Search

July 01, 2011 The Kids Beat

Pin It
Reddit
Email
Print
Favorite
Share

It's a Clinch 

Sports: Vermont Wrestling Academy

By
kids-beat-wrestlers.jpg

Grappling with how to keep your young wrestler active in the off season? A new school is throwing down a solution. Vermont Wrestling Academy, the state's first year-round wrestling school, opened its doors on Commerce Street in Williston June 20. Head coach and owner Gunnar Olson says the VWA aims to fill a gap for student wrestlers outside the winter season. Weekly sessions began in June; after-school programs and classes get under way in the fall. The VWA practice studios contain state-of-the-art crash pads, dummies, bungees and body harnesses, as well as flat-screen TVs on which to study the sport. Academics are also a priority — the academy includes an area where schoolwork will be done before wrestlers come to the mats. Olson began wrestling at age 7, competed for Norwich University and now coaches at Champlain Valley Union High School. He calls wrestling a mental chess game as well as a physical test. "You put everything on the line; it's just you and your opponent," he says of the sport. "You're 100 percent accountable."

Vermont Wrestling Academy: Weekly summer academies run through August. 338 Commerce Street, Williston. Info, 802-922-5266.

More The Kids Beat »

Comments

Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS

Add a comment

Keep commenting classy! Read our guidelines....

Readers also liked…

More by Kate Laddison

camps central

Camp Birch Hill

Camp Birch Hill

New Durham, NH

Nestled in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, Camp Birch Hill offers a fun, elective based program where boys and girls aged 6-16 can participate in over 50 diverse activities of their choice. Each summer they welcome 180 to 200 campers to their grounds in New Durham, NH. This traditional,…(more)

other camps » learn more »

The Kids Beat

Top Viewed Stories

Contact Us

Submissions

The Magazine

PO Box 1184
Burlington, VT 05402
802-985-5482