Carie Stafford
carie@thecatoctinbanner.com

Did you know that wrestling is the oldest organized sport ever practiced dating back as far as 22 B.C. in Japan. The Greeks and Romans put wrestling on the map in their debut in the Olympic Games of 708 B.C.

Locally, athletes can learn this ancient sport by participating in the Catoctin Youth Association’s (CYA) wrestling league for ages 5-12.

The CYA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide area youth with athletic skills and knowledge that will be beneficial in both sporting events and life. Wrestling is one of many sports sponsored locally by the CYA and is led by volunteer parents of wrestlers. They volunteer because they want the program to succeed and feel that being involved achieves that regardless of the scores.

CYA Vice President Michelle Harbaugh says the goal of CYA Wrestling is "to help the kids succeed in this sport and to help develop a great high school team. We have approximately 50 wrestlers this year. We are always looking for more who will move up and continue on to the high school team. There are 14 members on the high school team and all but three are from CYA Wrestling. Those are good numbers."

The CYA wrestling league is divided by age and weight within age brackets: Bantams ages 5-7; Midgets ages 8 + 9; Juniors ages 10 + 11 and Intermediate ages 12-14. After intermediate, wrestlers may choose to try out for the high school team.

The team coaches are volunteers and experienced wrestlers — some even State Champions.

Wrestling practices are held at the discretion of the coaches, but usually three times a week. Meets/matches are held on the weekends against other clubs/schools.

If you think you’d like to know more about the the CYA wrestling league, visit www.cyawrestling.net.

Novice Tournament

Sixteen novice wrestlers from the Catoctin Youth Wrestling team traveled to the Northern Polar Bear Novice Wrestling Tournament held on Saturday, January 19, 2008 in Dillsburg, PA. Ten out of the sixteen wrestlers took home medals for their achievements and the Cougars placed fourth in overall team standings.

First place went to Nolan Brightshue, Jaken Campbell, Zachary Scott and Kevin Simmel. Zachary Bryant and Garrett Buckley both placed second. In third was Noah Ruby, Jacob Small and Joshua Small. Dakotah Goff won fourth place.

Cougar Challenge Hosted

In December, the CYA Wrestling Club hosted the Cougar Challenge Wrestling tournament at Catoctin High School.

This tournament was an official State Championship qualifier and a Top 100 Kids event. The tournament drew over 350 youth wrestlers from over 30 clubs across 6 states.

The competition was fierce and many of the CYA wrestlers placed in the top three to move on to the Maryland State Championship to be held in late February.