Grayslake Youth Wrestling Registration This Weekend

Success breeds success, organizers of a local youth wrestling program discovered.

"Turnout and first season success exceeded all expectations last year," said Chad Connelly, head coach of the Grayslake Youth Wrestling Program.

That success is expected to attract even more youth wrestlers this season.

"This year we are expecting at least 100 kids to sign up and we will have to look at expanding our operations," he said.

Connelly had coached the Libertyville Wildcats program for two years prior to this. Now, he is the assistant director of football and a coach for the Grayslake Colts, and his son Austin, 10, wrestles for the club.

"After moderate success bringing Grayslake athletes to wrestle in Libertyville, I approached Coach (Dan) Catanzaro about creating a local solution which feeds both high schools," Connelly said. "Dan has been extremely receptive and helpful to our program. We also received much support from the board of the Grayslake Colts who understand the enormous benefits to their program when kids wrestle in the winter."

Catanzaro understands the development time frame for the success of the youth program to reach to the high school level.

"Dan said he could wait four or five years, but we’re looking to make an impact on his high school program much sooner than that," said Connelly. "We want to pay back Dan and his coaches for all of the time they have donated to work with the kids on their wrestling skills. We want to give him some experienced wrestlers that he can mold into conference champions and state qualifiers."

At the IKWF North Chicago Regional Tournament held at Fremd High School, the following young men competed for the Grayslake Youth Wrestling Club:

• Austin Connelly - 79 lbs. Intermediate
• Tucker Tasker - 84 lbs. Intermediate
• Benjamin Geisenhof - 108 lbs. Intermediate
• Gunnar Wahmann - 95 lbs. Novice
• Garret Glick - 55 lbs. Intermediate
• Matthew Nixon - Bantam H
• Maurice Edwards - Bantam M
• Ben Bauman - Bantam U
• Mitchell Klein - 66 lbs. Novice
• Charles Young - 74 lbs. Intermediate
• Austin Walkington - 74 lbs. Intermediate

"Maurice Edwards is usually outweighed by 15 pounds or more in his matches, but he won first place at regionals," said Connelly.

Maurice's dad, Maurice Edwards Sr., said, "I’m in the Navy, so wherever I’m stationed, Maurice Jr. will be wrestling. He did Karate last year and wanted to do Jujitsu, but I was a bit leery and told him to try wrestling."

Maurice Jr. said, "I like to wrestle. I have been wrestling for one year, but I really enjoy it." With two pins to win first place in regionals, his future certainly looks bright.

The top four finishers at regionals who wrestle at the Intermediate to Senior levels advanced to Sectionals at Leyden High School. For Grayslake, this group included Garret Glick, Tucker Tasker and Mitchell Klein. Glick and Tasker lost both of those matches, while Klein (whose older brother Nick qualified for state at Grayslake North) won his first match 7-5 and lost his second one.

"We had four parents who formed a board and became certified as an official not-for-profit club," Connelly said. "We expect the board to grow at our next election. Our fundraising and organization was paired with Dan Catanzaro’s coaching experience and his access to facilities for practice to provide a wonderful start."

Rey Fuller is club secretary and Jodie Connelly is the team coordinator. "She handles all team communications and organization for tournaments and other events," said Chad Connelly. "She has organized athletes with our formal programs such as USA Wrestling and the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation. Jodie is the first line of communication between parents and coaches."

Mike Glick is director of marketing and equipment for the club. Glick is a Grayslake Colts coach and his son Garret wrestles for the club.

"A critical component as we started the club up was finding the money for major expenses of gear and operating fees prior to collecting registration fees, which we also wanted to keep to a reasonable amount," said Connelly. "Mike organized a fundraising poker tournament and led a sponsor drive on our website to fulfill our immediate funding needs."

Dawn Glick is the treasurer and fundraising director when she is not acting as director of cheer and poms for the Grayslake Colts.

"She set up our bylaws, not-for-profit paperwork and did a significant amount of work up front based on the theory that interest in the community would materialize," Connelly said. "She manages our finances to make sure that our organization stays in good shape to support our athletes and lower the financial burden on our member families."

Central Athletic Director Tom Kim credited the youth program for being a critical step in development of high school wrestlers.

"The youth wrestling club is another step in our program development. There is only so much we can do with kids in the four years that they are here at the high school," Kim said. "The club allows the kids of Grayslake to get exposed to wrestling at an early age. It will help our numbers as these kids begin to enter the high school.

"We won’t have to go out and convince kids that wrestling is a great experience. They will already know."