VIPERS Wrestling, a community based organization with a geographic center in Columbia,  has been a Howard County Parks and Recreation program for two decades.   The Viper's mission is to provide the youth of Howard County the opportunity to experience the great sport of wrestling in a fun, structured, and disciplined program.The VIPERS, which are managed and coached exclusively by volunteers, had 250 kids participate in their 2013 wrestling program.  We offered three levels of wrestling:  clinic, recreation and travel. The clinic program offers children the opportunity to experience wrestling in a non-competitive environment. The recreation program is semi-competitive, while the travel program offers the best youth wrestling training in Maryland.  In 2013, the travel team won their league tournament championship and crowned three individual state champions.   More importantly, of the twenty-eight MPSSAA high school state champions in 2014, an astounding 21% came through the VIPERS program.   It was an exceptional year to be a VIPER; however, winning is never the emphasis with the program.  We teach our wrestlers how to become excellent young adults by instilling the intangibles they will need to excel in life.   We concentrate on the things we can control in the wrestling room:  effort, discipline, focus, and mental and physical conditioning.  It is all summarized in our name:  VIPERS is an acronym that stands for victory, intensity, pride, endurance, respect and success.   In 2016/2017, there will be more good things to come from this 100% volunteer program.

Available Levels of Wrestling Instruction/Competition through the Vipers Wrestling Club:

Clinic – for the beginning wrestler

• Ages 4 to 8 years old.
• Non-competitive.
• Practices one day a week.
• One or two matches at the end of the season.
• Season runs from mid-November through February.
• Very basic wrestling instruction with an emphasis on social skills, fun/games.
• Practice Locations Last Year (NOT CONFIRMED FOR THIS YEAR): Atholton HS, Howard HS
• Practices generally last 60-90 minutes and start around 6:00.

Recreation League – for the beginning/intermediate wrestler

• Ages 6 to 15 years old
• Semi-competitive - individual match scoring tracked (winner/loser each match), but team dual meet scoring not tracked. Coaches meet before dual meets to try and match up wrestlers of the same ability.
• Practices two days a week and sometimes three days. Practices last 2 hours or less.
• Kids will get approximately 15-30 matches during the year between dual meets and tournaments.
• Most matches and tournaments are on Saturdays at either Gary J Arthur Community Center or North Laurel Community Center.
• Season runs from mid-November through the end of February.
• Basic to intermediate wrestling instruction with an emphasis on conditioning, discipline and work-ethic in a fun environment.
• Teams are located at county high schools based on availability of gym access. It is anticipated that there will be six Howard County recreation teams.
•  Meets/ tournaments are held on Saturdays  
• Tentative Practice Locations for this year:   Atholton HS, Glenelg HS, Hammond HS, Howard HS, Long Reach HS, Marriott’s Ridge HS, Oakland Mills HS, Reservoir HS, Wild Lake HS
• Burtonsville, and the Warhawks have teams that compete in the recreational league.

Travel – for the advanced/competitive wrestler

• Ages 6 to 15 years old
• Competitive – opportunity to wrestle the best competition in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
• Practice three days a week. Practices are typically two hours.
• Monday and Wednesday practices at the Columbia Academy.  Friday practices are at Oakland Mills HS. 
• Kids will get 30-70 matches during the year between dual meets and tournaments. Number of matches depends upon how many events/tournaments are attended.
  
• Season runs from November 1st through mid March.
• Advanced wrestling instruction with an emphasis on conditioning, drilling, high level technique, intensity and mental preparedness.
• Compete in the Anne Arundel County A Division and seek out the best competition in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.