Youth wrestling singlets are an important part of youth wrestling. Every kid wants to have the coolest and most unique singlet on the mat. This is made evident by the wrestling singlet trading phenomenon that takes place every summer in Fargo and Junior and Cadet Nationals.
If you have ever been to fargo then you know what I’m talking about when I say that the wrestling singlet trading is like the orange county swap meet. It is a site to behold.
Youth wrestling singlet trading has become as much a part of the Freestyle and Greco roman national championships as the wrestling matches themselves. Each year there are one or two wrestling singlets that are the talk of the tournament. When I was competing in this tournament it was Idaho and Michigan. A couple of years later it was Team Hawaii. Every year at fargo it is a competition in and of itself to see which state wrestling organization can come up with the best looking singlet.
A new item hit the fargo trading circuit this last year and that was the introduction of mma fighting shorts. The MMA culture has now creeped into wrestling and some of the wrestling culture has creeped into MMA.
Who are the “Tradesmen”?
Some kids have become so called trading gurus. They are known on the wrestling singlet trading circuits as “The Tradesmen.” My brother is known as one of these so called tradesmen. The boy can trade.
I once new a guru who only had $5. He wanted a singlet that was trading for upwards of $40 or $50 or equal value. So he took his $5 and went to work. He combed the isles of trading booths until he found something, a pair of shorts perhaps, that he could purchase for $5. Then he took the shorts and the deal making began. After about 100 different trades he had the singlet that he wanted. He once got me a blue Idaho singlet by organizing a 3 way trade. He was the master.
Is trading singlets more important to youth wrestlers than the wrestling matches themselves?
I don’t know if I would say that youth wrestling singlets trading is more important to the wrestlers than there matches, but lets just say that trading singlets helps ease the pain of training all summer, working a full time job to pay for the trip, cutting weight and then going two and out.
As a coach you may want to install a rule that states you can only trade as many singlets as you get wins. This will motivate your kids to wrestle harder and win more matches.
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