Victory Wrestling Club held its first ever wrestling summer camp at Nease High School June 26-29, as several ages and local schools were represented.
“We’ve been trying to get a club up off the ground for a couple of years now,” Nease head coach Bradley Lucas said. “This is just the first year, but we had 25 kids come out on the first night, which is a good turnout. We’re hoping to make it an annual thing and maybe even add an additional set of dates next year over the summer.”
This year the camp was just open for middle and high school, but Lucas does have plans to open it up for even younger children and those who are truly just beginning.
Not only was there a variety in those who participated in the camp but also in the coaches who helped lead the camp’s instruction along with Lucas and his staff.
Each of the four days featured different coaches teaching the various techniques of the wrestling world and how to properly execute them.
According to Lucas, having different coaches speak as clinicians has had a positive effect because sometimes it just helps the kids to hear another voice than the same ones they hear all throughout the season.
“It’s good to see different perspectives and get fresh takes every now and again, even if it’s really the same moves,” Lucas said. “Sometimes it just clicks better when you hear it from someone else.”
One of the featured coaches included Matthew Miller, who was a former coach in the area and now serves as an FHSAA official during wrestling matches.
“Bradley asked me to come in and we’ve been friends for a really long time,” Miller said. “I just always love giving back to the sport.”
Miller mentioned and demonstrated several techniques to group in attendance and went over an array of scenarios where certain moves could be used.
Getting involved in camps like the one Nease hosted leads to Miller harkening back to when he was the campers’ age and just getting into the sport.
“I remember going to camps and clinics when I was growing up, and if I can help one kid in here develop one go-to move, then we’ve accomplished what we were going to do in two hours,” Miller said. “Every coach or official that does this is always sort of living through their past, because it probably had a good effect on them in their lives and helped make them who they are.”
For the parents or children out there thinking about taking up a sport, Miller advises them to seriously consider wrestling because he has seen it change people for the better and transform teens into mature adults before his very eyes.
“There’s so much confidence that comes from this sport because there is so much hand-to-hand combat that’s involved,” Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of problems with bullies nowadays, but most bullies aren’t going to mess with someone who they know they can’t beat up.”
However, he also knows that it takes a special person to be good at the sport because it does not come without hard work and determination.
“If you’ve got young kids with a ton of energy, this is probably the sport for them,” Miller said.
