2024 Welcome Letter
Dear Club Members and Parents,,
Welcome to the Spearfish Youth Wrestling Club! We are glad you are here! This letter will help you to prepare for the upcoming wrestling season and inform you of the activities associated with our club. Please check our facebook page and website for tournament dates and keep an eye on your email for any communication updates.
History – The Spearfish Youth Wrestling Club is one of the premier wrestling clubs in the Black Hills. Your wrestler will learn the basic offensive and defensive moves and establish a foundation in wrestling they will use for a lifetime. Our primary focus is building a foundation in the fundamentals of wrestling and then learning how to compete and have FUN at local, state, regional, and national levels.
Beginners are considered to have anything less than 3 years of experience. Beginner practices start January 4th and are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-6:15 pm.
Advanced level is considered 3+years of experience but will ultimately be up to the coaches discretion. If the coaches agree that someone is not ready for advanced practices (both physically and mentally) the wrestler will be asked to step down. Vice versa, a young wrestler may be asked to advance if coaches feel they are ready. Advanced practices start November 27th, and will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00-7:00 pm. Starting January 4, practices will be from 5:30-7:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Mondays will be added starting January 8th from 5:30-6:30 pm.
**If you have any questions about which group is best for your wrestler, just talk with the coaches or board members.
-We keep practices CLOSED to parents in order for less distractions. Only those with AAU cards are allowed into the wrestling room. Parents are allowed to be in the foyer area. Practices are fun but serious. If your wrestler disrupts practice or is habitually a troublemaker, we’ll ask them to sit down or possibly leave the practice. Then we’ll discuss how we can change the behavior moving forward if necessary.
-All practices are in the High School wrestling room. Entrance to the wrestling room will be through the double doors on the west side of the auxiliary gym building. Please have your wrestler at practice at least 5 minutes prior to start time. This allows them to get their gear on and be ready to start practicing promptly. Being late to practice not only interrupts but will also not ensure your wrestler is warmed up enough. Practices are subject to change based on weather, gym availability or other sporting events.
-For the beginners, we encourage parents to assist their wrestler with working the moves outside of practice.The beginner’s group is usually our largest and the coaches can’t always see everyone on the mat. If you are able to assist, it is club policy to require a current AAU card to be out on the mat during practice. You will also need one if you plan on coaching your wrestler at tournaments. Please see any of the board members or coaches once you have an AAU card so we can mark you down. If you need assistance in getting one, please let a board member know and we can help!
Uniforms – for practice, wrestlers wear t-shirts, shorts or sweatpants and wrestling shoes. Headgear is optional. Please send a labeled water bottle to practice. Do not wear competition team singlets to practice! Do not wear wrestling shoes outside of the wrestling room. Wear a different pair of shoes to practice to keep wrestling shoes as clean as possible. After every practice please have your wrestler take a bath or shower!! This is important to not spread disease.
Tournaments – Transportation and participation costs in tournaments are the parents responsibility for their wrestler(s). We will typically have a coach at each local tournament but if there is one outside of that, message the board and we will see if a coach is available.
Please try to sit in the general area of the team parents and support all our wrestlers if you can. This also allows you to meet other parents and “learn the ropes.” Anyone can go to any tournament for the most part, but keep in mind tournament matches are mostly determined by weight and age, not experience. We do encourage first year wrestlers to attend a few weeks of practice prior to competing at tournaments. We don’t want young wrestlers to get disappointed in matches against more experienced wrestlers and not want to continue learning. You as parents must make that decision if your wrestler is ready. Feel free to talk with the coaches and other experienced parents to discuss if your wrestler is ready and how some tournaments are set up or run.
Parent Participation – As with any non-profit club, we are only as successful as the volunteers that assist and support club activities. The board and coaches are made up of all non-paid volunteers. We ask for as much help as possible but especially that you volunteer to help with our club tournament on January 27, 2024. A $100 volunteer check will be held and given back once volunteer commitments have been fulfilled. As the tournaments get closer, we’ll need to ensure all areas of the tournament are covered.
