Laketown wrestlers ready for action
| Sports |
Lake City wrestlers are rapidly gearing up for their 13th season of competition. Close to 100 young grapplers are expected to storm the wrestling mats, clad in the familiar black ‘n blue colours of the Williams Lake Wrestling Club.
They will be following a great tradition.
“Canadians are still celebrating the Olympic success of the Canadian National Wrestling Team in the 2008 Beijing Games,” says Laketown coach Rick Bryan. “Last February, Carol Huynh made her second straight visit to the Northern BC Winter games. The difference this year was that everyone -- not just the wrestlers -- knew who she was. Maybe the big Gold Medal around her neck gave it away. What a superb role model she is!”
"Our club has a tremendous nucleus of young athletes returning this year,” says Bryan. “Our School-Girl and School-Boy (Grade 7 and 8) groups were among the best in BC last year, both winning team championships in the Western Canada Age Class Tournament. Most of these youngsters should be returning.”
And in the Kid Divisions? “Elementary youngsters have always been the heart and soul of our Club,” says Bryan. “Our strongest High School wrestlers are all graduates of the Kid-Wrestling program. We’ve got some superb elementary school teams feeding into our club, including Glendale, Mountview, 150 Mile, Horsefly, Likely, and Alexis Creek. And this year, it looks like Cataline and Nesika will be putting teams on the mat. The beauty of our sport is that kids can wrestle for their schools and for our club at the same time. I guess that’s why Williams Lake is known as the Kid Wrestling Capital of BC.”
Does the Black ‘n Blue welcome new wrestlers? “Absolutely! Anyone can wrestle,” says Bryan. “Wrestling is a great sport for youngsters with disabilities. We’re one of the most affordable sports in town, and we’ve been raising a lot of money to assist kids to get to tournaments.”
Club practices begin in October, with the first tournaments scheduled for early December. Youngsters interested in trying the sport of kid-wrestling are welcome to attend free try-out practices. Look for posters in every school, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for information.
“But don’t leave it too late,” says Bryan. “For the last three seasons, our club has been running close to full capacity. We may have a waiting list this year. We hope not – every kid should have the chance to follow in Carol Huynh’s footsteps!”
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