I wrestled in one of the tougher/higher level states for wrestling in the country. I was no state champ, but I was decent. I got into a mma and bjj in college, and ended up at a mma gym with strong wrestling for a few years. Trained with some real killers there and improved my wrestling quite a bit, learning from and regularly training with high level guys.
So it’s definitely possible to continue wrestling after high school (or college) to some extent. It just depends on the area you’re in and the popularity.
In my late 20’s I started traveling for work, and trained in quite a few different bjj and mma gyms in multiple states. It helped me learn new tools for my game; developing a better offensive game off my back that didn’t involve scrambling, ha.
You definitely notice the skill level of wrestling drastically changes when you go from a state where wrestling is everything, to somewhere like In the south where there isn’t even a club team close by. You might wrestle a state champion there who would get tech’d easily by slightly above average guy from Ohio, PA, NJ, etc.
I competed in a lot of grappling tournaments in my home state before traveling, and naturally developed a heavy top game as part of my style. My takedowns were pretty well rounded, but I had my go-to moves that I liked such as throw-bys, duck-unders, body lock takedowns and low singles.
I found a lot of bjj guys had nice “looking” shots/penetration steps in the gym, but in live sparring or rolling lacked solid fundamentals. They rarely set up their shots with footwork, snap downs, or hand fighting. Nor did they know defense involved more than sprawling; I.e footwork, or head and hand defense.
My submission game from my back or half guard was definitely weak (hated being in half). I improved some after training with some really talented guys at 10th planet who whooped my ass in my last couple years.
I met and trained with tons of great grapplers, learned a lot, and had fun. And overtime my game developed differently and more well rounded.
2 neck surgeries and a lower back surgery later, I’m 31 and haven’t grappled in 2 years. I stay in shape though and the urge is there to get back on the mats. I probably will at some point; but minus some of the hard wrestling my body has aged out of lol