• Our Story

  • The National Capital Wrestling Club (NCWC) was originally founded in 1976 in collaboration with the Ottawa YMCA and the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Association (OAWA). Over the first three decades, the NCWC produced many prominent wrestlers, many of whom went on to have great success at the National, International and even Olympic level. The efforts, contributions and successes of all the NCWC coaches and athletes during this period established the NCWC legacy and cemented the club as Ottawa's largest and longest running wrestling program.

    The start of the new millenium in 2000 brought many changes to the NCWC, all of which contributed to continued success for the club. The NCWC expanded and grew through partnerships with local Ottawa high schools, high school wrestling programs and also a satellite program called the Chelsea Spartans that operated from 2007-2012 in Quebec. The Chelsea Spartans program focused on younger wrestlers and was the foundation for what is now the NCWC Youth program. The NCWC made it a priority to assist wrestlers in purchasing low-cost wrestling shoes and equipment, helping more than 600 wrestlers since 2005, mostly in the Ottawa area but also as far away as Kashechewan (a Cree settlement in James Bay) and the Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan. In addition, the NCWC successfully secured a grant fron the Ontario Trillium Foundation that supported the purchase of three brand new wrestling mats. To further promote wrestling in Eastern Ontario, the NCWC established an annual wrestling tournament in 2005 (now known as the National Capital Wrestling Festival) that continues to provide excellent experience and opportuntity for high-school and youth wrestlers to compete against other wrestlers from all over Ontario and Quebec. The club partnered with Algonquin College for a few years, before moving to its current home at St. Patrick's High School.

    During the early 2010s, some fresh new faces joined the NCWC and continued to build on the sucess of the past 40 years. In 2013, the club produced two National champions and six Gold and Silver Provincial medalists. In 2014, the NCWC came 2nd in Female and Overall Team rankings at the Juvenile Provincial Championships with the help of six medalists, as well as a Bronze medalist at the Juvenile National Championships. Those accomplishments took the club to a new level, and the NCWC has worked hard on increasing its performance in every year since. The NCWC continues to build on that success, attending over 20 tournaments per season for wrestlers in all age groups. Additions in recent years included dedicated practices for the growing Youth program and weekly satellite practices in Kanata and Russell. The club is focused on continuing to build strong relationships with many local Ottawa high school programs and combative sports associations.

  • Olympians

    • 1972: Ole Sorensen (founding NCWC coach)
    • 1972: Gord Bertie (founding NCWC coach)
    • 1976: Gord Bertie
    • 1976: Brian Renken
    • 1976: Ray Takahashi
    • 1984: Ray Takahashi
    • 1996: Mike Smith (alternate)
    • 2004: Evan MacDonald
    • 2016: Erica Weibe (Gold Medalist)
    • 2020: Erica Weibe
  • Coaches

    • 1970s: Ole Sorenson, Gord Bertie, Bill Hallett
    • 1980s: Ole Sorenson, Bob Price, Phil Knox
    • 1990s: Ole Sorenson, Bob Price, Phil Knox, Mike Payette, Lee MacKay, Ray Rioux, Michel Cote
    • 2000s: Mike Lidstone, Mike Smith, Dean Sherratt, Dean O'Gorman, Clint Kingsbury, Joe Greer, Chris Schrauwen
    • 2010s: Mike Smith, Dean Sherratt, Dean O'Gorman, Joe Greer, Chris Schrauwen, Sarah Stringer, Kelsey Dayler, Sarah Swan, Peter Shannon, Dante Vecchio, Matt McCarlie
    • 2020s: Chris Schrauwen, Sarah Stringer, Kelsey Dayler, Sarah Swan, Peter Shannon, Matt McCarlie, Alishah Depass
  • Recent Provincial Champions

    • 2005: Alex Brown-Theriault
    • 2006: Miles Cundell
    • 2008: Sarah Stringer
    • 2008: John Goodyear
    • 2013: Taylor Robinson
    • 2014: Quinlan Walker
    • 2014: Augusta Eve
    • 2017: Klara Patel
    • 2018: Ismail Ayyoub
    • 2018: Jessica Hong
    • 2018: Taha Chahrour
    • 2018: Evan Walker
    • 2019: Ismail Ayyoub
    • 2019: Jessica Hong
  • Recent Canada Summer Games Champions

    • 2022: Kai Harada
    • 2022: Laila Seed-Desai