Brock wrestlers Celeste Rodrigues, left, and Diana Ford will be teammates representing Canada at the world junior wrestling championships. JULIE JOCSAK Standard Staff |
At the start of the wrestling season, Celeste Rodrigues came up with a lengthy and daunting list of goals.
The 19-year-old member of the Brock Wrestling Club wrote the goals on a piece of paper and stuck them on a wall. The list included winning junior provincials: winning her division at the Ontario University Athletics championships and making it to the final of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships; capturing the junior national title, and placing in the top five at the junior worlds.
The Sudbury native has accomplished all but one of her goals and will get a chance to complete the list when she heads to Ankara, Turkey, Aug. 2 for the junior worlds.
Joining her on the eight-women squad, coached by Marty Calder, will be teammate Diana Ford.
Rodrigues admitted her list was extremely ambitious.
"I was focused," said the third-year physical geography student at Brock University. "Every practice and every day, I took one step at a time.
"It wasn't I had to win. It was I wanted to win. And I believed in myself, too. That was the most important thing."
Given how far she has come this year in her wrestling career, she won't be disappointed if she doesn't reach her final goal. She knows she has done all she can to make it a reality.
"She has put a strong effort in and is loaded with ability," said Calder, who is also the Brock wrestling team coach. "She has lots of power and is very dangerous.
"She's progressing nicely and it's a good event for her to learn from."
When the worlds are over, the former Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association champion will need reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
That was really hard this year wrestling with an ACL injury," she said. "It was the most emotional and toughest season ever."
The recuperation period from knee surgery will cost her the first year of senior wrestling eligibility.
"I think about that it might be the last two weeks I ever wrestle, but I don't make that an option," the former Pan Am junior bronze medallist said. "I'm going to get back on the mats, but right now I have to focus on the worlds."
Ford has been soaking up the competitive atmosphere in the Brock wrestling room since transferring from the University of Guelph last fall.
"It has been huge leaps. I have a so much better understanding of concepts and athletically I feel 10 times more in shape and more confident in my wrestling," said the 20-year-old native of Kentville, N. S.
And it certainly doesn't hurt getting to train with and wrestle against some of the top female wrestlers in the world, like Tonya Verbeek and Jessie Bondy.
"It's either keep your intensity up or you're not going to survive," the third-year nursing student at Brock said. "Going into a tournament is nothing now because the best person you face is the same person you face every day."
The Canadian 51-kilogram junior champion and senior silver medallist is nervous but confident heading into the junior worlds in Turkey.
"I really want to place, if not win, but I don't know how realistic my expectations are. But there's no reason why I can't," said Ford, who moved from Nova Scotia to Sudbury to pursue a higher level of high school wrestling.
Calder said Ford has done everything she can to succeed at the junior worlds.
"She was third in Romania in her first real international competition and then she came back and wrestled real well in Germany. And then she was second at the Canada Cup. She's getting better by the day and she has put in a strong effort preparing for this event."
But how she'll fare is a mystery to Calder.
"Just looking at what we saw in a couple of events, we're in the thick of things," he said. "I would hope if she wrestles well she could win a medal."
This is the third time Ford has wrestled internationally for Canada, but her first appearance at the junior worlds. She captured back-to-back bronze medals at the last two Pan American junior championships.
Ford, who hopes to wrestle for Brock this year after sitting out a year because of Ontario University Athletics transfer rules, wants to go as far as she can with wrestling.
"There's nothing stopping me from wanting to go to the Olympics or wanting to win the Olympics. Obviously, there's people here who can do it."
And the junior worlds is where it starts.
"This is kind of a stepping stone for going to the seniors eventually."
For Calder, the junior women's assignment comes after an eight-year stint with the senior men's Olympic and world teams.
"I think this program is a little less involved which is of interest to me. I won't be doing as much travelling. And having the two girls on the team, they work hard and I admire their diligence with training, and their focus."
The appointment is for one-year and Calder will likely help out with senior men at this year's world championships
bpuchalski
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North DakotaBravos and a buffalo chip to hand out
7/25/09The Jamestown Sun hands out these bravos and a buffalo chip this week:* Bravo to Jamestown College for hosting what one JC official said is the largest women’s wrestling camp in the U.S. More than 100 wrestlers from high schools all over the country took part in the camp this week. This camp gave high school girls opportunities to practice before the national tournament next week in Fargo. It also gives JC some nice exposure to wrestlers from all over the country who might want to consider attending the college.
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Canada
A lot of pain for even more gain
THE WRESTLER: Heading to the World Championships
Posted By SCOTT HADDOW, THE SUDBURY STAR
Updated 1 day ago 7.25.09
There are weeks when wrestler Celeste Rodrigues can't walk.
The ACL in her left knee is completely deteriorated from an old injury, but it hasn't stopped her being one of the top junior wrestlers in Canada.
Rodrigues has qualified for the 2009 FILA Junior World Wrestling Championships in Turkey, from Aug. 4-9, by winning the Canadian national junior 59-kilogram division, and did so pretty much on one leg.
"This has been the toughest and most emotional season of my life, but I feel like it paid off," the Macdonald-Cartier graduate and current Brock University student athlete said. "Last year, when I went to the Junior Pan American championship, I found out that my ACL in my left knee deteriorated and that I was going to need knee reconstruction by a doctor. I knew this year would be my last year of junior and I felt I was one of the top contenders. I immediately decided I was going to finish my junior year and then take reconstruction surgery as a first-year senior and then get back on the mats. My drive this year was to show everyone and prove to myself I can do it, with or without an ACL."
Since last September, Rodrigues has been training non-stop to get to top form. From the moment Rodrigues put on wrestling tights, going to a world championship has been in her sights.
"It means everything to me right now," she said. "Making it to a world championship was a dream for me. Coming into this season, I knew I was going to be a top contender to go to junior worlds. This was my chance and I wasn't about to sit back and let anything get in my way. I was going out and grabbing the opportunity and doing whatever I had to do to get it."
Rodrigues tore her MCL in the knee four years ago at the national cadet championships. She had a cast put on from her hip to her ankle. She and doctors were under the assumption the tear had healed properly. It hadn't. The injury resulted in the deterioration of her ACL. Rodrigues figured something was wrong as her abilities, like leg shots, had become increasingly difficult to perform -- a routine move she had long before perfected.
Dealing with pain has become second nature to Rodrigues as she chases down her dreams.
"My will is strong. I know that," the 19-year-old said. "It can be so painful. I'll go two weeks and it will be fine and then the next week, I can't walk or hold my own weight up. It can be very unstable. I'm used to it now. I can't really explain it. A lot of times I suck it up hard and train and compete."
Rodrigues competed in wrestling for four seasons with Macdonald-Cartier high school and in club with the Rayside Wrestling Club. Rodrigues dominated, winning four city crowns and a provincial gold medal in Grade 11.
Rodrigues then packed her bags and went to Brock University to wrestle, starting in 2007, where she continues to be a force to be reckoned with, despite her wounded knee. She was named Brock's female wrestler of the year in the spring.
"Celeste is a very passionate and focused wrestler. She is very, very powerful and athletic," Brock head coach Marty Calder said. "Celeste has exceeded our expectations as far as her development is concerned, especially considering she has been held back by a knee injury that requires surgery. To have won a silver medal at the Canadian university championships and a gold at the national juniors this year has been remarkable."
Calder has seen a lot of top quality wrestlers in his days. He sees a bright future ahead for Rodrigues.
"She is extremely dedicated, which is indicated in her results. She has been a leader in that regard on a team that is notorious for it's strong workload," Calder said. "Celeste is just getting started with her journey in International wrestling. She has the ability to represent (Canada) at the Olympics some day. She has been a great addition to the Brock program and is a pleasure to coach."
Paul Berthiaume, Chelmsford and Rayside Wrestling Club head coach, has been keeping tabs on his former student. Berthiaume always saw great potential in Rodrigues.
"She was a great athlete and a powerful wrestler," he said.
"She also picked up techniques quickly. The only reason she is seemingly doing better now is that she was lacking the proper sparring partners in Sudbury. Now that she is at Brock, she has the best girls to train with in the country, including Tonya Verbeek, a two-time Olympic medallist. Her accomplishments have been just awesome, and I'm anxiously awaiting her performance at the world championships, where she could do very well."
Rodrigues places stringent demands and expectations on herself. She wants to be an elite performer and knows what it takes to get to that level. She believes in herself and what she is doing. It is driving her and pushing her past the pain.
"I want to reach for the stars, but it's easier said then done," she said. "I can only focus on a season at a time. Which means every mat session is important. This year, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish and I have accomplished all but one ... My last goal is to place Top 5 at worlds, but I am training to medal."
Regardless of where Rodrigues is headed, she will never forget where she came from -- Greater Sudbury.
Rodrigues is proud of her hometown and what the wrestling community from within and her high school gave her -- a shot at being a competitor.
"All of my coaches from Sudbury hold a place in my heart," she said. "They sacrifice a lot their time and personal life for the wrestling community in Sudbury. The positive energy at Macdonald-Cartier helped me a lot. I didn't think I could actually go out and do the things I did, but with the support of the school faculty and the students, it motivated me to continue. There are so many people from Macdonald-Cartier (and the Sudbury wrestling community) I need to thank because they have changed my life by just giving me the chance."
Another wrestler, Diana Ford, a Brock teammate of Rodrigues, is also going to the world junior championships. Ford has a small Sudbury connection as she trained with the Rayside club under the guidance of Berthiaume in 2006 before moving on to university wrestling.
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Celeste Rodrigues file
Age: 19
Weight class: 59-kilograms
High school: Macdonald-Cartier
University: Brock, going into her third year
Accomplishments: Four-time city high school champion; three-time regional (NOSSA) high school champion; won provincial (OFSAA) high school gold in Grade 11; juvenile provincial champion; Macdonald Cartier Athlete of the Year in grades 11 and 12; won bronze at the 2008 Pan-Am junior championships; 2009 provincial junior champion; 2009 national junior champion; Brock rookie wrestler of the year in 2008; Brock female wrestler of the year in 2009.
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