Home / Sports News / Snoqualmie Valley Wrestling Club teachs toughness to youths
March 7, 2012
By Sebastian Moraga
From ages 5 to 14, from naps to zits, from toys to teendom, the Snoqualmie Valley Wrestling Club forges toughness into children of all ages and sizes.
The four-year-old club, co-founded by Nels Melgaard, Chris Garcia, and Misti and Joe Marenco, welcomes the challenge of enticing children to a sport that has nothing easy about it.
Among the younger ages, the main challenge for the club?s parents is not to go ?aww? too loudly during a match.
?A lot of times, it?s just very cute to watch them,? said Misti Marenco, who added that if it gets too hard for a 5-year-old, coaches can always stop a match.
Youth aside, the tiny wrestlers learn plenty once they put on a singlet. Marenco said the club?s main goal is to expose children to wrestling, and teach them certain values.
?They learn respect, perseverance, sticking with something, doing something challenging,? Marenco said. ?You try to help them along that process. There?s going to be stumbling blocks. It?s going to be hard.?
The teaching also extends to the parents, she said. All a parent should say is he or she loves the child and loves watching him or her practice a sport. Leave coaching to the coaches.
?Don?t criticize or anything like that,? she said. ?Because they are out there by themselves.?
At one point, the founders of the club were out there by themselves.
With no wrestling club nearby, the Marencos had to drive to Redmond to let their children wrestle.
?I came back and talked to Chris Garcia and Nels Melgaard,? she said. ?We sat down and said, ?We need to bring this out to the community.??
Garcia?s father ran a wrestling club, said Aaron Colby, the recreation coordinator at Si View Community Center, which houses the club. Joe Marenco used to wrestle, and Melgaard had been in the community for decades.
After four years, the club is averaging 70 children per year, Misti Marenco said. Children are split by age. Categories include peewee, bantam, intermediate, novice, schoolboy and cadet.
Marenco said she feels proudest of the sense of accomplishment children feel when they learn and improve, regardless of results.
?Watching a kid who starts out not being the best, but still works at it and works at it,? she said. ?Watching him grow and then all of a sudden, they are getting up there.?
Results, though, serve as proof that the club moves forward. More than a dozen club wrestlers made it to state competitions this year, and the name of the club is growing.
?In the wrestling community now, our name is being mentioned. We?re Snoqualmie Valley,? she said.
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Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.
Written by Sebastian Moraga ? Filed Under Sports News?
Copyright 2010 by Issaquah Press Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. E-mail editor@isspress.com
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Source: http://snovalleystar.com/2012/03/07/snoqualmie-valley-wrestling-club-teachs-toughness-to-youths
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