Practice Schedule

The youth program is a way to introduce kids to wrestling in a fun and age-appropriate way, incorporating principles of the sport into games and other activities. We adhere to the long-term athlete development model of coaching (information on this can be found here). This means for kids at young ages, we prioritize means fun and love for sport, physical literacy, and a broad range of skills over competition and early specialization.

These practices are intended to prepare athletes for competitions ranging from the bantam to senior levels, although we encourage participation from athletes whether or not they are interested in competing. We also welcome wrestlers who come to practice to cross-train for other sports, to enhance their physical fitness and stay in shape, to benefit socially, and to just enjoy the sport of wrestling. If they are age twelve or older, we accept wrestlers of all genders at all levels of experience and ability.

The average age and skill level at Open practices tends to vary throughout the week. Mondays and Wednesdays at Main Location are our Fundamentals sessions, catering especially to younger competitors and to beginners of all ages. Thursdays and Saturdays offer slightly more complex lessons on average and are often attended by the Carleton and uOttawa wrestling teams. Sundays are typically an independent drilling practice with a smaller, mixed-age group and coaches to facilitate. West End Wednesdays are mostly attended by high school wrestlers from the West side of the city. Membership comes with access to all these practices but you may want to consider which group suits you best for your free trial sessions.

The goal of the invite only High Performance practices is to allow for continued growth and improvement of athletes who have been training for some time with an emphasis on individualized technique and tactics for competition. Once an athlete has a foundation of wrestling techniques and tactics, we can focus on refining individual strengths and improving identified weaknesses. These practices are much less structured than open practices, which is one of the reasons why we need athletes to be at a certain level of development to benefit from this style of training. We expect a higher level of investment from the athletes attending these sessions. While the coaches will often have ideas of things they would like to work on, we encourage athletes to self-analyze and take ownership of their wrestling game as a whole.