The new Juneau Youth Wrestling Center at 3221 Mendenhall Loop Rd has been four years in the making. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)
Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Juneau Youth Wrestling Club (JYWC) hosted a Labor Day Weekend Wrestling Clinic in their brand new wrestling center. The clinic featured Coach Tony Purler, a two-time USA Wrestling world team member.
Coach Purler is the first high-level wrestling technician to come to Juneau in many years.
Coach Purler and his family came to Juneau from their home outside of Kansas City, Missouri, where he runs the Purler Wrestling Academy (PWA).
Along with being a two-time world team member and running an accomplished wrestling academy, Purler is also a two-time World Cup medalist, an NCAA champion, a four-time High School Nationals finalist, and a former NCAA Division I wrestling coach.
It was good timing, as Purler had just finished up a busy summer of camps and clinics at his own training center, and he was excited to visit Alaska.
The weekend clinic was geared towards middle school and high school age wrestlers, but JYWC hopes to host more camps for younger age groups in the future.
Coach and JYWC board member Jason Hass hopes the new center will build Southeast wrestling programs up. He said they are currently in a revitalization stage.
"We have our own spot finally, to be able to practice and run camps like this. I mean after four years of cranking away on this thing and lots of planning...It just feels like a relief to finally be in here and be able to host something like this," he said. "Not just for our Juneau kids, but for all of the Southeast community. You know, I mean, we got kids here from all over Southeast and everybody's able to take part in it. Hopefully, it becomes like a kind of an epicenter for Southeast Alaska wrestling."
The majority of the camp was comprised of Juneau wrestlers, but there were also wrestlers from Yakutat, Wrangell, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Sitka, Haines, and Valdez in attendance.
Coach Levi Mills brought three wrestlers from out of town to participate in the clinic. He agreed with Hass that he'd like to see Southeast wrestling programs strengthen. On that note, Mills shared a little bit about Hoonah's wrestling program.
"In Hoonah, we haven't had a program in a while and last year was the first year we have fired up the high school program. We had four wrestlers, three of them placed at regionals, two of them made the state, and then one of them placed in state," he said. "It brought a lot of younger attention, which we need, you know, from the elementary level through junior high, to get them interested. And that's really where you want to start is when they're really young."
He also thanked Juneau for the opportunity to be a part of the wrestling clinic.
"It's pretty awesome to be included, pretty awesome walking in, a good welcome," he commented.
High school wrestlers Justus Darbonne and Hayden Aube feel like the center will give them a chance to improve their skills. Juneau wrestlers used to shuffle between practicing at the gymnastics academy and the school gym, causing them to compete for the time and space with other athletes. This was a challenge for their team, they said.
They're excited to get on their very own brand-new mats and be able to practice year-round.
Hass added the high school wrestling team looks like it's growing, even while in pre-season. The official season begins Sept. 27.
"I would say just, you know, show up to one or two practices, just hop on the mat, get shoes, and just like find someone you might know or, you know, find someone your weight, start wrestling, and just see how you like it," Darbonne encouraged other youth to try out.
Darbonne has been wrestling for the last five years, and Aube said he's been wrestling since he was young. Maybe as young as 7 years old, his coach guessed.
He also gave encouragement to those who might be considering wrestling.
"Show up. See the environment, people, get to know some of the people here and maybe try a couple practices," Aube said. "You know, practice. You don't have to wrestle at tournaments or anything, just come here, get better."
Both Darbonne and Aube agreed that this new building can help bring awareness to their wrestling community all across Southeast. They look forward to what will come next.
Hass noted that while wrestling can look intimidating from the outside, there's a common respect for everyone on the team.
"The beauty of wrestling I feel like is we take all shapes and sizes and all abilities. You don't have to be the tallest guy on the team or the fastest guy, we need everybody," he said. "That was the goal while we were building this. We want to be able to at least expose every boy and girl in Juneau and Southeast to wrestling."
Hass thanked everyone who made the new Juneau Wrestling Center possible.
"I just wanted to say just a quick thank you to everybody that's helped on this building. I mean, there's been a lot of volunteers and a lot of donations from businesses and individuals," he said. "We literally could not have done it without everybody's help. Everybody that's helped out, donated — thank you so much. We genuinely 100% appreciate it."
JYWC's home tournament, 'Southeast Showdown', will be on Oct. 20 with finals on Oct. 21, and Juneau will also host the Region 5 Southeast regional tournament this year, Dec. 8-9.
These upcoming tournaments will be held at Thunder Mountain High School, and Hass invited the community to come cheer on their team.
A grand opening celebration for the community is planned to be held at the Juneau Wrestling Center, with dates and times to be announced.
For more information about any local wrestling programs, find JYWC on Facebook, visit their website, or send an email to juneauyouthwrestling@gmail.com.
Below: Wrestlers and coaches from the Labor Day Clinic take a group photo in the brand new wrestling center. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)
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