Fauquier held its second annual high school prep wrestling camp 7-19 to 7-22. In an era of declining numbers and cancellation of camps, we were pleased to have an increase in numbers.
The high school team, freshly back from PSU camp, put on the camp to prepare wrestlers in grades second to ninth for high school wrestling. From PSU, we showed a range of technique from takedown defense by Andrew Long to a nice throw from Quentin Wright. From our clinics held this spring and summer, we showed skills such standup and power position from Alex Clemsen of UVA and ties and movement from Kerry McCoy of Maryland. Campers also received instruction by HS Assistant Coach Tyler Atwell and Fauquier standout GMU’s Ryan Hunsberger.
We featured two sessions of gymnastic training from Dave Strum. Every youth wrestler needs to be exposed to gymnastics. Balance, stance, head position, and breathing all saw improvement. At the beginning of next season, we are offering gymnastics to all wrestlers. We also had a special treat from Sam Hunsberger. All of the campers were anxiously awaiting this treat, hoping it would be as one camper asked “Is this treat going to be good for us or you?” Let me tell you, conditioning from Sam is no treat. The boys were quite sore for the last day of camp which featured front head locks from Head Coach Fisher and a terrific session from Coach Hazard of Robinson.
Max Strum and Henry Weber learned all of the campers by name. Bennett Payne gave an interesting example of pressure from the feet not from the knees. Using a scale, he produced 48 pounds of pressure while on his knees which increased to 88 pounds by simply lifting his knees. The wrestlers also had to listen to a steady stream of nutrition talk which resulted in a sharp decline in potato chip sales at the concession stand.
