Continuing to grow the sport

Powell High School hosts wrestling camp

Posted 6/8/23

Powell High School hosted its annual wrestling camp to kick off the summer, bringing in kids of all ages from 5 years old to high school to learn and compete from May 31 through June 2 at PHS.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Continuing to grow the sport

Powell High School hosts wrestling camp

Posted

Powell High School hosted its annual wrestling camp to kick off the summer, bringing in kids of all ages from 5 years old to high school to learn and compete from May 31 through June 2 at PHS.

Coach Nick Fulton said that he felt it was good to get kids back in the gym early, and get them in camp before heading off for vacation this summer.

“It’s sometimes good to hit those camps early,” Fulton said.

He said they had a good group of campers who came in and worked hard for three days, learning more as the week progressed.

Over the three day camp, both boys and girls had the opportunity to learn, with the girls having a pair of special guests to help teach them specific skills.

Those guests were recent graduate Yessenia Teague alongside 2021 graduate Emma Karhu, who returned to Powell to help coach the camp at the Panther program’s request.

“It’s really awesome to give back,” Karhu said. “I have a lot to give back to these girls and show them what really helped me as a girl. Swapping stories was really fun — it was good to talk to them about what works for women specifically. To see women’s wrestling grow and to see these little girls come out and want to wrestle is really awesome.”

Karhu said it was nice to have Teague coach alongside her for the week, after seeing the improvement from her former teammate who helped Karhu teach the next generation of Panther girl wrestlers.

After the fun and success of the three days Karhu said she would definitely look forward to coming back and helping in the future.

“I definitely would come back next year and help,” Karhu said. 

Fulton said it was important to have both Karhu and Teague back to help the program so quickly to bring a positive role model for the younger generation.

“They are really good role models and true ambassadors for women’s wrestling,” Fulton said. “It was good to have them back helping out.”

Alongside Fulton and the Panther coaching staff were Panther wrestlers, Powell USA Wrestling coaches and Powell Middle School coaches who came in to help teach kids throughout the day before the high schoolers worked out in the evening.

Fulton said the high schoolers’ teaching helps them grasp the concept better when they have to teach it to younger kids.

Finishing out the week the wrestlers got the opportunity to wrestle under the light, holding a dual on Friday evening in the same setting the high school program performs in throughout the winter.

“It gives them a taste of the competition,” Fulton said. “They got pretty excited to be under the bright light. It’s something the campers really enjoy. The high school kids do the coaching and officiating to give them a taste of what it feels like to be mat side.”

Fulton said the high school team will continue to hold summer workouts before heading to a camp in Gunnison, Colorado, at Western Colorado University.

He said the continued building of a program is important, as he hopes to help return PHS wrestling to the top in the near future.

“We are establishing the consistency that we are a program from high school all the way down to 5-year-olds,” Fulton said. “I always tell them the time put in in the summer is worth double in the winter.”

Comments