Coach Cryer’s 2011-2012 Reflection

When I was asked to do a brief reflection of the past wrestling season, I thought it would be a quick easy task. But several hours later, I realize what an amazing season we have had. I must apologize once for the length, and secondly for missing any names or important details. Without a doubt I have left out some people who did tremendous things this season. I do apologize in advance if I did so.

The 2011-2012 Wrestling Season was one of the best ever for the Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club. In July 2011 we sent a small team to the Canada Cup in Guelph. This is an incredibly tough tournament featuring many of the top athletes from Canada and the United States as well as a few other countries. Jessica Brouliette had a strong showing placing 2nd. Tyler Rowe had a great tournament throwing and pinning National Champion Zach Falcioni, before losing to eventual champion Isaac Bernard from British Columbia. He finished in 3rd place.

Later in the month Kally Olson became the first K-Bay athlete to ever compete in the sport of Beach Wrestling, when she travelled to Rochester NY to compete at the US Beach Nationals. Kally fought great taking 2nd place in the Junior division.

In August Tyler Rowe traveled to Campeche, Mexico to compete in the Pan American Games. In his first match Tyler easily out pointed Hector Milan Ramirez of Guatemala (6-0, 6-0). In the semi-finals Tyler lost a close match to Wilfredo Rodriguez of Venezuela  (2-3, 0-6). Tyler then fought back to take the bronze medal beating Rodrigo Fabella of Brazil (3-3, 3-0).

Later in August Jessica Brouliette travelled to Szombathely, Hungary to take part in the World Cadet Championships. Jessica had a great first match beating Syrine Issaoui Tunisia (2-1, 2-0). In her next match Jessica lost a close fight to Aishe Akparova of Tajikistan (0-8, 2-5).  Jessica finished the tournament in 10th place out of 21, and was one of only two Canadians to win a match at the 2011 World Championships.

The month of September saw the City of Barrie recognized members of the K-Bay Wrestling Organization at its annual Athletic Banquet. Coach Tom Stockdale was nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding commitment to the sport of wrestling. Coach Cryer was nominated as Coach of the Year and athlete Jasmin Mian was nominated as Athlete of the Year for winning a Bronze Medal at the World University Championships in Italy. It was a tremendous honour for our club to be recognized by the city. All the nominations warranted the club a tremendous amount of exposure in the local media.

In October Matt Palma travelled to Puerto Rico where he competed in the Spartan Cup at Puerto Rican Olympic Training Centre. This is a very tough tournament featuring many of the top wrestlers from South and Central America. Matt posted a very good record with wins over wrestlers from Florida and New England. He finished in 6th place.

November saw the start-up of the new season. K-Bay’s numbers exploded with numerous new wrestlers joining the ranks. Also joining the staff were coaches Bruce Steffler (formerly of New Tech Wrestling) and Anne Goorts (Head Coach of St. Joan of Arc Wrestling). Kempenfelt Bay Coach Dave Henderson started a team at Eastview Secondary School. This is a huge feat that takes a ton of time and energy, but will help both the sport of wrestling and K-Bay in the future. The Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club travelled to Sudbury, Kitchener and Toronto for tournaments in November. Highlights included seeing alumni Tim Clement winning his first ever University Tournament, Tyler Boyes and Kody Vakanis taking gold in Sudbury, and Matt Palma getting silver at the University of Toronto Open.

Success continued in December as Kempenfelt Bay athletes dominated the mats. The team travelled the University of Western where Julie Steffler took gold, and Kyle Longsberry placed 3rd. Then the team moved on to the Matmen Open tournament. This tournament was one of the first times all members of the team competed at the same time. The K-Bay “Critters”(Youth) had many outstanding results as Andrew Dunkley, Rayne Lalonde, Gryphon Lalonde and Sarah Dunkley all placed first in their respective weight classes. Our last tournament of the year was the Kris Kringle Classic where Matt Palma took home a silver medal, and Tyler Rowe defeated 2012 National Champion Malcom Meekins (Saskatoon) not once, but twice in the same day. Great job guys!

K-Bay also experienced a first in December, as our young club saw its first ever member compete at the Olympic Trials in Winnipeg. Alumni Jasmin Mian became the first K-Bay athlete to ever attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games. While she did not win, we are all extremely proud of her accomplishments. No doubt many K-Bay members will follow in her foot steps in the years to come.

The month finished with a bang as the team hosted a mini homecoming banquet for all of our alumni. Done in theme of Wrestling Olympics, K-Bay members past and present took to the mats for a great night of fun, friends and food. Thanks too all members who came out for this great night. We look forward to doing it again next year.

During the Christmas break both Jessica Brouliette and Tyler Rowe were invited to a training camp with the National team in Arizona. Both athletes took full advantage of the opportunity and picked up many tips and tools while working with the best athletes in the country.

January saw the start to a new year, and a new date for hosting our own tournament. For the first time ever we added a “Youth Division”. Many teams from across the province came, including two busloads of athletes from Sault St. Marie, and another bus of athletes from St.Catherines. The K-Bay parents and friends all chipped in and helped make this huge event a major success. A special thanks goes out to Ms. Goorts for her amazing food, and Al Emond for his help with the draw.

The month end at the Junior Provincial Championships, where Jessica Brouliette shocked the wrestling community by winning gold. Despite being 3 year younger than most of her competitors, Jessica dominated the competition and walked away with the gold.

The following weekend K-Bay sent a team down to compete at the Cadet and Juvenile Provincial Championships. While the team was incredibly young, this tournament proved to be a great learning experience for all. In the Juvenile Division Kody Vakanis and Tyler Rowe took gold, while Kally Olson wrestled her way to a bronze medal. In the Cadet Division Dorian Elgas placed 5th, while Riley Leech took 6th.

Later that month the Innisdale Invaders wrestling team took home first place in the Boys Division at the G.B.S.S.A. Championships. Led by K-Bay Coach Al Emond, and Kyle Longsberry (athlete), the Invaders were too much for the competition. This marks the 4th G.B.S.S.A. Championship for Coach Emond. Great job Al!

The month ended with a Youth Tournament hosted by the Lexus Titans. Our young wrestlers dominated the competition with Rayne Lalonde, Riley Leech, and Julie Steffler all taking gold. Sarah Dunkley, Matthew Eliot, and Gryphon Lalonde took silver. While Myla Kelly, Cameron Mulholland, Ashton Kelly, and Daniel Conroy finished with bronze medals.

In March K-Bay’s winning ways continued. At the Milton tournament K-Bay went 5 for 5 with every K-Bay wrestler winning gold. Led by coaches Bruce Steffler and Justin Mercel, the team dominated the competition. Rayne Lalonde, Gryphon Lalonde, Riley Leech, Julie Steffler and Dorian Elgas all won. This is a huge accomplishment at any level.

The following week Julie Steffler took bronze in a very competitive weight class at the Ontario Winter Games. No doubt this is the start of many big medals to come for this promising young athlete.

The month of March also marked one of the greatest months of wrestling for grade 11 student Jessica Brouliette. At the OFSSA (High School Wrestling Championships) Jessica was placed in an incredibly deep 54kg weight class. This weight class was historically deep in talent as there were no less than 10 athletes seeded, with the worst athlete placing 2nd at the 2012 Provincial Championships. Despite the early predictions of many “Wrestling Experts”, Jessica showed why she is considered by many the top female wrestler in the country. Posting a perfect 5 and 0 record. Jessica dominated the competition to winning the gold medal. She is only the 4th K-Bay member to ever win an OFSSA Gold medal (Jasmin Mian, Mike Rowbotham and Jasmine Brock) and the youngest K-Bay member to ever do so.

The month did not end there for Jessica as she came back a week later to compete at the Junior National Championships. Despite being significantly younger than most of her competition and still tired from the previous week’s worth of action. Jessica started beating University students on her way to a Silver Medal at the Junior Nationals. We were all extremely proud of her tremendous effort.

The Junior Nationals also saw former K-Bay Wrestler Nick Rowe walked through 5 opponents on his way to winning his first ever National Gold Medal. Nick had victories over OFSAA gold medalist Jason Buckle, Dillon Williams, and avenged his loss in the 2010 National finals to Stephen DeLayen. Nick will now compete for Canada in August at the Junior World Championships in Thailand.

After March Break the club also hosted its first ever Open House. The night featured games, wrestling, and technical coaching, as teams from across Simcoe County came in and participated. In total more than 80 athletes from various schools participated.

In April our youth team competed at the Provincial Championships in Orillia. Coaches Tom Stockdale, Dave Henderson, and Bruce Steffler took 12 athletes to this event, and had great results. Winning gold were Riley Leech, Matthew Eliot, Alyssa Nakeef and Rayne Lalonde. Daniel Conroy finished with silver, while Gryphon Lalonde, Makela Barker picked up Bronze medals. This is one of the best showings ever for the Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club at this tournament.


A week later the K-Bay Youth competed at the Simcoe County Championships. The team once again finished with great results. Gold medals went to Alyssa Nakeef, Makela Barker, Vaughn Burdick, Daniel Conroy and Riley Leech. Matt Eliot, Justin Hubert, Andrew Berg and Cameron Mulholland took Silver. While Patrick Ivany and Ben Love got Bronze.

April also saw four members of the team travelling to New Brunswick for the National Cadet and Juvenile Championships. The team fought incredibly well as all members walked away with hardware. Kally Olson won a bronze medal in the girls’ Juvenile division. Heavyweight Kody Vakanis won bronze at the FILA Cadet Trials, and is the first alternative for team Canada this summer. Senior Jessica Brouliette posted a 7 and 1 record, winning gold in the FILA Cadets and Silver at the Juvenile division. Tyler Rowe had 8 victories and one loss, winning gold in the FILA Cadet Division and Bronze in the Juvenile division. Both Jessica and Tyler will now continue on to the World Championships later this summer in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In May Riley Leech, Makela Barker and Coach Mercel travelled to Prince Edward Island to Compete in the Canada East Championships. Despite the tremendously long drive, neither wrestler showed any rust. Both athletes went on to win gold medals, without giving up a single point to their competitors. A great accomplishment for these two young grapplers.

The season end with the team winning a total of 8 Medals at the National Championships, and 11 at the Provincial Championships. Three members of our team Tyler Rowe, Jessica Brouliette and Nick Rowe (Alumni) will be moving on to represent Canada at the World Championships this Summer/Fall. Simply Amazing!

Goals for 2012-2013

• Continue to increase membership numbers. This past season saw a tremendous jump in the number of youth wrestlers at K-Bay. We need to continue this practice, as this is where we can get both the parents and athletes of tomorrow. In particular we need to focus on increasing athletes at the high school level. Unfortunately this season saw a tremendous drop-off in the number of wrestlers at the high school age group. If we are to continue to develop National Team athletes we need more athletes. An athlete is only as good as his or her training partners. If we can’t find athletes for our wrestlers to practice with our results will decline.

• Host the 2013 Barrie City Championships for Youth. We will seek to host a City Championships for Elementary School Wrestlers. In doing so we hope to increase participation numbers in the sport of wrestling. Which will hopefully lead to bigger and better wrestling numbers at K-Bay.

•  Help athletes get into post-secondary institutes. Our goal has always been long term athlete development. This means winning in the future rather than immediately. Like a house, a wrestler is built from the foundation up. We must not lose focus of this. By helping get athletes into Post-Secondary Institutes we help both them and the club for long term success.

• As we continue to have success our expenses continue to rise. We will be seeking help in future fundraising experience to help offset some of the costs the clubs has had to endure because of successes.

• Get more K-Bay athletes to attend extra Wrestling events. Summer Camps like the Canada Cup Camp and the Timmins Development Camp are tremendous ways for our athletes to develop to the next level faster. In addition to these things, experiences such as the Ontario Development team provide huge opportunities for wrestlers to experience International Wrestling without the huge price tag. The more athletes we have attending these events the more success we will have as a club.

• This upcoming season will feature the Canada Summer Games. This event is a Mini-Olympics type event, featuring all of the best teams across the country. Our goal is to get athletes who do not make a National Team onto this team.

• Increase numbers at the coaching ranks. I honestly believe we have the best team of coaches in the country. That being said as life starts to happen; it is time to add to this awesome team. We are seeking more athletes to help share in the work load of coaching for the next few seasons. The old proverb still holds true “Many hands make light work”.

Before wrapping up I would like to take a second to add a few Thank Yous' and Reminders. No doubt I am going to unintentionally miss people. I apologize if I have.

A thank you must go out to Marcie G. & Len Dunkley who spear headed the initiative to get our own website back up and running. We had been working on this for the past few years, without any success. However with Marcie & Len taking control it was less than a few weeks before we were up and running. If you have not already done so please link in to our K-Bay Facebook page and our new website (www.kbayathleticclub.com). Both have great information about our club, with frequent up-dates and photos. If you have been there tell other members about them so they too can enjoy. Thanks Marcie for launching the site and to Len for continuing to be the site administrator!

Another shout-out must go to the Leech family for their tireless effort at promotion and fundraising. These are two area’s the club has lacked in the past, and with their expertise we have made huge strides in a very short time.

I think it is important to mention something I once heard. A champion cannot do it alone. A champion is part of a bigger community (or family). The amazing results of 2011-2012, are in no small part due to the tremendous efforts of ALL the athletes, families, and parents who have helped our club past and present. We are truly blessed to have an amazing support structure that allows our athletes to shoot for the stars. Our parents committee is second to none. Their tireless efforts and meetings have once again helped produce champions both on and off the mats. And while only a select few athletes received medals this year, I have no doubt that we have helped shape Champions in Life. A special thanks goes out to Carolynn Brouliette, Mike and Monica Clement whose direction and vision has been beyond belief.

We Look Forward to an Even Better 2012-2013 Wrestling Season,

Thank You

Coach Cryer

  

Please Scroll Down to Enjoy the Slide Show that Accompanies my Reflection!