with that.
• rugbywrestler

  said_aouita;846404 wrote: I'd say MMA does not hurt HS wrestling but the benefits to HS wrestling (from MMA) are minimal.

  
  This is about how I feel as well
• Cthelites

  queencitybuckeye;848471 wrote:Little kids don't have the thought (unless planted in their heads) of playing pro ball, they play because it's fun. That should be their only goal at that age.

  
  I totally disagree. I remember playing in the backyards always thinking of being in the NFL. Heck I even use to act like Hondo(John Havlecheck for all the roundball challenged lol) with a last second shot to win the game. No one planted anything in my head.
• Dad4Sports

  Cthelites;849389 wrote:I totally disagree. I remember playing in the backyards always thinking of being in the NFL. Heck I even use to act like Hondo(John Havlecheck for all the roundball challenged lol) with a last second shot to win the game. No one planted anything in my head.

  
  I was Willie Stargell!!
• Go4alOngbOmB

  

  I agree that the popularity of the MMA circuits will not HURT wrestling at the high school level at all.
  
  As long as during wrestling season, that young man is 100% focused on wrestling, as a coach, more power to you.
  
  Wrestling will teach you training discipline, body and hip control, basic takedown techniques, and overall body balance and awareness.
  
  All of the above are parts of the machine that makes an MMA athlete.
  
  As long as its getting bodies into the wrestling room who have interest to learn, then it will never be negative. If you can add 2 kids to your roster every season for 4 years because of their interest in MMA, that's 8 kids sitting there you never would have had before. Multiply those 8 kids by "X" amounts of schools, and it starts to look even better. Ill take that 2 out of 10 ratio any day of the week!