Welcome to the 2006/2007 Wrestling Season!

Welcome all returning wrestling families and newcomers!

There will be a signup/informational meeting at Bloomington High School on October 30th and November 2nd at 6:00 in the Wrestling Room. We are going to be discussing the club, answering questions and signing people up at the meeting. Please make this date if you can. All parents are invited and encouraged to attend. (Wrestlers are invited too) We would like to sign up as many members as possible on this day.

The Raider Wrestling Club is a nonprofit organization and a charted member of the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation (IKWF) and USA Wrestling (USAW). The IKWF has been in existence for over 30 years. Our current charter was established in November 1994. We have both beginning and experienced wrestlers.

We have started a new beginner division geared more toward the our youngest wrestlers and kids that are new to wrestling. The beginners will only practice once a week with practices that are less demanding and more fun. We will focus on teaching basic wrestling skills in the form of drills and games. This division is only twelve weeks meeting once a week.

The regular practices, now called the competitive division of the Raider Kids Wrestling Club, is for more dedicated wrestlers that wish to compete. Tournaments are available to these wrestlers every weekend. More advanced techniques and skills are taught in addition to more physical conditioning. This division will prepare young wrestlers for rigors of junior high and high school wrestling. This division meets twice a week for practice and will have dozens of meet and tournament opportunities during the season.

We try and work closely with the Junior High coaches in the district. District87 students will be required to leave the club when they reach sixth grade. With our help, the junior high has won a trophy in each of the last four IESA state meets. This is one of the BEST ways of getting experience and preparing for the the junior high and high school.

The Raider Wrestling Club teaches wrestlers not only technique but also sportsmanship. Wrestling provides a great foundation for building strength, balance, quickness, discipline and character. Many of the skills that are learned can be used in many sports. Bill Cowher, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers when asked why he like to draft ex-wrestlers said in an ESPN interview "In High School, I felt that if I wanted to become a better football player I should join the wrestling team, because so much of what they did I could incorporate in football." He even drafted a wrestler that had NEVER played football but was a six time NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion. That player, became all pro ONE YEAR LATER! Bears Fan? Ever hear of Olin Kreutz? State Champ. Wrestling can be a rewarding experience, just as any ex-wrestler!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call Jay Jensen @ 826-8378 and if you have Internet access, take a look at http://wrestling.district87.org

Why am I here?
So you work your butt off for 4-5 hours every week, running, practicing, getting pinned by the big kids (getting to pin the little ones), sweating and seemingly doing the same drills over and over...

You may be asking, WHAT DO I GET OUT OF THIS?

Some of you join wrestling to condition for other sports. There is no better sport to prepare yourself for playing football.

One of the quickest ways to get your picture on a Wheaties Box read more about Cael.

By the middle of the season you can walk down the hall at school and realize that none of these kids walking near you could last 30 seconds on the mat with your training partner.

Your parents are thrilled that you are too tired to ask to stay up late after practice.

Dad doesn't complain about traffic when driving you to tournaments.

Only good excuse to wear singlets.

Stepping to the top of the awards platform

And, of course, HARDWARE!

Registration Fees and Form

Membership Fee $50 for the entire season

Each club membership fee covers the following items:

* USA WRESTLING membership card and IKWF membership.

* Team site insurance.

* Individual insurance.

* Raider Club Charter(s), required by IKWF Wrestling.

* Raider Club  Coaches card, required by IKWF Wrestling.

* Raider Club  tournament sanction, required by IKWF Wrestling.

* Raider Club  administrative supplies.

2006/2007 Registration Form

2006/2007 IKWF Application form

There is also a separate cost for attending tournaments. This fee is paid to the host club. 

Our club is a non-profit organization which means that all coaches and board members volunteer their time and do not get paid. If you have never wrestled with an IKWF wrestling club, you must provide a copy of the wrestlers birth certificate for age verification. The IKWF has established a two-week processing period before any wrestler is eligible to complete in tournaments. The faster you provide the birth certificate the faster your son will be registered and be able to compete in tournaments.

Practice 

Practice will begin on November 7th.  Practice will be Tuesday and Thursday from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. at Bloomington High School south gym. Practices will continue through last February and will be held even if there is no school. Notices will be distributed at practice if a conflict arises and a future practice must be canceled.

Practice information

Tournament Information

Many wrestling clubs host tournaments throughout the season. For those wrestlers who are interested in

competing, tournaments provide an excellent opportunity for wrestlers to put their skills to use against

wrestlers from other clubs. Most tournaments are on Sunday, only a few are on Saturday. Entry fees are typically $12-15 per wrestler. There are many tournaments held throughout the state. 

Most tournaments that our club will attend are open to all levels of experience. There are usually only a couple of tournaments during the season that are restricted to first year wrestlers, and there are always a few that we recommend only very experienced wrestlers attend. We strongly encourage our wrestlers to compete in as many tournaments as possible...however, all tournaments are optional.

IKWF

   -  is the Illinois state sanctioning body for USA Wrestling

   -  has a statewide membership of over 230 folkstyle wrestling clubs

   -  has a midseason open tournament (LRWC does not attend this yet)

   -  has an end-of-season state tournament:

Regionals (all ages), Sectionals (9 - 14 yr olds) and State Finals (11 - 14 yr olds)

   -  is divided into 8 sectionals

             North, North Chicago, Central Chicago, West Chicago, South Chicago, Central, West, and South

LRWC is grouped in the IKWF West Sectionals

Blocked means that the weight divisions will be grouped by the tournament directors after the morning weigh-ins

All tournaments lead up to the year-end State Series, which include Regional's, Sectionals and State. All  wrestlers are eligible to enter Regional's, but only the top six place finishers in each weight class will qualify for Sectionals. The top three finishers in the Novice and Senior division will then move on the final tournament of the year, Illinois State Championships. The State Championships are usually held the second weekend in March.

Tournament information sheets will be available at practice approximately three weeks prior to the scheduled tournament date. The information sheet has pertinent information such as location site, directions, entry fee, weigh-in times, divisions, awards and a registration area that must be completed and sighed by the parent/guardian. All of the tournaments require advance registration. Parents are responsible for transportation to and from all tournaments. Headgear and wrestling or gym shoes are required for all tournament matches. 

A typical tournament day is as follows:

Arrive at the tournament site during weigh-in times...most tournaments will have weigh-ins open from 6:30 - 8:00 a.m. It is very important to make sure you arrive during these times...if you are late and weigh-ins have closed, you will not be eligible to compete. Tournament officials are very strict on this issue...late weigh- ins only delay the start of the tournament. 

It is also very important that you have your fingernails clipped short. Tournament officials may ask to see them during weigh-ins and if your nails are long, you will be asked to clip them. After weigh-ins have closed, tournament officials will start bracketing the wrestlers by division and weight. This process usually takes one hour. 

Once the bracketing is complete, there will be an announcement over the loud speaker asking for the first division to report to the "bullpen". The bullpen is an area where the wrestlers report and are arranged into their brackets. Most tournaments will call the youngest age division first. Once the wrestlers are assembled into their brackets, a "runner" will take the wrestlers to their assigned mat. Our coaches will be watching for our wrestlers so they can be at the mat when the match starts. Each mat will have one referee, a scorekeeper and a timer. The younger divisions (bantam and junior) usually wrestle for (3) one-minute periods and the older divisions will wrestle (3) periods, one one-minute, and two one and a half minute periods. Most tournaments start wrestling around 9:00 a.m....refer to the tournament information sheet for the exact starting time.

Once the match has ended, the wrestler is free to leave the mat area. The tournament director must allow at least one hour between matches to give the wrestler a rest. The time between matches can vary depending on the size of the tournament. The announcer will always call the next age group to the bull pen over the loud speaker. 

Awards are given out after the bracket has finished all of the matches. Some tournaments hand out the awards at the mat table and others will call the bracket up to the head table. Awards vary from tournament to tournament. The tournament information sheet usually includes the types of awards. Once the wrestler is eliminated due to losing the first two matches, you may leave the tournament if you wish. 

The bantam division usually finishes up before noon since they only wrestle twice. The Senior division is the last group to finish...typically around 3:00 p.m., but once again this will vary from tournament to tournament. Should you have any questions regarding tournaments, please feel free to ask one of our coaches. 

Recruiting
A successful team needs good members. There are a LOT of good wrestlers out there that don't even know it. They haven't even thought of wrestling. This is your job as part of the team, to find new team members and introduce them to the sport. Sometimes they will need some friendly encouragement to give it a try. Tell them about the tournaments, show them your trophy case. Give them the website address so their parents can find out some information. Ask them to come watch a practice and talk to a coach. While winning yourself is fun, watching a boy that you helped recruit win his first trophy is almost as much fun.