Hello and welcome back once again to Tyson's Thoughts.
If you can't tell from the headline, I’m going to be writing about how the PHSS wrestling team performed at the Campbell River Invitational wrestling tournament which was held this year on Saturday, Jan. 18 at Timberline Secondary School.
As you all know I'm the assistant coach for the PHSS wrestling team, I've been coaching the sport for six years now at PHSS, and I have to say I always enjoy going to this tournament probably the most out of any of them that are held on the Island, primarily because it’s not only the shortest drive of the year for our team, but also because the talent level is very high and it’s generally the one tournament of the season where all my students’ parents are able to make the drive down and watch them compete.
Yes, living and training here in the North Island definitely has its challenges. We’re so isolated from the rest of the island that it quite often feels like we’re not actually a part of the wrestling community in some ways. Regardless of that, I feel we always try our best to fit in at these tournaments and have some fun while we’re at it.
To quickly wrap up how the PHSS wrestling team performed, Filipe battled his way to the gold medal match and went home with a silver in the 60 kg junior division, Jayden placed fifth in the same division, and Hunter had two tough battles in the 66 kg junior division and received a consolation silver medal.
Compared to last year where our team only won a single match and came home with a bronze medal, I think this was the best we’ve ever done at the CR Invitational. It's a legitimately tough tournament to place at, and I have to give props to head coach Paul Cagna for all of the excellent advice he was shouting during the matches (we’re always the most vocal coaches at these tournaments, which I think is hilarious) and in my opinion it really works for us as our students can hear us clearly and then make adjustments on the fly.
Regardless of where a tournament is being held, any chance we get to compete against other schools is always a great opportunity for our team, primarily because we don’t have a whole lot of funding going towards our program, which basically means we’re really limited in what tournaments we can actually attend.
It’s really unfortunate we can’t make it down to the Alberni Invitational this year, but the reality is we have to save our money for the Island Championships Feb. 8 in Duncan at Queen Margaret's School. As Paul said in a previous interview with me, we’ve got a solid team of athletes who would travel to every tournament if we had the funding to do so.
And speaking of the Island Championships, training has been really good so far. Filipe is putting in the work, Anthony is back on the mats, and Jayden and Hunter are ready to go as well. I think all of them will do really well when the time comes to step on the mats at QMS.
With that said, will any of them qualify for provincials? That’s tougher to predict. Due to islands mixing the junior and senior divisions together, and us having a young team of mostly juniors, it’ll definitely be tough for us to qualify, but hey, we’re from Port Hardy, and if there’s anything I know about being from Port Hardy, it’s that we produce a grittier type of athlete.
I’ll end this by saying this has legitimately been my favourite season I’ve ever gotten to coach, and I’m really stoked that I’m still able to get on the mats with the kids and keep passing on my knowledge six years later. To me, the memories are priceless.
Tyson Whitney is an award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Port Hardy. His family has lived in Port Hardy for more than 40 years. He graduated with a degree in writing from Vancouver Island University in 2008. Email: editor@northislandgazette.com
