I started wrestling in high school and never did youth wrestling but my buddy's kid was competing in 8U districts for a spot in the state tournament today in Harrisonville MO so I went to check it out....I was not prepared.
Just complete organized pandemonium. We ended up having to park half a mile away and the gym/auxiliary gym/hallways were just packed with people and kids running around everywhere, luckily my buddies wife had saved us a seat while he was an assistant coach running from match to match wherever the next kid in their club is wrestling.
There are 6 matches in the main gym going on at the same time so there are always parents screaming "COME ON JXYSEN!" and whistling/clapping non stop. There are no announcements or anything, you just know "I wrestle match 114" which is the 14th match on mat 1 and the second your match is over you are hustled off the mat and match 115 is starting twenty seconds later even if the losing kid is bawling his eyes out. It was just a lot to take in all at once and nothing like any JOCO Highschool wrestling tournaments back in the day.
I had heard that girls wrestling was a growing sport but I was kind of shocked at how many 6-10 year old girls were out there wrestling. Definitely not as many girls as boys but it was a noticeable amount. They can compete in the "Open" division but I only saw them wrestling other girls.
Anyways lil kids wrestling are adorable, my buddies kid got 2nd place in his weight class and I got an intro into the crazy world of youth wrestling.
