Approximately 265 high school wrestlers from around Washington state flocked to W.F. West High School from July 27 through July 31 for the Center Circle Wrestling Camp, hosted at the school in Chehalis for the fourth straight year.
Student athletes learned techniques from five different clinicians, one each day, while receiving support from nearly 20 college wrestlers. Technique sessions filled the main gym, the auxiliary gym and the wrestling room over the five-day event.
Jesse Mendez, a three-time NCAA All-American and two-time national champion at Ohio State University, kicked off the camp on Sunday. Bernie Truax, a four-time NCAA All-American at Cal Poly and Penn State, led the second day of camp on Monday. Tervel Dlagnev, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and assistant coach at the University of Nebraska, headlined day three on Tuesday. Max McEnelly, an All-American from the University of Minnesota, coached students on Wednesday, and Clackamas Community College head coach and former Grand Canyon wrestler Brett Sanchez finished off the camp on Thursday.
W.F. West High School head coach Jamie Rakevich, one of the organizers of the annual summer camp, said the team of high school coaches setting up the event want to provide elite opportunities for Washington student athletes.
“This is kind of an ignition event to hopefully inspire them a little bit more to love the sport. We try to keep this as low as possible cost wise,” Rakevich said. “That’s a big reason we do it so that our kids have this opportunity.”
Sanchez said he used the opportunity to teach the next generation of wrestlers while establishing his name in Washington state.
“Washington is a tough state of wrestling. I just want to network with these kids more,” he said. “It’s awesome doing techniques in front of 250 to 275 kids. I was the last technique date, so coming in here, I was like, ‘Man, these kids might be burnt out and checked out a little bit.’ But as soon as I started going, I saw everybody’s eyes. Their eyes were open, their ears were open, and they were paying attention to the little details.”
Each day of the camp gave campers different techniques and mental anecdotes to take away heading into the new wrestling season this winter. Some athletes used the camp to set a strong foundation for their first entry into wrestling, while others, like incoming W.F. West seniors Race Scalici and Graysen Serl, locked in with championship aspirations in mind.
Scalici impressed the coaches throughout the week, taking home the “middleweight boys wrestler of the camp” honor from organizers on the final day.
“I just wanted to get better at my top game. I think my neutral is very strong. I think I’ve got one of the best neutral games in our area, but I think what I struggle with is my top game, especially when it comes to state,” Scalici, who placed sixth at the Mat Classic at 144 pounds last winter, said. “I think that’s my last thing that separates me from getting to that level that I want to get to. I’m hoping to win it all this year.”
Serl, a two-time placer at the Mat Classic, came into the camp hoping to learn how to stay aggressive on top and add to his toolkit of turns and tilts.
“They describe it well. They show you, not like, ‘Here’s a move, go do it.’ They explain the move and then they’ll show you other moves to go off of the base move,” Serl said of the clinicians. “My goal this year is to stay aggressive and be more flowing with my wrestling style and not as rigid. I want to be quicker, and this camp definitely helped me be quicker. I want to become a state champ this year. I want to make it to the top of that podium.”
Sanchez and the college wrestlers circled around the three rooms throughout the morning session. Attendees started the final day with warmups before observing a demonstration from Sanchez. After witnessing the technique multiple times, wrestlers were dispersed for three to five minutes to test out the moves while Sanchez and the fellow coaches walked around to pass along pointers.
W.F. West seniors Eden Hornby and Berkeley Varick and sophomore Lucy Hornby appreciated learning not only new techniques from accomplished wrestlers but also a new mentality to adapt into the upcoming season.
“I really had a bigger mindset takeaway than anything. It’s to be grateful that you’re here no matter what, win or loss, and that you got to compete,” Eden Hornby said. “That’s something that you should be grateful for because not everybody gets the opportunity.”
“A lot of the college guys were asking what keeps us motivated. They were talking about staying consistent, and that is the key to being good is doing consistent things even when you don’t want to,” Varick added.
Lucy Hornby, the youngest sister out of Eden and W.F. West alum Lia, said her top goal this season following the camp is to “walk on the mat the same way that I’m planning to walk off.”
“I don’t want to walk on the mat super cocky and thinking I’m gonna win, and I don’t want to walk on the mat thinking I’m gonna lose,” she said. “If I do lose, I want to hold my chin up and not show emotion until I’m off the mat, and if I win, I don’t want to gloat and celebrate a lot. This camp helped with that.”
