Community Corner

Jr Warrior Wrestlers Leave It All On the Mats

With 600 wrestlers, nine mats, CBC coverage, and Paris quickly approaching this summer, the Lakehead Elementary wrestling tournament held at the Fort William Gardens, Thunder Bay had the feel of an Olympic event.  Our young Olympians rose to meet the challenge on May 1st, with much determination, courage, and heart.  Blood, sweat, and tears were shed, but were met with resiliency, mental fortitude, and perseverance.  Every one of these young lions and lionesses grinned in the face of adversity, dug deep, and not only pushed through, but found success in their own right.  The toughest battles are often within oneself, and on that day, we saw time and time again these young athletes come up victorious. 
Sunny Sakamoto and Karsten Glenn absolutely went to war, dismantling their opponents en route to their gold medal finish.  These two young athletes cleared out their respective divisions, and showed confidence, respect, and grace.  Troy Hagan tore through his opponents with his relentless pressure and blast double.  His only loss coming in a very close back and forth match, one in which he attacked until the final bell was rung.  One thing is for sure there is never any quit in this young man.  Russell Cosco, our youngest competitor (grade 4), entered the tournament with a limp after stepping on a nail the previous day.  This young man’s first match was an absolute war, but he unfortunately came up short.  With tears shed, lip bloodied, and a sore foot, how was this young man to respond?  He got himself up, shook it off, and headed back to the fray picking up the win and pin.  Sean Collins exuded confidence, putting his technical prowess on full display.  Sean is a fearless young man that is not intimidated easily.  No matter the opponent, Sean is always game.  One of the breakout wrestlers of the tournament must be Addy Culham.  This young woman rose to the level of her competition and was in some very close barn burners of matches.  The coaches were all impressed with her application of clean techniques, impressive body awareness and positive never-give-up attitude.  We expect great things in this young woman’s wrestling future.  Jocelyn Hagan stunned the coaches and the crowd by lifting her opponents two feet off the ground, showing her impressive power.  Mild mannered off the mats, and a force to be reckoned with on, some of the coaches lovingly referred to her as “the killer librarian,” and all were impressed with her performance.  Little Anna Culham was the last match of the day, and she definitely didn’t disappoint.  With the crowd on their feet and cheering, Anna incorporated her patented “snappy crab style”, mimicking a crab, circling and snapping at her opponent, for which her opponent joined in the crustational overture mirroring Anna’s crab-like style.  Anna picked up the win and pin and put on one of the most exciting and memorable matches of the tournament.  Some of the most difficult battles are the ones that go unseen, struggles within oneself.  Donovan McCord suffered an injury his first match, and thus the mental battle began, whether to call it a day or push through.  This was a day long ongoing internal battle and no one would have blamed him if he threw in the towel.  But not Donovan, he stepped up, wrestled his all, and showed up for every match bell to bell.  That is an impressive win in our books.  Liam Salter, is one of the best wrestlers on the team.  Unfortunately he ran into some “hammers” as we like to call them in wrestling.  Liam faced much adversity, but ALWAYS rose to the bell.  There is no quit in this young man, and we are looking forward to him joining the high school program in the near future.  We are proud of every single one of our Jr Warrior Wrestlers!

Gold

Karsten Glenn (SMS)
Sunny Sakamoto (SHS)

Silver

Russell Cosco (SMS)
Troy Hagan (SHS)

Bronze

Sean Collins (SMS)
Anna Culham (SMS)
Jojo Hagan (SHS)
Addy Culham (SMS)

Fourth

Liam Salter (SHS)
Donovan McCord (SHS)

Travelling Coaches: Evan Burch, Diya McCloud, Ethan McCord, Omi Sakamoto, John Burke, Mihtig Donnelly and Coach Sakamoto