Youth Wresting Tournament When people talk about area high school sports teams, one that is often spoken about with great pride is the varsity wrestling team at Spencerport. The wrestlers command a certain level of respect when they walk by in our small town community. Why? Because anyone that follows this team is very aware of how tough they are and how hard they work during the season. The Spencerport team demonstrated this once again in front of 1,150 fans during a sold out wrestling meet in Canandaigua, the #1 ranked team in the state, on Saturday, February 3. Over the years, the Class A Sectional Championships were won by the same hard work, buckets of sweat and dedication of an excellent coaching staff at Spencerport. Many people also believe another factor (other than excellent coaching at the middle and high school level) contributing to Spencerport's elite wrestling team is due to the fact wrestlers start early - as early as first grade thanks to coaches Ron Graham and Shane Graham who have been coaching the Spencerport Youth Wrestling Program for almost ten years. Over the years, hundreds of students in grades one through six have gone through this program offered through Spencerport Continuing Education. Most of the wrestlers who sign-up for this program have been wrestling for six years by the time they reach middle school and start wrestling on their school modified team. This early training often gives Spencerport Wrestlers an advantage over other schools where modified wrestlers are just being introduced to the sport and still learning the basics. Over the years, the Graham coaches have been committed to making the youth wrestling program "fun" while at the same time teaching the basic skills required and essential wrestling moves. The program ends with a tournament where the wrestlers can show off what they have learned to all their family members. Each student receives an award, either a gold, silver or bronze medal, for participating in the tournament. This year was no different and accompanying this article is a photograph taken after this year's tournament which shows the 2001 Spencerport Youth Wrestling Team shown with Coach Ron Graham. Helping coaches Ronald and Shane Graham are the assistant coaches, Rick Moyer and Dan Miller. Parents also helped out in this year's program and tournament. The names of the wrestlers on this year's team are: Ryan Fuller, Michael Roman, Graham Meagher, Seth Miller, Matthew Curtis, Matthew Decoursey, Justin Melia, Eric Webster, John Paul Hyden, Jacob Asermily, James Decoursey, Zachary Haas, Thomas Layhee, Michael Kincaid, Kevin Bosch, Joshua Miller, Cody Miller, Darrin Stratton, Jr., Walter Roman, Nick Baxter, Richard Bradley, Brian Asermily, Mike Elmore, Joshua Sweeney, Michael Catone, Nicholas Christ, Mike Baldino, Marty Grizzanti, Eric Derleth, Joshua Faga, Sandor Matyas, Tony Tascione, Eric Hall, Cory Lewandowski, Ryan Rinaldi, Dan Besch, Daniel Watson, Matthew Iacchetta, Nicholas Watson, Jake Duell. |
