Virginia easiest state to win a state title

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nfhs.org/media/5989280/2021-22_participation_survey.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj_qdeh0r2EAxWMD1kFHVmZCz0QFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1Sz2C8Jq94CJOnqGS2XBOH

Here is a link to participation numbers by school/ athletes, by sport.

Everyone can agree on New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California being competitive. The all have roughly 9000 or more high school wrestlers and smaller number of classes.

Iowa has 288 schools with Wrestling and 5900 wrestlers. Virginia has 271 schools with Wrestling and 5600 wrestlers.

Iowa has 3 classes, Virginia 6 (I believe the report only includes public school numbers)

Virginia population: 8.6 million
Iowa population: 3.1 million

Virginia has 2 1/2 times the population but less wrestlers. Maybe it is a culture/participation issue.

Even the smallest classes in states like Iowa fill a full roster with backups. If Virginia could do that 6 classes wouldn't matter as much. For the record I still think we should have 3.

Instead of complaining on what VHSL does, we should focus on building up Wrestling. Especially those 1a and 2a schools.

If we could get 10,000 wrestlers like some states of similar population VA wrestling would be very competitive!

wash., ariz, mass, indiana debunk your theory im thinking. youve never wrestled so its hard to explain how significant an accomplishment a state Wrestling medal of any color is or rather used to be. the sport in and of itself is arguably the purest sport. correct me if im wrong but there isnt a headgear to make you more aerodynamic, a singlet that reduces drag during a double leg or even shoes,etc. opposed to tennis racket baseball glove football pads, whew i hope you get the point. its just you and your opponent(okay ill bite, kinesiology tape lol). we have tshirts remarking how "once youve wrestled everything else is easy' and boys play bb, men wrestle etc etc etc. point is that its not about the wrestlers we dont have(ie. Ca., wv, del) its about the wrestlers we do have. All want a medal along with the Respect that comes with it. i can expand for hours but take my word its deep with us. we talk about it when we are 60 like it was yesterday. its painful watching powerhouse grundy having to justify their wins like a stuart smally skit from snl( no slight grundy folks, love and respect the program), but they arent getting the respect they deserve when you put 10-12 in finals at a state championship. 300+ points in a state championship does anyone really believe btwn  strasburg, poquoson etc. arguably 2a  may or may not wipe out half those points alone?! if you do good for you i just cant buy it. records are one of the most important parts of sports. they link generations of fans and athletes together, and are a way for us to compare players from completely different eras. its not to poke holes for comedic relief or adorn asterisks.  four timer garnered the utmost respect regrettably now everyone is a 3x and 4x'er it's ridiculous. last thought, i dont see how population vs participation makes a tourny more or less competitive. iowa has 5000+ wrestlers so does va. sounds like when i go deep sea fishing sure its great to get 70 dolphin in an hour and head home. but  its catching that  marlin and putting it above the mantle everyone talks about the most. its not that i agree with the shows comments some times but the fact we were made a joke in front of our peers nationally is cause for alarm. i dont know if half what i wrote makes sense or if im right at all but i can say this, until youve won one you.....iykyk

Maybe as we get known for  being an easy state to win a title or get a medal in it will attract more mediocre wrestlers and boost our numbers

The issue is the growth at the lower levels. Someone on a different thread mentioned starting up RTCs. Not a terrible idea. But so many of the smaller schools have no youth development. Very few small schools have middle school teams. Most schools are getting kids in high school and are trying to survive. Smaller schools in poor areas struggle with funding and the community struggles to support them for multiple reasons.

How to fix that, I am not sure. You have to get several passionate people together in an area to do so, and a facility and money to grow. I helped get a local club started and it took the coach 3 years to find an OK facility at a decent price. Thankfully one I didn't have to run this because I was burning myself out. I dropped by the other night and they had 25 kids in there. For an area like this? That's awesome.

But if you truly want to grow the sport, it starts at the bottom.

Even after reading many well-written pro-3 class system posts, I still struggle to see how that will really improve quality of wrestling in VA. Sure, for entertainment value we will get more high caliber matches at States but the benefits won't extend far beyond that.

After States, kids have plenty of opportunities to test themselves at higher level - NHSCA, Fargo, Super 32, Beast, etc. so the lack of competition is not the issue. In my opinion, the lack of regular access to high level coaching and practice with high level peers is the reason. Many schools have 1-2 hammers, those hammers won't be able to compete at national level unless they are given regular access to high level coaching and partners in practice.

So yes, for me, I see setting up regional RTCs and having coaches (even college ones) train and live wrestling is the way to improve. Once a week, 3 hour on Sat afternoon. You need to place in top 3 at States (because we don't have true 2nd). We do this for a couple of years, you will start to see VA kids go further in national level competition. The 3rd place match at state will be exciting because the kids would want to be a part of this program.

Heck, we can even see if we can use college facilities to host RTC - George Mason, Roanoke College, UVA, VT, etc. the kids will be exposed to college coaches naturally.

A few years ago, I tried to get something like this off the ground, primarily working with middle school kids. 

I spoke to coaches at all of those colleges you mentioned and each was willing to work with us, some using their facilities and their wrestlers/RTC guys as clinicians. In fact, Tony Robie and Sam Latona led one of our workouts. It only benefits them if the state gets better, so they want to assist with the process. 

I also had conversations with a handful of people involved with club wrestling in Georgia and they had a similar system of multiple clubs and their top wrestlers getting together and working out frequently. The kids involved with this Georgia wave are now currently college and had great results in high school - some have in college too.

There were a couple of different factors that prevented it from really getting it going, but it's still something I believe in.

I hate the 6 classes and think they should go away immediately, but improving at the grassroots level is probably more important.