Olympic Gold medalist Kyle Snyder shared insights on wrestling technique with more than 300 kids at the NWCA All-Star Classic Youth Clinic
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
For one day, Princeton University’s Jadwin Gym was the wrestling capital of the country.
On Nov. 5, more than 3,500 wrestling fans were on hand at Jadwin Gym to watch the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic. The event was being held in New Jersey for the first time –and the wrestling community came out in droves.
Each year since 1965, the NWCA brings together the nation’s best college wrestlers to compete in a closely watched tradition. The All-Star Classic has served as the ribbon-cutting for the start of the collegiate wrestling season, showcasing dozens of All-Americans each year in a dual meet format.
“We set out to do a couple of things,” said Dr. Mark McLaughlin, who was the chairman of the event. “We wanted to celebrate the sport of wrestling and do it in Mercer County and do it in Princeton where we have a lot of wrestling history. We’ve had state championships and collegiate championships at Princeton and Jadwin. The goal was to invite everyone back for a wrestling reunion and celebration and showcase America’s best wrestlers.”
The event included male and female wrestlers and brought out several national champions from 2017, including Lehigh’s Darian Cruz and Penn State’s Mark Hall. On the women’s side the wrestlers included two-time All-Americans Megan Black of McKendree and Jessica Rottier of the University of the Cumberlands.
“We had many of the top ranked wrestlers in the country,” McLaughlin said. “This has been going on 52 years, but never in New Jersey. We wanted to have a special event. As we began to play for it through we thought it would be truly unique to invite the women of college wrestling to bring their best. It is an emerging sport in college and is growing in youth wrestling and high school wrestling.
“I have been involved with PAWS, which is now Princeton Wrestling Club, since back in 2002. From then until now we have continued to encourage girls to come out and participate in this sport. We have had some outstanding female wrestlers. It is a great sport for girls. It teaches resiliency and self-confidence and strength and endurance and self-defense.”
In addition to the matches that took place between some of the nation’s top wrestlers, the day included clinics for male and female wrestlers with top male and female wrestlers as clinicians.
“I knew it had the potential to be big, but it was a pleasant surprise to see how many people came back and how many came for the first time,” McLaughlin said. “And to see the women wrestlers and the all-stars it was nice to see the hard work come off. We raised over $100,000 through Wrestlers in Business, which will go back to help inner city wrestling in Trenton and other programs to bring the opportunities to kids who previously didn’t have those opportunities to grow the sport of wrestling.”
Through the hard work of McLaughlin and his group of volunteers, as well as the Princeton University head coach, Chris Ayres, and the college’s wrestling program, the All-Star Classic was a huge success.
“We got invited to host and were happy to get the chance,” McLaughlin said. “It was hosted by Wrestlers in Business. We were invited a year and half ago and I am president of the local chapter. I thought it would be a huge a success.
“Chris Ayres and our team wanted to make it business as usual. I think for some people it was surprising and a little out of their comfort zone to have the women wrestlers there. But when it comes down to it, wrestling is a great sport for boys and girls. I think it is the most all-inclusive sport there is. You can be big or you can be small. You can have a disability and still wrestle. We have a had a national champion who won with one leg. Now we can say we want girls and boys involved and to get everything they can out of the sport.”
Olympic Gold medalists Kyle Snyder and Helen Maroulis shared their insights on wrestling technique with more than 300 kids at the NWCA All-Star Classic Youth Clinic. Among the matches was one between two of the top-ranked wrestlers in NCAA Division 1, Drew Foster of Northern Iowa and Peter Renda of North Carolina State.
The day exceeded expectations for McLaughlin, who was thankful to have such a huge staff of volunteers on hand to make the event a reality.
For those interested in becoming involved with the sport, Princeton Wrestling Club is always welcoming new members. For more information, visit the club’s website at www.princetonwrestling.com.
