The Second Annual
World Sport Chicago Wrestling Festival
Highlights the Power of Youth Sport
By Danielle Schaffrath, World Sport Chicago Communications Intern
and Alex Davies, World Sport Chicago Staff
On Saturday, June 4, 2011 Navy Pier housed the Second Annual World Sport Chicago Wrestling Festival. Wrestlers from across the city and beyond came out to show their talents ranging from first year beginners to advanced wrestlers with four plus years of experience. The festival also featured an exhibition dual showcasing two wrestling teams: Beat the Streets – New York City versus Beat the Streets – Chicago. The second annual event was even bigger than the first with additional exhibitions, a high school freestyle division and five additional competition mats.
This year’s tournament saw a small growth in participation over the first year and athletes came out from all over the Chicago area, the Midwest region and from further states such as Florida and Colorado. Event organizers were very excited about the additions to the event and hope to see the tournament continue to grow in future years.
World Sport Chicago, the Legacy of Chicago 2016, wants to enhance youth athletic experiences. World Sport Chicago is a non-for-profit organization that promotes a wide range of Olympic and Paralympic sports to the youth of Chicago as means of personal and community development. The organization seeks to grow the passion for sport and help Chicago children find the sport that will help their dreams grow. Through targeted initiatives such as equipment grants, coaching clinics, and connecting clubs with resources and expertise World Sport Chicago aims to help support the growth and development of the Chicago wrestling community. Mark Miedona, head coach of Lane Technical High School in Chicago is a member of the Chicago Wrestling Coaches Association and feels its very important for him personally to coach high school youth in sports. “It’s a way of giving back to the community and helping a lot of these kids who don’t think they have a chance to succeed in life. It’s a way to show them the values and morals that you can’t succeed if you’re not a hard worker,” Miedona expressed.
Passionate and enthusiastic coaching is what leads to motivated and committed athletes. Wrestler Keanu Thompson said, “[Wrestling] has made me a better person. It’s made me want to worker harder at everything in my life. It makes me keep pushing and wanting to do better than I usually do.” His teammate McZiggy Richards agrees, “[Wrestling] steers me in the right direction and I feel like I’m becoming something in life. I have a good attitude towards everything now.”
Overall, the tournament and dual were seen as a great success. Miedona shared his thoughts on this year’s tournament. He said, “World Sport Chicago does a good job. Chicago Wrestling Coaches Association does a good job and even Beat the Streets. The venue is terrific. You can actually make it a family event for the day rather than just wrestling. You wrestle, you get done, and then you can enjoy Navy Pier.”
The 2011 World Sport Chicago Wrestling Festival would not have been possible without the help and commitment of the Chicago wrestling community, volunteers, and event planning committees. Thank you to all who supported and dedicated their time to this event. World Sport Chicago, Chicago Wrestling Coaches Association, Chicago Wrestling Club, USA Wrestling, Illinois Kids Wrestling Foundation, and Beat the Streets Chicago congratulates all coaches and wrestlers and looks forward to seeing you at the 2012 Wrestling Festival.
Click here to view photos from this event.