Thank you to everyone that participated in and helped run the 3rd Annual Portland Youth Wrestling Invitational Tournament. Approximately 115 wrestlers from 8 teams competed in a great day of wrestling. The matches were intense but the sportsmanship displayed by wrestlers, coaches and fans was some of the best I’ve seen at a youth tournament. Nearly 50 volunteers worked to make this event possible. Special thanks goes out to Mike Pease and Eli Small, Portland High School Wrestlers, Portland Youth Wrestling parents and siblings, and many others. We expect to post tournament results later this week.
The Portland Youth Wrestling Invitational Tournament is on for tomorrow. The brackets are set. Wrestlers should check in between 8 and 9 am. The gym will open at 8 am sharp. Concession and registration volunteers should arrive between 7 and 7:30. Volunteers involved in running the tournament should arrive around 8 am. Wrestling should begin around 9:15 – 9:30. See you tomorrow!
This year’s Portland Youth Wrestling Invitational tournament will be held Sunday March 4, 2012 at Portland High School. Registration will begin at 8 am and we hope to start wrestling before 9:30. Once again, we will do all pre-registrations with coaches submitting weights and the year of birth for each wrestler. All rosters of committed wrestlers are due by end of day on Wednesday February 28th. Wrestler registration is $12. Admission is $4 per adult and $2 per child and senior.
Get ready for the Portland Youth Invitational wrestling tournament this weekend. We have more than 200 wrestlers in grades k-5 planning to compete Sunday March 20 in the Portland High School gym. Wrestling will start between 8:30 and 9:00 am. The cost for adults is $4 and $2 for students and seniors. Come cheer on these young wrestlers.
Results from the 2010 Portland Youth Wrestling Inviational are posted under the tournament page and will stay there until next year’s tournament. You can also get them here:
Mite Division Brackets, Intermediate Division Brackets, Bantem Division Brackets, Novice Division Brackets
How can you go wrong with 115 elementary school kids competing their hearts out and having fun? Yesterday’s tournament had everything I’ve come to expect in a youth wrestling event – tons of positive energy, laughter, a few tears, and great sporstmanship from the athletes.
Once again, I was reminded that, left to their own devices, kids usually get it right. Wrestling is fun for them and their passion shows through in every match. They love to win and hate to lose but the results of a single match never seem to make or break their day. They are as quick to make friends and play off the mat as they are to shoot a double leg takedown on it.
As for the Portland Youth Wrestlers, I couldn’t be more proud of their effort. As usual, our kids wrestled hard from start to finish in every match. They are starting to embrace our fundamental approach of leg attacks, hand control and 1/2 nelsons. They still frequently revert to kids wrestling around in the backyard and that’s OK too.
I think the tournment was a huge positive for our youth and high school programs. We learned a ton and have asked for feedback to improve the event for next year. So please share your thoughts with us.
I’d like give a special thanks to a bunch of people that helped us make the tournament happen: Eli Small and Mike Pease for running the brackets, Portland and Deering High School wrestlers who donated their Sunday so kids could learn the sport of wrestling, the Mousam Valley wrestling club for providing equipment for the scoring table, many parents from the Portland Youth Wrestling team and other wrestling fans that helped set-up, clean-up and with innumerable things in between. We thank you and the kids thank you.
The first Portland Youth Wrestling Invitational Tournament will happen Sunday March 7th. There are 135 wrestlers commited from 8 teams in southern Maine. The cost of admission is $5 for adults and $2 for kids. The schedule for the day is as follows:
8:00 registration
8:45 coaches meeting
9:00 wrestling begins
12:00 (approximately) consolation and championship finals
1:00 wrestling ends
There will be concessions available all day and tournament t-shirts for sale.
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