Young Hillsboro wrestlers hit the mats
Staff writer
The Hillsboro Kid's Wrestling Club is in it's eleventh year of existence, and its ninth year with Scott O'Hare as coach.
The club's other coaches include Corey Burton, Shawn Edwards, Matt Carroll, and Robby Delk, who are all certified through a national wrestling education program.
The program started in late November and will run through the end of March. Younger wrestlers meet once a week on Monday and the more experience wrestlers meet twice a week, Monday and Thursday evenings.
This year's turnout is really good, according to O'Hare. The club has 37 Hillsboro youth signed up for the club, and "we've got really good practice participation," said O'Hare.
The wrestlers range in age from 14 years to under six.
"We've even had some pretty competitive four year olds," said O'Hare. "Most people are a little tentative about the sport, but once they get into it, it really hooks them."
O'Hare, who has been involved in wrestling since age four, says the sport helps build discipline, character, confidence, and inspires hard work.
"We want kids to walk away feeling they have improved in these areas," he said.
The wrestling club and the high school program are inter-dependent. Funds raised help both groups, and high school wrestlers help not only in practice, but at tournaments as well.
According to O'Hare, he and the other coaches view the club, middle school, and high school programs as a whole.
"We like to view them as an entire program," he said.
The club also encourages kids to participate in wrestling at another level.
"Part of our incentive is as a feeder into our middle school and high school programs," said O'Hare. "You get them involved in the sport and teach them the basics of it."
O'Hare says that the number of kids participating in the club has increase in the past few years and early participation can build better wrestlers.
"Those are the kids that really do well at the high school level," he said.
The wrestling club hosted a takedown tournament Dec. 4 Brown gymnasium. The tournament drew more than 270 entries from as far away as Superior, Neb.
The club is affiliated with, and supported by USA Wrestling and USA Wrestling-KS. USA Wrestling is a national organization that supports amateur wrestling.
According to O'Hare, Kansas has one of the highest number of kids involved in wrestling in the nation per capita. The USA Wrestling-KS is also the most active program offering between two and four wrestling tournaments per weekend.
The club's next tournament will be Dec. 18 in Herington. If any young person is interested in being part of the Hillsboro Kid's Wrestling Club, it's not too late. Contact O'Hare at Hillsboro High School for more information.
