by Oran Sorenson
One of the largest turnouts in decades showed up to attend our local Garretson Youth Wrestling Tournament Tuesday evening December 28th.
Wrestling started almost on time, close to 5:00 pm, and ended around 9:15 pm.
Over 20 schools were represented from three states, from Adrian Minnesota on the east to Pierre on the west, and from Watertown and Clear Lake on the north to Beresford, Bon Homme and Little Rock, Iowa on the south.
Wrestlers were entered in brackets of four with the goal of giving each boy or girl at least three matches.
Volunteer referees and scorekeepers, mostly students, did their absolute best to award points earned correctly and with the additional help of many adults who pitched in wherever they could, the much larger than expected turnout seemed quite pleased with the event and we hope all are back next year.
It was fun to see so many people from so many places in our tri-state area come and spend time in Garretson. It was a great crowd and good sportsmanship was evident in almost every corner.
According to head youth coach Vern Miller, “We are happy to have 53 kids practicing this year, and because of limited mat space we have to have a split practice. But that is a nice problem to have.”
According to Miller there are 4 actual coaches, but many experienced Dads step up and also help in instruction, which is greatly appreciated by all. The program has a five-member board in which they take turns being head. Sam Johnson is the president of the club this year.
According to Sam, “We also host the District AAU tournament this year for the first time in a long time, Saturday March 5th. The experience we gained pulling off this tournament so well will only make us even better prepared for the district substate tournament in March.”
It certainly takes the efforts of a lot of good people volunteering wherever they can from bringing bars, donating hamburger, registering kids, refereeing or keeping score or just trouble shooting.
“We certainly thank all who stepped up to the plate to pull this event off,” said Johnson.
With so many kids traveling so far, the level of talent at the event was quite exceptional. While all the Garretson youth gained valuable experience and had some success, some were able to advance and win every match and took first place in their divisions. Nice job by all!
