Parkway Wrestling 2024 Spring Session for Grades K-4:

• Sunday Mornings
  • 9-10am for grades K-4
  • No practice on Easter Sunday, March 31
• Opened to youth or beginner wrestlers
• Location: 'The Bunker" at Catholic Memorial School, West Roxbury - the wrestling room under the football stands
• Runs from March 24 until June 2
• Folkstyle
• This group does not attend competitions
• Practices will include competitive games and instruction
• Cost: $125 - payments may be made by cash/check at practice
• Questions - call/text Robert Bligh at 617-680-1851

Parkway Wrestling 2024 Spring Session for Grades 3-8:

• Sunday mornngs from 10-11am 
  • No practice on Easter Sunday, March 31
• Open to grades 3-8, no experience necessary
• Location: Catholic Memorial School, West Roxbury - 'The Bunker' under the football stands
• Runs from March 24 until June 2
• Folkstyle
• Practices will include technique instruction and live wrestling
• Cost: $125 - payments may be made by cash/check at practice
• Questions - call/text Robert Bligh at 617-680-1851

• Your son does not have to attend every practice, and I don't need to know if he is going to miss practice.  I coach the kids who are there.  I know that most kids play multiple sports (as they should) and schedules can get crazy - come to every practice that you can.  If your son is competing that weekend, try to get to both practices so that he is prepared to compete.  If you have to come late to practice or leave early, not a problem.
• Your son does not have to compete in competitions right away - he should have at least 10 practices before he wrestles in a competition.  Many kids do not compete in their first or second year, but some kids do - if you are unsure, ask me and I will give you my opinion.
• I pay very little attention to your son's winning percentage in his first 30-50 matches, it is a poor indicator of his potential in this sport.  Wrestling is incredibly complicated, with hundreds of positions and thousands of moves, and it takes time for most kids to 'get it'.  If he wins a lot in the beginning, great, but if he loses a lot, who cares, as long as he doesn't get down on himself.  That's where parents can really help - point out the good things he did and keep things positive.  
• I will be focused on his effort and attitude.  If your son is disruptive during practice, I will eventually ask him to go sit with his parents in the stands until he can focus - not a big deal, but it seems to work.
• My highest priority with this program is to get your kids to like the sport.  I'm not doing it to build a bunch of state champions, although that has happened and will continue.  My goal is to introduce the fundamentals of the sport to your son and help him develop a love for the sport.
• Your son cannot have a well-rounded athletic experience without a competing in a combat sport. 

All - if you are applying to a private school for next year, please let me know!  I am familiar with the process after having gone through it with my son, and I am happy to contact the coaches at these schools to let them know about your son.  As a matter of fact, these coaches reach out to me to see if we have anyone that would be a good candidate for their school.  Your son does not have to be a 'star' wrestler at this point for the coaches/schools to be interested in him - they are looking for good young men that like the sport and work hard, because they know they can develop him in their program.  I have written dozens of recommendations over the years, so please do not hesitate to ask.  Please see below for some of the schools Parkway wrestlers currently compete for:

Roxbury Latin -  9

St. Sebastians - 4

Xaverian - 3

Belmont Hill - 3

Catholic Memorial - 1

Nobles - 1

Boston Latin School (public) - 10

Boston Latin Academy (public) - 3

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man
who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs,
who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph
of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

_____________________________________________________

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-wrestling-became-ufcs-training-ground-1443737798

On Saturday night, when Johny Hendricks battles Tyron Woodley in an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout, this much is certain: Victory will go to a former college wrestler.

In fact, this will be the first match between those two since the 2005 Big 12 wrestling championships, where Oklahoma State’s Hendricks upset Missouri’s Woodley for the 165-pound title.

Also on the main card of UFC 192 (Fox Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET and PPV, 10 p.m. ET), as Saturday’s event is known, is a bout between former Michigan State wrestler Rashad Evans and former Arizona State wrestler Ryan Bader. The headliner brawl? It pits a former Swedish boxer against Daniel Cormier, a former Olympic and Oklahoma State wrestler.

To add that up, out of the six combatants in the final three mixed-martial-arts fights Saturday night, five are former wrestlers. This is good news for wrestling, a sport so embattled that the International Olympic Committee in early 2013 ejected it from the Olympic Games, before voting it back later that year.

The prevalence of former wrestlers on Saturday night’s UFC card illustrates a new career opportunity for former wrestlers. Some college coaches have pointed to UFC as one factor behind rising numbers of youth wrestlers in America.

“It used to be that once your Olympic dream was done, you looked for a coaching job at a wrestling university,” says Cormier, a 2004 Olympian. Before venturing into mixed martial arts in 2009, he said he expected to follow that course himself.

Once seen as a threat to Olympic sports, UFC increasingly is recognized as a valuable promotional tool. Its fights continue to gain ever-larger audiences on both pay-per-view channels and on Fox Sports 1. That helps explain why the U.S. governing bodies for wrestling, judo and taekwondo have signed partnership deals with UFC. Ronda Rousey has won much more attention as the UFC women’s bantamweight champion than she did for winning a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics. Also visible is the UFC’s James Moontasri, a former taekwondo star. “UFC has such a global reach and offers the perfect showcase for USA Taekwondo,” said USA Taekwondo secretary general Bruce Harris in a recent news release about that governing body’s partnership with UFC.

“I think a lot of these other martial arts saw us as a serious threat to them, in the beginning,” says Dana White, UFC president. But “Ronda’s rise in the UFC and the fame that she has...”

The website of USA Judo says, “USA Judo is expected to reach millions of people through UFC channels.”

Behind the rise of mixed martial arts was a question: Which discipline produced the best fighters? Was it judo or karate, for instance, or boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, taekwondo or wrestling? Experience has shown that success requires mastery of several disciplines. But in the 22-year history of the UFC, former wrestlers have been disproportionately represented among champions, including former two-time heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who wrestled for Arizona State. Russia’s Bilyal Makhov, who at the recent wrestling world championships became the first wrestler in four decades to win worlds medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, has signed a deal to join UFC after his wrestling career. Henry Cejudo, a UFC flyweight fighter, won a gold medal in wrestling at the 2008 Olympics.

After winning a gold medal at last month’s world wrestling championships—which were sponsored by UFC—America’s Helen Maroulis said, “The more I watch UFC, the more I’m tempted to do it.” She added, “My mother wouldn’t like it.”

Cormier—UFC light heavyweight champion—said he has earned more money and recognition as a UFC fighter than he did as an Olympic wrestler. But recently, Cormier was spotted in the aisles of Wal-Mart by a fan who didn’t mention UFC. “To my surprise, he said, ‘Oh, my goodness. You’re one of my favorite wrestlers,’” said Cormier.