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The Future Champ Camp Experience gives girl wrestlers a fantastic training opportunity

8/8/2005
Katie Downing/Women's Team USA

The Camps

Two years ago, USA Wrestling ran the Future Champ Camp at the Deaf and Blind High School in Colorado Springs. This year, the resident women wrestlers at the Olympic Training Center and the Olympic Education Training Center took over the camp.

We used the facilities at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs at the end of June, and at Northern Michigan University in the middle of July. The Future Champ Camp provided the opportunity for the women training at the highest level in their sport to call out to junior high and high school wrestlers. Girls from all over the country answered that call, and came to camp with high expectations and plenty of enthusiasm.

The women had to make preparations for the camp while they trained for U.S. Senior Nationals and the World Team Trials, and the campers made all of the work 100% worth the effort.

The resident women committed themselves to investing in the future of our sport. Our goal for the Future Champ Camp was to create the best possible camp for young women wrestlers to get the most out of their time at the Colorado and Michigan camps. We built technique sessions to give campers a solid base in everything they could expect to see when they reach the national level when they train under our national coach, Terry Steiner.

We also wanted to train total wrestlers, so we also prepared sessions covering mental skills, weight maintenance and nutrition, and strength training. This camp also gave young women the chance to spent time together in the dorms to get to know their future training partners and competitors, share their experiences, and have some fun as well.

The Colorado camp hosted 34 campers from Connecticut to California. The Texas and California gals represented their states on the mat, as well as through song. The Oregon gals drove out with enough enthusiasm to go around. We had two birthdays during camp, and at least one coach and one camper got her share of cupcake shoved in her face after the candle was removed.

The Colorado campers soaked up all of the information they could. They couldn’t seem to get enough technique, and nothing seemed to wear them all out. Competition fueled these campers, and they each rose to the occasion each time they were presented a challenge.

The Michigan camp had 14 campers. Although there were fewer practice partners for campers at the Michigan camp, there were a number of campers with national level wrestling experience. Some of the campers had already earned USGWA and Junior National medals. Saskatchewan also sent some of its best high school wrestlers to Michigan.

The Sarah Tolin Memorial Award

Women’s wrestling lost a good person and a good wrestler this year. Sarah Tolin competed at the national senior level for a number of years, and made quite a few friends among the women wrestlers.

Her parents have raised funds in Sarah’s name to use in developing women’s wrestling in the United States. They established the Sarah Tolin Memorial Award for the Future Champ Camp. The women working the camp wanted to select a recipient among the campers who could honor Sarah’s memory as a dedicated wrestler and a person of character.

We took in consideration campers who showed a genuine love of wrestling, consistent focus in learning, dedication by spending time after sessions working on their skills and asking questions, intensity in their efforts on the mat, perseverance through physical pain, willingness to lend a hand in whatever needed to be taken care of between sessions, and showing friendship toward other campers. Choosing just one camper proved to be a tough decision because many of the campers showed promise in one or another aspect we considered.

In the end, one camper excelled in each and every aspect at the Colorado Camp. She is Dana LaMonica from Washington state. Dana is the total package. She didn’t just meet the bare minimum in each category. She stood out in our minds in everything we could think of that a deserving wrestler should have for this award.

The Michigan camp had many young stars to pick from for their award. Nicole Darrow from Massachusetts showed intensity and fearlessness in her wrestling. These characteristics earned her the Sarah Tolin Memorial Award in Michigan.

We are confident that the Tolins can be proud of Dana and Nicole as wrestlers who honor the way that Sarah loved wrestling.

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Junior Greco Notes

By Jason Bryant & Pat Tocci

Maine's Deanna Rix wins her first round match at the Junior National Championships.

Rix pins California's Daniel Navarro on Mat 1 in the second round.

Gomez upends Pataky 5-2 in second round
In the premier matchup in the first session of Junior Greco, Franklin Gomez (Puerto Rico) knocked off Brad Pataky (Pennsylvania) 5-2 in the second round at 119lbs. Gomez and Pataky were the number number one and two ranked 119-pound seniors in the nation in the InterMat rankings. This matchup was also a rematch of the Dapper Dan Classic which Pataky won.
Pataky (#1 InterMat) scored first in the match with a one point hand to hand gut after Gomez was put down for passivity. Pataky increased his lead to 2-0 at the end of the first period, countering Gomez (#2 InterMat) arm throw attempt.
The start of the second period saw Pataky press the action on Gomez and force a second passivity call. Pataky came close to scoring off the gut wrench but was unable.
Back on their feet, Gomez start picking up the pace and got on the board hitting a low dive to a body lock to cut the lead to 2-1. Gomez quickly tied the match up hitting a hand to hand gut for one. He then took the lead by adding a two-point gut wrench to push out 4-2 lead. Gomez hit another gut which the Florida coaches argued unsuccessfully was a lift and gut which have made it eligible for three points. With a 4-2 lead Gomez closed out the scoring with another hand to hand gut for one to take the 5-2 win.

A push for Women's Greco?

Graduated Marshwood H.S. senior Deanna Rix might have fallen a point short of a high school state title in Maine, but she's already made her presence known at the Fargodome in the first session of Junior Greco. Anyone in the stands at the Fargodome would have heard the loud "ooohs" and "wooooahs" coming from the endzone seats near Mat 22 -- the reason for such a commontion was Rix, who had just tossed her opponent, Cody Blackford of Tennessee, is a two-time Junior Women's Freestyle Champion.
"I like wrestling Greco," Rix said. "Since I don't shoot, ever."
Rix ended up winning the match 10-0 in the first period and had the support of the Maryland team, which happened to be sitting just over her mat. Connecticut's Joey Martin came offered his congratulations as well. "That was awesome," he said.
Headed to Northern Michigan's U.S. Olympic Education Center, Rix will focus on freestyle from here on out, but when asked if she was hoping for a Women's Greco division in the future, she simply replied: "That'd be nice."
Maryland's Nicole Woody, last year's Women's Junior champ at 98 pounds is also in the field -- giving the two female entries in the Junior Men's Greco tournament three national titles between them.
Woody won her first match as well, beating Kori Stassi of Illinois.

Session I Notes
Montana official Kelly Jolley started off Sunday's event by singing the Star-Spangled Bannner ... Michigan State signee and Brandon High School's NHSCA National Champion Franklin Gomez is back in Fargo, but representing Puerto Rico. Gomez placed third at 112 pounds last year and is wrestling 119 pounds. ... West Virginia's Anthony Easter moved up to 125 pounds and it didn't look like the best of moves. Easter met up with Kansas' Tristen DeShazer in probably the best overall first round matchup, but DeShazer earned the win -- by fall. ... Another first round match between ranked wrestlers saw Minnesota's Travis Elg beat Pennsylvania's Ashtin Primus 13-1. ... Total tournament entries for the Junior Greco event is 885 representing 45 states, Puerto Rico (Gomez) and Okinawa (Steve Courtney at 152). ... Former Cadet Greco champ Dallas Seavey of Alaska was beaten 10-0 by Derek Koenig of Wisconsin and injury withdrew.

Rix wins again
Deanna Rix, the two-time Junior Women's champion continued her surprising run in the Junior Greco-Roman championships, pinning California's Daniel Navarro in the first period on Mat 1. Coming in to the tournament, Rix wasn't sure how she'd fare. "I was just happy if I scored a point," she said. And about wrestling on Mat 1?
"Oh no, its the raised mat," she said to her coach before the match.

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