Today, the schools within the league serve as feeder programs for North County high schools. All the schools will convene Saturday at Carlsbad High for the season-ending tournament. The league, which is for boys and girls in grades 6-8, has 20 weight classes. High school meets have only 14. The additional classes allow for a wider participation for kids, some as light as 70 pounds and some tipping the scales at over 200.
Kids mature at different levels.
You have a kid who is 60 or 70 pounds, who obviously can't play on the boys basketball team or football team, but here he is competing against someone his own size. It gives lots of kids a chance to compete. Raul Gomez, now an offensive lineman at San Diego State, had never wrestled before Stratton enlisted him. Gomez pinned his opponent in his first match, which decided the meet. Gomez went on to wrestle at Oceanside High.