The regular season of youth wrestling has come to an end. Many are gearing up to face the extended season for the coveted chance to go to state.

 

With the dissolve of the Becker and Big Lake Twin Powers wrestling in 2000, both schools have been building up their youth programs to supplement the high school programs. Both have had practices Tuesday and Thursday evenings since the beginning of December with tournaments on the weekends for individuals and teams.

 

Walking into a practice there are children running and laughing everywhere the room is filled with little excited balls of energy. Becker has 70 wrestlers and Big Lake with 96 ranging from pre-k to sixth grade; the coaches have defiantly become professionals at capturing their attention and focus.

 

Kane Lapointe says his favorite part of wrestling is practicing with his friends. 

 

As soon as the coaches walk on to the mat, practice starts with running drills. Pint sized wrestlers rolling around and tryingto mimic the older wrestlers.

 

“We set expectations for them at the beginning of the year and we hold them to those expectations,” says Big Lake’s Coach Marv Sims III. He explains there are times where the children get chatty or distracted but they are able to refocus them and get back to the drill or thOnce warmed up coaches start teaching different maneuvers to accompany the folk style type of wrestling used in high school wrestling. Once partners have been picked, the little guys start applying the new moves on each other.

 

But for some it is a chance to run around and just try and get their partner to the mat.

 

Having the wrestlers start at a young age gives them the edge they will need to start learning the different moves and to gain the discipline they will need to advance as they get older and continue in the sport. 

 

“It takes a very dedicated and hardworking individual to be in wrestling. From the day they start they are being taught life lessons,” says Becker Coach Mike Duncombe.

 

“In a match they are one on one and have to rely on all the hard work that they put forward in practice. Not to mention that it is really hard to be in physical pain and block it out to make his next move. The pressure that these young guys deal with will help them in the future in many situations.”

 

Cassandra Kuschel says her son, Brice, came home from school with a registration form and wanted to try it out. “He had a hard time trying to focus the first year but by the second year he was very focused. And his younger brothers grew up watching him wrestle and wanted to join also.”

 

Before practice comes to an end both programs have their own way of ending the night. Duncombe likes to end the night on a lighter note with a friendly game or two of dodge ball.

 

Big Lake does a more personal take on praising the kids with handing out pins and highlights from the latest match or tournament.

 

“I like playing dodgeball,” says Nathan Smith.

 

Just like with any sport there are stigmas that follow it. In wrestling the biggest issue is cutting weight. The theory is if you drop a large amount of weight before the wrestler weighs in than he can weigh in lighter than normal and have a strength advantage over the opponent.

 

“The difference is that most wrestlers drop so much weight before weigh in, after they make the weight then they eat and their bodies use all their energy to digest the food and they do not have any energy for the match”, explains Amber Sixberry, president of Big Lake’s youth wrestling board for the last 10 years.

 

Coach Sims says they weigh their wrestlers at the beginning of the season and weekly thereafter. If any of his wrestlers show signs of dropping weight drastically before a match, he will not allow them to wrestle. Duncombe wants his wrestlers to be their toughest at any weight.

 

Goals of the programs are very much the same. “The sport of wrestling provides the opportunity to participate in an individual and team sport designed to build coordination, confidence and sportsmanship,” says Becker Youth Wrestling Board Member Jenny Rish. “Practices stress fun and fundamental wrestling concepts.”

 

With much confidence both coaches are excited to say they have wrestlers who will try and make it to the state tournament. This weekend Becker will host a sectional tournament. Wrestlers from this tournament will go on to regionals and then on to Rochester for the NYWA State Tournament.

 

In addition to individual tournaments there are also team qualifications to advance to state. Big Lake feels they have a great chance to place due to placing in big tournaments already this season.

Chris Lapointe, father of two Big Lake wrestlers, says both his sons have qualified before in the state tournament. And as a team they have already won the Mississippi 8 and are team champs the last two years.

 

Becker Assistant Coach Adam Lumley says the Lumley family has had a family member in wrestling either in Big Lake or Becker since his older brother Mike Lumley started wrestling just one year after wrestling was adopted as a high school sport. And was the first wrestler from Becker and Big Lake to make a state tournament appearance.

 

With four children in wrestling ranging from ages 16 to 4 years, the tradition continues. Not to mention there was a Lumley (Josh) who made it to the high school state wrestling tournament this past weekend from Becker.

 

“We don’t expect our children to win. We do expect them to work hard and have fun. If they win that’s great. If they don’t then they can learn from it for next time. I don’t push wrestling on them. I’m here to help for as long as they want to do it,” says Lumley.