Today, Bruin wrestlers will be put to the test at the Lee’s Summit Christmas Invite. With this particular tournament being the largest of the season, Head Coach Eric Wilson sees the Christmas Invite as a strong midpoint to the year.
“I hope to see the guys have their game plan develop,” Wilson said. “That’s what we’re building up to in the first part of our season.”
Along with Wilson, members of the wrestling team anticipate the tournament will be a great opportunity for the wrestlers to grow as competitors. For Senior Grant Fougere, a varsity member, wrestling tournaments are both exhilarating and exhausting. The one-on-one matchups offer him a chance to compete on an individual level.
Because of an injury last year that kept him from wrestling, Lee’s Summit will be Fougere’s first tournament as a varsity member.
“I really enjoy being the one in the spotlight and controlling every aspect of my game,” Fougere said. “Tournaments are tough because you’re going for pretty much the whole day and don’t get much of a break, but they are definitely more exciting than plain old matches.”
For freshman Tristin Campbell, a varsity wrestler, tournament experience is the primary focus coming into this tournament. Campbell has high hopes to improve his wrestling abilities in these matchups and to see RBHS take both individual and overall victories.
“My personal goal is to learn how to get up better once I am on the ground,” Campbell said. “I also want to better myself at keeping people down once they try to get back up, [and] the Rock Bridge goal is to win the state title.”
This drive for the state title proves to be a strong motivator for the wrestling team.
Campbell also hopes the team showcases the collective training efforts that have lead up to the tournament. The wrestling team has been moving into more advanced holds that will grant them a competitive advantage, Campbell said.
“We’ve been really drilling our techniques,” Campbell said. “The coaches taught us the fundamentals the first few weeks and now we’re learning multi-step moves that base off of our fundamentals which requires a lot of practice.”
Team members hope to see payoff for the team’s work and training, as their performance will be a good indicator of where the Bruins are skill wise, Wilson said. With the district tournament approaching in February, Wilson anticipates seeing lots of future competitors.
“It’ll definitely be a good challenge,” Wilson said. “[There will be a] lot of teams we’ll see in February at the district tournament, so it’s a good sneak peek of where we’re at.”
Victory may not come easily for RBHS, as Lee’s Summit has always been a large tournament, Wilson said. The competitors will learn from the difficulty of the tournament to improve in the future.
“I really want to see guys keep progressing and developing game plans,” Wilson said. “It’s still early right now, [we’re] trying to figure out where guys are good and develop their own game plans, and we’ll finally get to see those things all come together.”
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Wrestling team to compete at Lee’s Summit Christmas Invite
December 15, 2017
Photo by Riley Eagle
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