Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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  • Tangled up... Two participants of the Bluefield Wrestling Club camp work on their moves this week at Graham High School. Olympic wrestler Vince Taylor will be on hand starting today to help teach those campers. Staff photo by Jon Bolt

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July 14, 2011

Olympian scheduled to visit Bluefield Wrestling Club camp

By JONATHAN GREENE Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD, Va. — It is not every day that an Olympic athlete comes to the two Virginias.

For the participants at this week's Bluefield Wrestling Club camp at Graham High School, they will get to meet four-time NAIA wrestling champion Vince Taylor who wrestled in the 1996 Summer Olympics.

“Vince is probably the best wrestler I have ever wrestled on any team,” said Ben Fritz, an assistant coach for Graham wrestling, who wrestled with Taylor at Pensacola Christian College. “He beat the snot out of me for years in college. He stayed there and helped as an assistant while he practiced for the Olympics.

“He's a buddy of mine. I talked him into coming down here and it's great to have him. The kids learn a lot from him.”

The Bluefield Wrestling Club camp has held steady in turnout with 30 to 50 kids showing up each of its four years of existence. Tim Woodward, Graham wrestling coach and director of the club, expects up to 100 kids over the weekend when the camp expands to six hours on Friday and Saturday.

“We work on skills and techniques,” Woodward said. “We drill moves and do situational wrestling. We work on our feet, top and bottom or up and down, takedowns, escapes, and reversals. After we've drilled, we'll have some live competition.”

Woodward said the purpose of the camp is to keep the kids’ interest up to give them a time period during the summer to learn new moves and work on the moves they know. It also allows younger kids to get involved, which is important to the continued growth of the sport in the area.

“It's very important because a lot of the schools in both Virginia and West Virginia have wrestling clubs and middle school teams,” said Woodward, of starting kids out at a young age. “If you get a kid interested and get them participating around 5 or 6 six years old, he'll be prepared when he hits middle school and high school. It's very hard to walk on the mat in ninth grade and he's never wrestled. He will not have a lot of success.”

Boys and girls from kindergarten to 12th grade are eligible to attend the camp which started on Monday and ends on Saturday. The campers are broken down into age groups where “the little ones work on what they can do and the bigger ones work on what they can do,” Woodward said.

“There is a chance for a lot of time for the bigger ones to help if we have big turnout with the younger kids,” Woodward added. “But, we have pretty much set things we do with each age group — skills that we teach and techniques they need to master — and that's how we break them down.”

Beginning today, the participants will get instruction provided by Taylor, along with Woodward and Fritz.

“It's great to have him here,” Fritz said. “The New River Valley has talented athletes and coaches. It's good to get someone outside of the area to help us out.”

Woodward added, “He's a super guy. He's a very good wrestler. He knows collegiate, Greco-roman, freestyle. He's great with the little kids. He's a great teacher and motivator.”

The camp features boys and girls from Tazewell and Mercer Counties and from all varying skill levels.

“Hopefully, they'll take advantage of the opportunity,” Woodward said. “They'll see his skill level and dedication to the sport. It's not every day someone like this comes around and talks with you and works with you.”

Last year, the wrestling club sent 10 individuals to the national competition in March. Six placed including one second-place finisher.

“They enjoy it,” Fritz said. “That was a big accomplishment for a little program like this.”

Camp will continue today from 6 to 8 p.m. while going from 2 to 8 p.m. on Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

— Contact Jonathan Greene

at jgreene@bdtonline.com

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