Wrestling season has officially started again at Port Hardy Secondary School and yours truly is back coaching and training on the ol’ blue mats with a tough crew of Port Hardy youth.
I have to say I’m really excited to get back into teaching the students all the inner workings of my favourite sport.
When I first decided to volunteer my free time towards coaching athletics, I knew I had the skillset needed to teach kids, but I wasn’t sure if I would actually enjoy it or not. You see, I’d never coached before, I was always just an athlete who was more concerned about winning medals and trophies than anything else.
Well, after a wildly fun 2019-2020 season that left me with a ton of great memories, I know now that I really enjoy every aspect that goes into coaching. It also motivated me to get into better shape and to start training again, which is something I didn’t realize that I still had any passion for.
I’m feeling inspired enough that maybe I’ll go down island and compete again and add some more medals to my collection.
Back to coaching, the first practice of the season was held on Oct. 13 and I had eight kids come out to train. It was a little bit of a hectic start but we managed to learn the rules of folkstyle (scholastic) wrestling, how to score points, illegal holds, drilled techniques, and then wrestled matches.
I have a lot of cool stuff planned for the rest of year (trophies, in-house tournaments) so hopefully the interest level remains high.
If any high school kids are reading this and are interested in joining, wrestling practices are held October to March at PHSS every Monday and Wednesday from 5-6:30 p.m., feel free to drop in and try out a class.
It’s a good workout and you’ll learn some really cool techniques, that I promise you.
Tyson Whitney is an award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Port Hardy. He graduated with a degree in writing from Vancouver Island University in 2008.
@NIGazette
editor@northislandgazette.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter