Should the reduction in Wisconsin's high school wrestling participation be a concern?

WAUSAU – The state wrestling tournament is one of Wisconsin’s most popular high school sports events, at least among spectators.

A total of 63,173 people attended the three-day WIAA state individual wrestling tournament at the Kohl Center last February, and attendance has been more than 60,000 for all but two of the past 14 years.

Those figures are second only to the boys basketball tournament and put Wisconsin in the national conversation among high school wrestling hotbeds.

But not all the numbers connected with the sport are so positive.   

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Among the 344 Wisconsin schools with wrestling programs last year, 6,501 athletes finished the season. That’s a 17 percent decrease in participation since 2006-07, when 7,619 wrestlers competed.

Those numbers, while not alarming, at least raise some questions about the future of high school wrestling.

“I am definitely at least concerned about it,” D.C. Everest wrestling coach Eric Lehrke said. “Wisconsin numbers are going down, and nationally numbers are going down. You kind of have to say to yourself, ‘Why? What can we do to fix it?’

“There is talk about maybe reducing the (number of) weight (classes). Would it work? I don’t know. I just know we better keep a real close eye on what is happening, and what is and what is not working.”

Numbers down across the country

Wisconsin is not the only state to see a reduction in wrestling participants.

The National Federation of State High School Associations' annual survey indicates wrestling is the seventh-most popular boys sport in the country with 244,804 participants in the 2016-17 academic year. Football led the list with 1,057,382 athletes, followed by track and field with 600,136.

The wrestling numbers were down 5,894 from the previous year’s survey and 12,442 from the past decade.

Wisconsin’s total participation is down 1,114 wrestlers from its total in the 2006-07 season.

The question is, why?

Wrestling coaches say there are more opportunities for student-athletes today, be it in other sports or other extracurricular activities. That, they say, has led to a reduction in participation over the past decade in boys and girls high school sports across the board. 

There also is a trend toward specialization at the high school level. More students were multisport athletes in the past, but now they choose to focus on one sport.

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In addition, wrestling is one of the most demanding sports, both physically and mentally, and some just don’t want to go through the grind of the season. 

“The one thing with wrestlers is that you have to have a little bit of grit,” Wausau West coach Troy Fabry said. “Wrestling is a process. When you lose, there’s nobody else to point a finger at. If you are just coming out (for the sport) and it’s your first year, you’re not going to win right away. That can be tough, you probably aren’t going to get that instant gratification of winning.

“There is going to be ups and downs and peaks and valley. If you don’t have that grit where you realize you have to come back (from a loss) and work on this and that to get better, you might want to quit.”

Wrestlers devote weekends to tournaments throughout the winter: invitationals during the regular season, then conference, regional and sectional meets in the postseason.

“They are giving up their Saturday and sometimes get beat up a little bit doing that,” said Bay Port coach Brad Shefchik, who has 43 athletes in his program. “That can be a hard sell when you are trying (to recruit) some kids.”

Forfeits remain an issue

With fewer wrestlers competing over the past decade, it has become difficult for some programs to fill a full varsity lineup for every meet.

For the dozens of dual meets reported to trackwrestling.com on either Thursday or Friday last week, only three had competitive matches in all 14 weight classes: Pulaski-De Pere, Oconomowoc-Muskego and Port Washington-West Bend East.

When Marshfield traveled to D.C. Everest on Friday for a Wisconsin Valley Conference dual between two programs without a conference loss, three of the weight classes were forfeits, including a double-forfeit at 106 pounds.

“I think 14 (weights) might be high even for (Division 1 teams),” Marshfield coach Jackson Hein said. “You never want to see a team win or lose based off one or two forfeits. Maybe you take a look at getting rid of a few weight classes, but at the same time, you want to give kids as many opportunities (to compete) as you can.

“There are two sides to every coin and there’s no real easy answer. I just know it can be hard for some programs to fill a lineup.”

Spencer/Columbus Catholic is ranked fifth in Division 2 in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online state poll with a roster of just 19 athletes.

“We gained three kids from the start (of the season) and I was able to fill all 14 (weights), but that rarely happens,” Rockets coach Jake Zschernitz said. “I’m just lucky we were able to this year. Usually, we are at one, two or three or more forfeits (a dual). But we’ve gone against programs that have five or six guys on the (varsity) team.

“There is a problem, but I don’t know if there is one thing we can pinpoint that says, ‘OK, this is why this is happening. Or this is what we can do to fix it.’ There is a lot of moving parts to the problem.”

Adjusting weight classes

Given that programs throughout the country are struggling to fill lineups, could the number of weight classes be reduced as a way to address the problem?

“It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other in that argument,” said Randy Ferrell, the West Allis Hale coach who also serves as president of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association. “I think the numbers throughout the nation have shown that 14 weight classes might be too much.

“But if the national federation looks at it and brings the number of weights down, are they taking away opportunities for kids to compete?”

The NFHS wrestling rules committee approved the proposal for the current 14 weight classes at the start of the 2011-12 high school season.

The weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285.

“You can look at it and say, ‘Hey, it’s great to have (opportunities) for this weight class or that one.’ But if there are not that many kids wrestling in it, maybe we can combine a few and make it more competitive,” Lehrke said. “I wouldn’t be opposed if it went back down to 12 weights again.

“Where would you make those cuts, I don’t know. Maybe at the (lower weights) at 106 and 113 pounds and make it (a class) at 110 pounds. Then you could look at a few upper weights, at 195 and 220, and maybe do something there. The biggest thing is what can we do to increase the competitiveness in wrestling?”