More than 450 of the toughest and determined young athletes took to the mats at the annual Kempenfelt Bay wrestling tournament in Barrie this weekend.
École Secondaire Catholique Nouvelle-Alliance played host to the event and welcomed more than a thousand spectators to watch as elementary school-aged children and their high school-level teammates battled it out against some of the top wrestlers in Ontario and Quebec.
The tournament featured hundreds of matches that pitted wrestlers in about 75 weight categories and various skill levels that put months of training to the test in front of excited family members and friends.
“This is the biggest tournament. We brought in more than a thousand people to the Barrie area, so it’s phenomenal for the area,” said Scott MacGregor, event organizer and Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club president.
MacGregor also coaches many up-and-coming wrestlers along with his team of volunteer coaches who train nightly in gyms across Barrie.
He described the sport as a great social environment and the wrestling community he’s been part of for decades as ‘one big happy family.’
“It’s one of the most difficult sports out there because it tests you both mentally and physically; both on the mat and off the mat,” added MacGregor. “If you can in wrestle, you can do pretty much anything you want in life. The majority of our kids do go off and wrestle at the university level and internationally without a doubt – both Olympics, world championships – we’ve had them all that have come through Barrie.”
Aleena Dhanji, who is a Grade 12 student at Bear Creek Secondary in Barrie, hopes to one day follow in the footsteps of Olympian Jasmine Mian, who competed at the 2016 games in Rio and trained with the Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club in Barrie.
“I got first place,” said Dhanji following her gold medal win. “I did my best and had a lot of fun.”
The 17-year-old, who also serves as a volunteer coach with the club’s youth wrestling program, described hearing the screams and applause from her students during her intense matches.
“It makes me so beyond happy. These guys are my favourite. I enjoy teaching them and just hearing them cheer for me and then getting to team them and cheer for them makes me so incredibly happy,” added Dhanji. “That’s the future of K-Bay and I’m so happy to be a part of it.”
Wrestler Sheamus Harrison, who also coaches the younger wrestlers in the club, brought home a medal as well.
He described the thrill of competing against the top wrestlers in the province in front of loved ones.
“I did pretty good. For me I got second place,” said Harrison. “I faced some really good people. My first match I was down eight-nil and came back with a last-second pin to win.”
While Harrison didn’t earn gold, he was honoured to compete in the Barrie tournament and said he looks forward to a rematch with his rival.
“The guy I faced was an absolutely phenomenal wrestler but I did okay against him,” added Harrison. “He was really nice about it afterwards.”
Harrison said he prefers wrestling to other sports because of the camaraderie among competitors and teams he’s faced.
“It’s just such a physical sport,” he explained. “There’s no sport that compares. I’ve done cross-country, I’ve done football, I’ve done rugby. None of them [have] such nice people that do it, and it’s also so physically hard on you.”
MacGregor said the Kempenfelt Bay tournament was the first competition for many of his youth athletes, some of whom scored victories and medals and look forward to travelling for tournaments across the province in the coming weeks.
