Potomac and Seeley Wrestlers Hit the Mats

POTOMAC - The Bonner Wrestling Club (BWC) had 38 members this season with 12 wrestlers representing the Seeley Lake and Potomac area. The BWC participated in seven meets over a course of six weeks, ending with state in Columbia Falls.

The team organizers Josh and Cari Sessums have been involved with the BWC for nine years. Cari said the first year was spent getting established and the wrestlers practiced but not as a team.

The goal of BWC is to create a family atmosphere while teaching an individual sport simultaneously.

"We hope families enjoy how we have built a family atmosphere," said Cari. "We come together as family, cheer and support each other as a team. Without parent support a team cannot grow," she added.

Josh coached the wrestlers along with other coaches including Jason Ferree, Thomas Brown, Ken Golding, Ed Jamieson, Justin Kelly, Jake Fuller, Tanner Terzo, Hunter Golding, Scott Davis, Ronnie Shumard and Josh and Cari's son Izaac Sessums.

BWC said enrollment was about the same as last year, with members fitting into the different age brackets. Beginners are age six to eight, novices are age nine to 10, middles are age 11 to 12 and juniors age 13 to 14 make up the BWC team.

Wrestling has different genres like Greco, Freestyle and Folkstyle. BWC teaches the Folkstyle method of wrestling which is the more traditional form in the United States.

In Folkstyle wrestling, wrestlers win if they pin their opponent or if they have the most points at the end of a match. Points are earned by making moves from the top and bottom positions and for certain moves.

Practices were held three nights a week at Hellgate High School and wrestlers practiced drills and moves while the coaches moved between them assisting and showing the new moves. Occasionally the practices included tag games and birthday runs.

The Davis family from Potomac makes wrestling a family affair. Tanner Davis wrestles and said he enjoys everything about wrestling.

"I like to wrestle because it is a competitive sport. It is just you [if you mess up it is on you], and I like the challenge," said Tanner.

Tanner's younger brother Easton also wrestles. "I enjoy everything about wrestling [and] especially doing double leg take downs because you can lift people up," Easton said.

Their father Scott Davis helped coach the Bonner Wrestling Club, and their mother Kristina helped organize wrestling on the Potomac end.

Kristina said, "It is a great sport because the kids learn that the hard work that they put in will help them in the future. It also builds mental toughness in more than just wrestling."

Another Potomac parent Thomas Brown also coached for BWC. His two sons Silas and Levi wrestled. Coach Brown said it can be challenging to take an inexperienced athlete into the first competition with as little as three practices beforehand. He added the season-long challenge involves matching the curriculum and drills to athletes whose experience varies.

"There is a large spread in experience from the first-year wrestlers to the more experienced wrestlers. This requires drills and what moves are taught need to be tailored to cover everything from very basic body position to more complex finishes to each move," Coach Brown added.

Coach Josh agrees that it is a short season compared to other youth sports. "It takes a lot of dedication and commitment to become successful in wrestling," he said.

Coach Brown enjoys the demanding and rewarding aspect of wrestling. "Being able to help promote and teach the sport for future generations is very rewarding in itself," he said. "I am allowed to give back some of the knowledge and experience that a multitude of very dedicated individuals spent countless hours working to provide me with the instruction they had to offer."

BWC's official season begins again next February, with registration starting online in December, the week after the high school state wrestling tournament. BWC maintains the importance of staying in shape and says that summer wrestlers make winter champions.

BWC was pleased with the turnout of Seeley Lake and Potomac wrestlers.

Coach Josh said, "We have a great group of hard working kids that live up the Blackfoot Valley." 

Coach Josh said most of those wrestlers earned multiple medals at tournaments this season, which shows how hard they work. "We also are very proud of the sportsmanship that our wrestlers have and coaches from other clubs take notice of this."