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No lack of confidence for nationals-bound wrestler |
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Written by Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
Ben Dyck can rest assured he deserves to be fighting for a Canadian amateur cadet/juvenile wrestling title this weekend.
He proved that on the mat in February at the provincial championships in Port Alberni when he battled defending national champion Chammeet Phulka of Surrey to a 5-5 draw.
Although Phulka was awarded the victory based on the fact he scored a three-point move during the match, while Dyck was limited to one- and two-point moves, the close match gave Dyck all the incentive he needs to try to hunt down the gold medal at this year’s national tournament, which starts Friday in Saskatoon.
“I expect to beat him,” said Dyck, a Grade 12 Kelly Road secondary school student, who will compete in the 76 kilogram weight class. “I’ll probably have to win five or six bouts (to get to the final).
“I’ve been training hard, making sure I make weight for the tournament. It’ll be my last high school tournament.”
Dyck’s success on the provincial wrestling scene is earning him notice from college wrestling recruiters in Canada and the U.S.
“Ben’s stats have been noticed internationally,” said Kelly Road coach Calvin Dyck, Ben’s father. “We’ve had four colleges in the U.S. phoning for videotapes and we’ve had two colleges and one university from Canada trying to recruit him.”
Calvin Dyck has been handling the coaching duties at Kelly Road along with Louis Van Grootel, who recently moved back to Prince George from Mackenzie.
Dana College in Nebraska, Cornell College in Iowa, Panther Wrestling in Oklahoma have all expressed interest in his son, as well as Simon Fraser University, Douglas College in New Westminster and North Island College in Port Alberni. Ben Dyck says he’s leaning toward either Douglas or SFU, the site of the national wrestling team training centre.
Six high school wrestlers from Prince George and four from Mackenzie left Wednesday for Saskatoon, where the cadet/juvenile national tournament weigh-ins will take place today.
Competing in the juvenile (Grade 11 and 12) category are: Rachel Hall, DP Todd, 52kg women; Koren Pitkethly, Mackenzie, 56kg women; Madeleine Francis, Mackenzie, 65kg women; Kevin Gillespie, College Heights secondary, 69kg men; Tyler Sylte, Kelly Road, 69kg men; and Darian Klausmeier, KRSS, 69kg men.
The local wrestlers in the cadet (Grades 9 and 10) competitions are: Wes Black, Prince George secondary, 115kg men; Dil Ghag, Mackenzie, 76kg men; and Aaron Pitkethly, Mackenzie, 76kg.
They qualified for the nationals by placing in the top six this past season at either the B.C. secondary sports championships, SFU War on the Floor, or the Western Canadian age class tournaments.
The cadet/juvenile national tournament is governed by Greco-Roman rules,
rather than the Olympic-style rules of provincial high school tournaments. The difference is wrestlers in a Greco-Roman tournament are not allowed to touch the legs of an opponent. That puts the onus on gaining upper-body advantages, and that suits Ben Dyck just fine.
“I’m stronger than everyone in my weight class, pretty much, so it’s not too hard for me,” said Dyck, who receives some funding for his wrestling through PacificSport.
Black, a 15-year-old carded rugby player, was a silver medalist at the 2007 national championships. As part of Canada’s national rugby program, Black just returned from an international rugby competition in England.
Klausmeier, a provincial silver medalist in Port Alberni, placed third last year at the national cadet trials and is considered a medal threat again as a first-year juvenile. Hall was third in her provincial category.
-- Calvin Dyck said there is a group forming to offer a community wrestling program for elementary school students, which will start in the fall. Dyck is trying to recruit former high school wrestlers to serve as coaches.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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