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On Wednesday April 4, Western’s Wrestling team, Indigenous Services, and the Students from the Kinesiology Sport and Community Service Seminar joined forces to host the first ever Wrestling Clinic for students from First Nations schools. Approximately thirty elementary school students, primarily from the Wiiji Nimbawiyaang School, were greeted at the doors to Alumni Hall by men and women from the Western Wrestling team and members from the class. After receiving complimentary event shirts from Indigenous Services, with the imprinted theme “strength in body mind and spirit” the kids changed and were ready to take on wrestling which was a new experience for just about everyone.
Coach Craig Boydell’s Sport and Community Service class is a group of ten Western Varsity athletes from different sports that have organized many special events on campus. This is the fourth event that has been done in partnership with the Indigenous Services Centre on Campus with the aim of establishing important linkages between Western Athletic and Academic programs and children from First Nations Communities. Jessica Fitzgerald the member of the class who was the key organizer of this event, is the captain of the women’s Wrestling team, a bronze medalist at the CIS Championships and a winner of the CIS National Wrestling Award for Excellence in Athletics, Academics and Community Service.
Professor Boydell set the tone for the clinic with some opening comments and introductions of key event organizers including Jessica, Vivian Peters, who is the director of Indigenous Services at Western, and Coach Ray Takahashi, the Mustangs much decorated Wrestling coach who was himself a multiple Olympian and National Champion. Coach Takahashi in turn introduced special guest Albert Doxtator, a very accomplished Pankration athlete from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, Doxtator a former North American Indigenous Games wrestling champion gave a motivational talk to the group at the outset following which the wrestling part of the days activities began with a burst of energy and enthusiasm.
Terri McNutt a former Canadian Interuniversity Sport gold medalist started the day off by demonstrating some of the basics of the sport including throwing and scoring. Then Wolff Schweitzer, who in addition to his wrestling prowess is also a member of the Men’s rugby team, led the kids in a warm ups after which they were then divided into groups that taught specific techniques including, double leg shot, single leg take-down, front head and arm snap down, a half nelson, and stance and sprawling positions. It was impressive how quickly these terms and techniques became a part of the students’ vocabulary.
During the Lunch Break that followed the kids got into the Mustang Marshall’s Pasta and Salad tradition while watching video footage from past wrestling World Championships. After lunch, they were divided into groups and taken on inside-out tours of the campus, residences, classrooms, the library and of course UCC, by members of the Sport and Community Service class.
The afternoon saw another series of wrestling related relays and technical teaching sessions that led up to some “modified match” type games that both the kids and their student-Athlete instructors really warmed up to. Everyone was impressed with the level of attention and enthusiasm despite a pretty high level of fatigue by the end of the day. One could also not help but be impressed by the extent to which the student athletes and coaches themselves were really “into it” throughout the day. If one of the purposes of such events is to open eyes and bridge gaps, this event was a major success in both directions. The day ended with some group discussions and question periods followed by some moving personal observations and encouragement by Guest Speaker Bert Doxtator. When asked later about his continued commitment to indigenous youth Doxtator replied “All I can do is to implore our youth to strive, strive for what you want- the best."
The excitement during picture taking and autograph opportunities at day’s end spoke well for the future of such events. Volunteer student-athletes led by event organizer, Jessica Fitzgerald will head out to the Wiiji School for a follow up day in which they will be hosted by the students and teachers. According to Jessica Fitzgerald “in these follow up sessions we put together a video presentation of the event for them that is also available for them to see on our Sport and Community Service Website. But the key is that they host us on their turf and try to teach us important things about their culture and their lives. We are really looking forward to it.”
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