ELEMENTARY WRESTLING: More than 250 children from all nine Jeff elementary schoo

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March 16, 2011

 

ELEMENTARY WRESTLING: Riverside wins wrestling?s Main Event at Jeff High

More than 250 children from all nine Jeff elementary schools participate in wrestling tournament

By MATT KOESTERS

Matt.Koesters@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Wed Mar 16, 2011, 01:34 AM EDT

 

JEFFERSONVILLE ? With 265 children from nine different grade schools participating, the scene at Johnson Arena was one of controlled chaos as third, fourth and fifth graders grappled to win a pizza party and a banner for their schools.

 

In the end, it was Riverside Elementary that won the most wrestling matches to win the Main Event at Jeffersonville High School on Tuesday.

 

For Riverside, it was the school?s second Main Event overall championship in five years. Bridgepoint came in second overall, and Parkwood and Utica tied for third place.

 

Each child wrestled two matches against another child of comparable weight, with the winner receiving a championship ribbon and the wrestler suffering the setback declared runner-up.

 

In the third-grade division, Bridgepoint put together the most wins, followed by Parkwood in second, Riverside in third and Utica in fourth.

 

In fourth-grade action, Riverside took the championship, followed by Bridgepoint, Wilson and Northaven.

 

And among fifth graders, Parkwood had the most wins, followed by Riverside, Bridgepoint and Northaven.

 

The Main Event is the culmination of three weeks of practice by the children, each of whom received instruction from current Team Jeff wrestlers who graduated from their elementary schools.

 

For Team Jeff, the Main Event gives kids a taste of what the sport of wrestling is all about, and many of them will go on to become wrestlers at the next level.

 

?It?s huge,? Jeff high school wrestling coach Danny Struck said. ?My prime example is the first year we ever won sectionals in the past 20 (or) 25 years was the first year that my first fifth grader hit his freshman year.?

 

Since that time, the Jeffersonville High School wrestling team has won sectional in four of its last five tries.

 

?To me, that?s an exact stat on what it?s doing for us,? Struck said.

 

However, the Main Event isn?t just to help feed new wresters into the Team Jeff program at the next level ? it?s to give current wrestlers a taste of what coaching and teaching are about, and an opportunity for them to give back to the community. Jeffersonville High School wrestlers are required to help prepare grade schoolers for the Main Event before they can claim their varsity letters and season awards. But most seemed to be enjoying the experience.

 

?I don?t really think of it as mandatory,? Jeff junior heavyweight Mackenzie Burns said. ?It?s something I like to do because I?m teaching kids who are just like (I was) at one time, because the high school kids came and coached me and that?s what got me into wrestling.?

 

?I consider this the biggest part of our program, because this is where we get 115 fifth graders? names,? Struck said, ?and in sixth grade, our last two sixth-grade groups were huge in middle school. These kids, even though it?s only two-and-a-half weeks, believe they wrestled in a league and they beileve they?re wrestlers. That?s what we?re trying to get them to say: ?I wrestle.??

 

 

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