Elder wrestling is coming off of one of its best seasons in school history. This means, to keep up the success, all of the wrestlers must keep working hard all summer long in order to get better.

Coach Roush and some of the Elder wrestlers along with wrestlers from Oak Hills, Western Hills, and Harrison are involved in the ‘Westside Wrestling Club’. This club allows for you to go up to Mount Saint Joseph University on Tuesday and Thursday nights during the spring to practice and prepare for off season tournaments. Not all of the Elder wrestlers partake in this due to conflicts with other sports or injuries.

In the spring and summer, wrestling changes from the normal folk style to styles like freestyle and Greco-Roman. These are the wrestling styles on the international level and they have changes to some rules and regulations. Yes, there is a big difference and most of the Elder wrestlers in the Westside Wrestling Club are new to these styles and it will take some getting used to.

There are plenty of tournaments available to wrestle in over the summer and no matter which ones you go to or qualify for just being on the mat during the offseason will get you better. Win or lose, Elder wrestling’s former coach McCoy always said to “shoot for forty-five to fifty matches in the offseason.”

That is the perfect amount of matches to shoot for because it’s not all about the record it’s more about just getting different feels and getting better at the sport. 2015 Elder wrestling’s senior captain Andrew Taylor said it made all the difference in accomplishing his goal and getting to State his senior year. He told me, “Wrestle as much as you can in the offseason and it will pay off when the time comes.”

It worked for Taylor because he went from not being in the varsity lineup to being voted captain and making it to the State tournament. Wrestling in the spring has a big impact in the wrestler’s careers and in order to stay the top team in the city they need to keep on practicing.