By Derek Cornet

La Ronge Grizzles

Churchill and Senator wrestling clubs become one

Feb 13, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Wrestling squads from Churchill Community High School and Senator Myles Venne School are now a single club competing under the name La Ronge Grizzlies.

“In years past, the Churchill and Senator teams have been separate clubs, but Shane (Bird) and I got together this year because we really wanted to make one cohesive group and have more of a wrestling family as opposed to us and them,” coach Heidi Soares said. “We’ve been working hard this year to make our practices work together and we’re travelling together, which will open up more opportunities for the whole team.”

When Soares began her teaching career at Senator in 2013, she launched the school’s wrestling club by applying for grants and purchasing equipment for the program. When she later joined the staff at Churchill, the existing club had been stagnant for years as Soares stated it was being organized by teachers without any experience in wrestling. As someone who has been on the wrestling mats since she was seven months old, she said she always wanted to coach her own club.

While Soares organizes and supervises the practices at Churchill, Bird takes the lead at Senator. Practices are held every Tuesday and Thursday, with sessions starting in the afternoon at Churchill and in the evenings at Senator. Soares noted athletes can attend either one of the practices or both if they choose, adding between eight and 20 wrestlers will show up for any given practice.

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“A lot of them are doing double time between the practices here and at Senator,” she said. “Shane and I have agreed as long as they are going to practice with us somewhere, then they are more than welcome to travel with us when we go to tournaments.”

The Grizzles are currently preparing for a number of competitions in March and April. Athletes will be in attendance at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association’s regionals in Weyburn and provincials in Regina, which are both in March. Then, in April, Soares hopes to send as many wrestlers as possible to the national championships to be held in Fredericton. She believes the club has a good chance of performing well this year, considering the girls won a banner at regionals last winter and the number of senior boys on the squad has grown.

“Wrestling is one of the few sports that are open for everyone,” Soares said. “It doesn’t matter if students are tall, short, big or small, there’s a spot for everyone on a wrestling team.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno