The annual Blue Dragon Youth Wrestling Tournament was held last Thursday, January 2 with over 200 kids participating. While it is normally an annual event, last year’s tournament had to be canceled due to weather. This may have depressed numbers some, as according to other wrestling parents, the gym is usually even more packed than it was this year.
However, turnout was still nothing to be disappointed in.
Thirty youth aged 5-12 years old from Garretson participated. The Garretson Youth Wrestling Coaches are Cody Linneweber, Colby Pierret, and Vern Miller, and the event was organized by several youth wrestling board members and parents.
Coach Linneweber was pleased with how the tournament went.
“I was very happy with how all the boys wrestled, they worked their tails off in front of a large crowd and that made us coaches very happy,” he wrote to the Gazette. “The coaches are thankful for the effort the wrestlers put in every week, as it is vital in keeping the sport of wrestling prominent in the town of Garretson.”
He also was grateful to all of the helpers.
“I also want to thank all of the volunteers that helped make the Garretson Youth Tourney a success. Whether it was in the food stand, at a table scoring, Refereeing, making brackets, taking money, or helping in other areas they made the tourney run as smoothly as it did.”
Practices are normally on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m., though that is variable based on game schedules, and most tournaments are on weekends. While there are many tournaments available, the coaches pick just a few to attend officially and allow youth to attend others if they wish.
Coach Linneweber continued, “In an end note, if any other young children in Garretson are interested in wrestling, please feel free to come to a practice or contact a coach to see if it is something that you want to pursue. Our program is headed in the right direction and the future looks bright for Garretson Wrestling.”
