Justin Ratliff

Shout out to Cameron Fuller of Jeff HS placing 2nd at ISWA in the Jr 170 class on Sat., then turning right around and winning the Cadet 170 class with matches on Sat. and Sun.  Bright Future!

Great room last night!  50+ from Columbus East, Martinsville, Floyd Central, Jennings County, Seymour, and Madison all getting better.
 
Thanks to Coach Bradley for the technique and drill session.
 
No RTC this coming week due to Spring Break.  We will be back at it the following week (March 24th) with Wabash College coaches.

Just awaiting two more final commitments...looks like a pretty good lineup to say the least.

The Culver Academies RTC begins Monday, March 7th at 6pm.  Make sure you bring your USA card.  Make the choice to be great!  We want to see all area teams represented.  Coaches talk to your kids and make sure they are aware of this opportunity.  Champions distance themselves from the pack in the off-season!  - Coach Behling
 
The wrestling room is located on the second floor of the Steinbrenner Center.  The room is just west of the indoor blue track and directly above the racquetball courts.  The Steinbrenner Center is west of the chapel and south of the hockey arenas.  
 
This week you will be trained by Coach Rex Kendle.
 
Coach Kendle graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in Biology.  He is also a Chemistry instructor for Culver Academies.  He wrestled at Michigan State University where he was a two year starter, 2009 NCAA national qualifier, and team captain in his final year. Coach Kendle was nationally ranked in the top 20  for the 165lb weight class his senior year.  Off the mat, Coach Kendle was a 4x All-Big Ten academic selection and earned academic All-American honors in his last year.
 
Coach Kendle has six years of coaching experience. He previously coached at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN for the last five years.  During his time at Baylor the wrestling program won team state 3x and finished in the top 10 at Prep Nationals his last year with the team.  In those five years he coached 20 individual state champions and 32 state finalist.  
 
Prior to coaching at Baylor, Coach Kendle was an assistant at Lowell High School in Michigan for the 2009-2010 season.  There he helped the team to a top 15 national ranking and produced 5 individual state finalist.  Two wrestlers from that team would go on to be NCAA D1 All-Americans, including 2015 NCAA Champ, Gabe Dean.  
 
Coach Kendle resides in Culver, Indiana.  
 
Culver Academies Wrestling Room



 

I hate to tell an athlete to only concentrate on one sport. Of course you have exceptions, but for the vast majority, high school or college will probably be the end of highly competitive sports. You only have a few years to be young, and then it is on to the real world. Enjoy every minute of it while you can!

I remember coming into the wrestling room after cross country season and puking for the first week.  I always found it very hard to transition from CC to wrestling condition, just my own personal experience.  Now I found leaving the wrestling room and going out and running down a runway with a pole during track season came very easy.  Reverse of the question posed, wrestling seemed to help tremendously with pole vaulting.  It got me a college scholarship with very little actual work on the track; I even hated it all through college, would much rather have been wrestling back then, but it helped pay the bills. 

You may need to approach that from a different angle.  That argument wouldn't account for the 30+ states that are classed for wrestling who are routinely considered below Indiana in terms of wrestling talent.  Or if you take away the state that are near or closing in on Indiana, the 20+ state who haven't seen nearly the wrestling development with their classed system.  That argument speaks more to the long wrestling tradition and decades of wrestling development at the youth levels in those states than just creating a class system in HS.  Aspects of classed wrestling may be a factor in their growth, but it is hard to tell when the 30+ other state examples of classed wrestling haven't seen near that level of success.
 
 
As I've mentioned in the past taking a good look at the infrastructure some of these traditional wrestling state have created, as well as, looking to see what some of the fast rising states have implemented in the last few years may provide some indication on the steps our state needs to take to move higher on the state rankings.  We will likely find that Indiana has began to implement some of those successful measures, but should continue to cultivate and expand them.  It may also be found that, classed wrestling make the list of possible items.   But I have a feeling it is not as high on the list other items that have allowed those states to continue to show growth. 

I like Hudkins in how he took complete control of the 126 weight class, which was loaded with stud after stud.

Looking to wrestle at an ISWA event this upcoming weekend? Here are the events being hosted around the state-
Saturday February 27th- 
Avon Beginners- Avon, IN
Mater Dei Folkstyle Open- Evansville, IN
Wabash Valley Folkstyle Open- Terre Haute, IN
Jet Beginners- Monroe, IN
Nighthawk Folkstyle Open- Frankfort, IN
Center Grove Folkstyle Open- Greenwood, IN
Leo Folkstyle Open- Leo, IN
Wheeler Folkstyle Open- Valparaiso, IN
Sunday February 28th- 
Jimtown Folkstyle Open- Jimtown, IN
40th Annual Decatur WC Bellmont Folkstyle Open- Decatur, IN
Perry Meridian Thornton Strong Folkstyle Open- Indianapolis, IN
 

Well i guess im too "old school" to relate to the antics that happened at the end of the match. I was always taught to act like a respectful contestent win or lose. My coaches and Dad always said when you win a match dont disrespect the sport...school...opponent and when you lose dont do it either. If i felt the need to celebrate i did it amongst my teammates out of the spot lights. I wish Red the best, but i think he has a lot of growing up to do.

Don't all winners have a good tournament tho?

i owe everyone on this message board an apology. I looked selfish and ungrateful last night. Being frustrated is no reason to act the way I did. I apologize and appreciate the support through out my careere. Thank you

Hey it's more than spotlights and organs, you need the fully immersive state experience. 

I can tell you with 100% certainty that I am a huge wrestling fan and have been looking forward to this State Finals more than any other's in the past for the reason's all stated above, but I also have a son who may be wrestling at Indy Nationals the next day so in order to get him home and get him to bed to be sort of rested for the next day I likely won't stick around for the last or last couple of weight classes.  Now if the last weight class was 132 he would have to wrestle tired the next day because there is no way we would leave !!!!  That is probably the feeling a great majority of the people will share.  Sorry but it is just reality.

Best team should be My 14 kids vs your 14 kids not can the Bellmont kid beat the warren kid Friday night..it is what it is but anyone who believes it's the "true" title is lying to themselves

What he said

I heard if any of them loses they will have to change their last name to Caprino.

A kid going for 4 state titles while being undefeated is pretty special to most.

Seymour will be there!

Columbus East will be having Friday Night Live wrestling this Friday (2/12/16).  The time is from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. will be at Columbus East High School.  The address is 230 S. Marr Rd.  Columbus, IN 47203.  If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at Rashaad_T@Hotmail.com or you can reply to this post.  Thanks. 

Academies are great, trust me I know. You get fantastic partners out of them I wrestled for CIA and me and all my drill partners won IHSAA state, but the only reason I wrestled in it is because my local club was non existent.... if you have a good or decent club, wrestle for them while they are holding practices you can always go to the Academies as well. I coach my high school and club now and the wrestlers who go else where don't even associate with our other kids, it harms them both in my opinion. If your club isn't at the level you want it to be, ask how you can help, parents are a huge part and influence to any good club... your son or daughter can still be a great wrestler by wrestling with thier respective club, as well as Academies.

You have about 30 minutes to register for the Seymour Slam!  We have a great cross-section of wrestlers from different areas.  We have kids from Kentucky, Tennessee, Evansville, Southern Indiana, South Central Indiana, and Indianapolis.
 
We are also going to have a silent auction tomorrow with some great items.
 
Items:
 
Family video movie package
 
Fight Shorts
 
Mad Viking Beard Company: Shirts, beanie, beard oil, beard balm, conditioner, and shampoo
 
Carhart rain guard work coat
 
Home depot: Beanie, coffee mug, work gloves, camo baseball cap
 
Teeth whitening from Seymour Family Dentistry
 
Gift certificates to El Nopal, China Buffet, Kim Nails, Seymour Greenhouse
 
 

Bentz,
 
I had nothing to do with the disappearance of your Regional trophy!

It was a very long day yesterday and the Franklin Community folks did a fantastic job in putting this on with the adverse weather conditions adding a few wrinkles.
 
I was able to watch a few matches in the main gym during the pool rounds and was really impressed with the showing that Seymour put on. Kudos to that group! As Matt Brewer stated, the level of competition of this event has continued to increase and has made it pretty exciting to watch as a spectator. The semi-final round of Avon vs. Penn was a cliff-hanger!
 
From a Brownsburg parent/coach perspective, it was really nice to get our kids that attend different academies together (along with wrestlers who just participate in our club) as a community group to wrestle as a team. Hopefully it will foreshadow good things to come in the future. 
 
Great job to the men and women from ISWA who managed this event - most of us managed to refrain from bugging Louis R. regarding waivers for the 2016 FS State event, too...  ;-)