With more attention being given to team sports at a younger age, parents and coaches in Warren County have teamed up to make sure individual sports aren’t left behind when it comes to early involvement.

Monday evening marked a milestone for both Warrenton and Wright City, as little league wrestling programs from each school competed in a public display of a growing trend. Both boys and girls met on the mats to showcase the work being done at the lower levels through 30 matches, including 17 head-to-head bouts between schools.

Both the interest and success level of wrestling has taken off in recent years in the county, with Warrenton having three wrestlers compete for state titles over the past seven years and Wright City unveiling its program a year go.

This has sparked the interest of aspiring grapplers and encouraged coaches to create opportunities for younger athletes wanting to learn at an earlier age.

“I pushed for a middle school program, because I saw what it did for our kids when I was at Mexico,” said Warrenton Varsity Coach Ryan Cross. “It’s a good opportunity for those who don’t have access to club sports, which can be expensive.”

Warrenton unveiled its middle school wrestling program six years ago and has since expanded its offseason development program down to the elementary level. Cross says he watched an initial group of 20 aspiring wrestlers grow to around 45 in just a few short years.

“One thing that’s different about wrestling from other sports is that we don’t cut athletes,” said Cross. “If we get 50 kids out, we’re taking all 50 kids and giving them a chance to compete.”

For Wright City, wrestling is a fairly new concept altogether.

The high school just launched its program in 2018-19, sending a female competitor to the state finals in the inaugural season. In fact, had the district decided not to introduce wrestling, Junior Wildcat Program Coordinator David Rice says his family would have moved into the Troy School District.

“We moved here from out of state, and I called the school to ask whether they had wrestling,” said Rice. “They were just taking the decision to the board at that time.”

Rice settled into the Wright City community. With his son, Joe competing for the high school team, he helped launch the junior program to develop the younger grapplers.

Wright City began with 30 youth and has around 40 competitors this winter.

“Last year was our first year, and this year we have our first state champ,” said Rice.

Wright City’s youngest participant is four years old, but Rice says they are cautious when it comes to youth under school age.

“If someone is younger than kindergarten and has participated in team sport before or have an older sibling on the team, we’ll allow them to come out,” said Rice. “We just want it to be enjoyable for them, because they’re probably not going to come in and be excellent right away.”

Cross agrees, noting that it’s important to help prevent burnout by limiting the amount of competitive involvement at a young age. The idea is to keep the focus on training and understanding the wrestling lifestyle.

“I don’t let our club kids compete until they hit sixth grade,” said Cross. “Sometimes those younger kids who compete at a very young age don’t make it to high school, because they can get tired of taking it too seriously.”

While many of the goals are similar for both Warrenton and Wright City, the programs differ on their offerings for girls wrestling.

“I started with some grassroots efforts trying to build girls into the program,” said Rice. “At youth events, we try every year to go to a couple that have a girls division. A lot of times you’ll have a beginners tournament along with a girls tournament.”

For Warrenton, while Cross would like to expand girls’ involvement, a personnel challenge stands in the way of accommodating split tournaments.

“Our coaching staff is spread out pretty thin, so we really have to watch our schedule,” said Cross.

Regardless of the demographic makeups of the programs, both coaches agree that exposing youth to the sport at a younger age is paying dividends at the high school level.

“Our kids that are hanging out in our high school room at a younger age are the ones sticking it out for all four years and competing at the varsity level,” said Cross. “This year some of our strongest kids in the room were freshman and sophomores.”