SMWC All-Stars "Best of the Best" |  |
Note: You have reached our 1998/99 edition. Regular practices are in the Gwynn Park HS wrestling room, M-W-TH, 6:30-8:30pm until March 15th. At that time we will transition into the regular SMWC open practices in the small gym. Information on this non-profit youth club, the kids competitive branch of Southern Maryland Wrestling Club, can be obtained by contacting us here.
Note: When schools are closed in PG County due to various reasons, practices are also cancelled.
SMWC ALL-STARS 1999 CAWL DUEL MEET CHAMPIONS
Flash - All-Stars Start League Duel Season Tough Jan 28th
SMWC All-Stars win the team title at Walkerville Dec 27th.
Nearly 700 wrestlers
compete.
SMWC Looses to Golden Ring at Top-6 Duels
This is it. You've come to
the big leagues in kids wrestling. The long time showcase and training grounds
for young wrestling
stars in the DC metro region, this is the youth
team that has continually produced
national champions, national record holders, and many Maryland,
Virginia, and Pennsylvania state high
school champions over an extended number of years.
Below you will find information for potential members about our
youth select wrestling team, the SMWC All-Stars.
The accelerated youth program sponsored by
Southern
Maryland Wrestling Club is structured primarily for experienced
youth wrestlers, or those wrestlers who are high school
age but need to refine their technique. We do have some beginners join
our program so they can learn by "fire" the "right way to do it".
Most advance to become contenders within a short time.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Fielding highly successful
programs over many years, the current SMWC youth team competes in the
Capital Area Wrestling League and regional
tournaments until late February, when the league championship
qualifies regional wrestlers for
the beltway state championships. Following the state championships and
the open Age/wt State Championships, the
team is very active in national level youth competitions.
Our team is the only advanced competition team for young wrestlers in PG County, and also the closest to Calvert County for Southern Maryland wrestlers. We are also to closest advanced team for Virginia youth wrestlers living in the southern beltway region.
While the focus of the team is for young advanced wrestlers, older
wrestlers may practice with us
provided they are SMWC members and also have current USAW cards.
We welcome coaches
from other area programs, as well as open wrestlers who want to have
fun while helping some
great young talent. Among our outstanding high school wrestlers who
competed
for the 1998 Team are Max Buff, Ryan Forman, Ryan Lowder, and Jesse Keys.
Jason Keissling also practiced with our 1998 team.
Our 1998/99 team features tremendous talent. These are kids who will
dominate competition no matter where they show up. Included among
this years squad are
such young national level stars as Rudy Rueda, Lucus Black,
Jonathan Farringer, Steve Sargent, Mike Rock,
Mike Vashon, Mike Rowe and Steve Ratliff. We have a couple of other
dark horse stars waiting in the wings as well. While everyone gets to wrestle,
our starting lineup is more
difficult to break into than winning most tournaments.
You can tell how strong a youth program you have by how many knowledgeable wrestlers and coaches show up with their own kids. Our practices are loaded with the sons of regional high school coaches, athletic directors, and former outstanding wrestlers, some driving considerable distance to participate. We are also likely the only youth team around that often has several high school state champions show up to learn on a regular basis throughout our season.
We don't need to recruit, attending one time to practice or watching our team in an open tournament is usually enough to convince even the best. We practice and believe in the old wrestling saying: "If you want to become the best, you need to work with the best, coaches and team mates."
1999 SMWC All-Stars
COACHING INFORMATION
Our coaching staff features some of the most respected coaching
talent in the region. These are serious coaches.
Each is well experienced in all styles of
wrestling and have significant coaching and competition backgrounds.
The SMWC All-Stars are coached by Head Coach and former Iowa wrestler and
Virginia HS coach
Rick Jones.
His assistant coach is former
age-group National Champion and SMWC Head Coach
Bruce Gabrielson.
One any given night there are many other local high school or youth
league coaches who have their own kids on the team and are helping on
a regular basis. This goes for tournaments as well. We seldom get into
a situation where we don't have enough coaches to go around when we are
in a big tournament and many team members are wrestling at the same time.
Other regular SMWC members including Olympian
Buddy Lee, World Cup Runner-up
Jim Howard, Espoir National Champion and 1996 Olympic
Freestyle
Contender Jason Gabrielson,
former Maryland standout
Steve Arslanian
and former Cadet and Junior World Team Member
Rob Pribish
are among those presenting special sessions or helping as time permits.
DIRECTIONS
Our practice site is
Gwynn Park HS in Brandywine. Take Rt 5
south from 495 to Old Brandywine Rd and turn left or take Rt 301 south and
turn right just before you reach Rt 5.
SCHEDULE
Our practices are held most (but not all) Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights between 6:30 and 8:30 pm. We are closed when county schools are closed but often schedule alternative practice sites. Tournaments or matches are scheduled every weekend until March.
We run a very intense formal practice program.
Our motto is "Give no quarter and expect no quarter".
Many other clubs are jealous of our record and we
don't always win in dual meets or tournaments, but when we wrestle
the competition always knows we are there.
Our performance
on the mat does our talking.
Beginners and novice wrestlers should be ready for
serious work if they wish to practice with this team as we
do not allow our wrestlers to play. We
spend at least one hour each night learning advance technique moves.
Following training expect lots of time on the mat wrestling.
For more information call Coach Gabrielson at (301) 855-4565 or
Coach Jones at (703) 440-0433.
We move ahead quickly, so the longer you delay, the more you
will miss out. Our team is so tough usually
that we have non-starters who win
tournaments. This doesn't seem to matter though as our intent is to
prepare our members to be state and national contenders from their first
year in high school. It has happened to our members many times.
Please feel free to come by any night to practice or check
us out.
Permission is freely given to link to this page or any portion thereof.
Link to our Great Service Provider -
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HOW TO JOIN
Anyone can join the team by simply showing up to practice.
Sign-ups are taken at practice.
For costs, there is a $65 league participation fee required,
plus all wrestlers must purchase an AAU
insurance card ($12) and a USAW card ($20).
Since we compete over an extended season,
all members buy their own team singlets and warm-ups.
High school wrestlers who are under 16 and
do not wrestle varsity or JV may participate in
our league matches as well as experienced
wrestlers at least 6 years old and 50 lbs.
Problems or Questions