For the first time in four years, local student athletes flocked to Rotary Place Monday to square off in the elementary school city wrestling championships.
Cancelled through the COVID-19 pandemic, close to 200 students from grades five through eight, representing numerous elementary schools in the area, participated in the event.
Divided into two divisions, kids (grades five and six) and bantam (grades seven and eight), the tournament takes place three days ahead of the county-wide competition, which all of Monday’s participants will have the opportunity to compete in. That competition will also be held at Rotary Place — on Thursday.
Tournament organizer Juris Ligers said "it feels fantastic" to see the kids competing again, and stressed that wrestling is a sport inclusive to all.
“City council was kind enough to give us a grant to pay for both tournaments because they recognize the importance of (the sport)," Ligers told OrilliaMatters between bouts. "This is inclusive, so it doesn't matter how small, how big, body type – if you come to your practices and work hard, you're welcome here.”
Although participation has dropped by dozens of students compared to pre-pandemic tournaments, Ligers — who has been involved with youth wrestling for close to 25 years — works hard with his team to make wrestling an athletic opportunity for the city’s youth.
“We have a very, very strong club presence,” he said. “We have a very strong resource base. All these mats are owned by the club and donated to schools to keep wrestling going. I have coaching certification, so I invite teachers to come, and then they can be certified by Ontario Wrestling.”
A number of former program participants have gone on to compete in Olympic Trials. In 2020, four managed to become finalists, said Ligers with pride.
“Unfortunately, none of them won, but they made it to the last match of the Olympic Trials, and they had all wrestled in this tournament as children, so it's pretty cool,” Ligers said.
With many competing for the first time following the tournament’s four-year hiatus, students appreciated the opportunity to get out and test their skills at the sport.
“It's really fun. It's really good experience, and it's just overall really fun,” said Rama Central student William Chalmers.
“I did Taekwondo for about four years … so I feel like that definitely helped me here,” said Warminster Elementary student Alex Harbridge following a win. “It was nice to have more combat, compared to things like volleyball, where it's more passive.”
Rama Central student Kai Elford said he’s looking forward to the county competition in a few days.
“There’s only two of us (from Rama Central), so there'll be more people to face,” he said.
Results for the city wide championships may be found here.
The county-wide competition takes place all day Thursday at Rotary Place, with students from Barrie, Shanty Bay, Elmvale, and around Simcoe County.
