Camps and Clubs

Want to try something different, train with kids from different parts of the country, and learn from a guest clinician like Olympic Gold Medalist Jordan Burroughs?

Attend a summer wrestling camp.

Want to find a place that provides year-round training and development opportunities?

Join a local wrestling club.

Attending wrestling camps and joining wrestling clubs are both beneficial to wrestlers, and both provide similar, yet different learning opportunities.

“Camps can help younger wrestlers develop more advanced skills, while clubs provide continuity in training,” says Rob Prebish, an assistant wrestling coach at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Va., and a longtime coach with the Virginia USA Wrestling 16U and Junior national teams. 

For many young wrestlers, attending a wrestling camp is their first chance to stay overnight, away from home. They might go with a teammate or wrestling friend, and pick a camp hosted or directed by the coaches at their favorite college program. Others, especially those new or just learning the sport, can attend a day camp at their local high school, nearby college, or wrestling club, to continue to develop the basics and gain experience.

The types of camps are endless. Intensive camps are geared toward experienced wrestlers looking to push themselves to the limit. Technique camps focus on the fundamentals of the sport. There are father/son camps, and team camps, where members of a team compete in several dual meets throughout a camp. These are great ways for teams to bond together while still competing at a high level in the summer months. Those new to the sport can attend short local day camps that help participants continue to develop and keep their interest in the sport in an environment that isn’t overwhelming or intimidating.

Justin DeCoteau is Kids Director for North Dakota USA Wrestling, and head coach of the Gorilla Wrestling Club in Bismarck, N.D. He also serves as Camp Director for Gorilla Wrestling Camps. This year’s Bismarck Gorilla Wrestling camp is June 28–29 and features Jordan Burroughs, a 5-time World Champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist as one of several clinicians. The camps also feature North Dakota (West Fargo High School) standouts Jordan and Jesse Shearer. Jordan is a six-time North Dakota state champion who currently wrestles at Nebraska. Jesse is a three-time North Dakota State champion who wrestles at North Dakota State. Over the years, several collegiate and international standouts, such as Seth Gross and Hayden Zillmer, have also served as clinicians at the camp.

“Wrestling camps are a great place to meet new people and learn something different,” DeCoteau says. “If it’s an overnight camp it provides the opportunity for a young wrestler to stay on campus or away from home somewhere, often for the first time. Campers also get to drill with new partners, and get to know wrestlers from other parts of the state or possibly different parts of the country.”

The best way to benefit from attending a wrestling camp is to take what was learned at camp and apply it in practice with a local wrestling club.

“A camp shows different techniques, and a club is where the wrestler can then refine and develop that technique,” says DeCoteau, who is also a big proponent of wrestling clubs.

“There are several benefits of club wrestling,” he adds. “This is where a young wrestler will learn the basics of wrestling. They can develop technique, discipline and feel what it is like to be part of a team. You will also make lifelong friends when you are part of a wrestling club.”

Wrestling camps provide an opportunity for wrestlers to experience a one-on-one environment with clinicians or training and competing with different drilling partners, says Sean Cunningham, Junior Director for Nebraska USA Wrestling and an assistant coach at Nebraska’s Gretna High School.

“The camp season is where wrestlers make their biggest strides in their positioning and technique,” says Cunningham, who also helps coach at the MWC Wrestling Academy, a South Omaha club owned and operated by former USA Wrestling Greco-Roman standout Zac Dominquez.

Wrestling clubs also provide more opportunities to train and compete in the Olympic styles of wrestling—freestyle and Greco-Roman. While the high school season focuses on folkstyle, spring and summer club wrestling often focuses on freestyle and Greco-Roman development. Those more interested in developing in the Olympic styles can also train in those styles year round, providing additional supplemental training outside the folkstyle season.

“It’s all wrestling and is good for the growth and development of the athlete,” Cunningham says.

There’s another benefit of being a part of a wrestling club: It develops friendships, provides camaraderie, gets wrestlers outside their comfort zone, and provides a family-like atmosphere with coaches often serving as mentors on and off the mat.

“Participating in a club helps build character and teach lessons that these young adults can apply later in life,” Cunningham says. “Being a part of a club helps wrestlers find a place where they can deal with the joys of victory and deal with the adversity of losses. Wrestlers can go through a roller coaster of emotions just in one match and it’s important for the coaches to help these wrestlers work through those emotions and handle them in a way that can benefit them on the wrestling mat and later in life.”

Don’t mistake the opportunity to wrestle for a club as only an opportunity for the top-level wrestlers. Anyone who wants to be a part of something and commit to putting in effort and improving should consider joining a club—even those new to the sport. Prebish helps coach with the Richmond Wrestling Club in Virginia. The club has two levels of practice. One is for younger and newer wrestlers focusing on technique and wrestling fundamentals. Then there is practice for the more experienced or advanced wrestler, many preparing for major offseason events, such as 16U and Junior Nationals.

“Our coaches all have the same vision of creating opportunity for as many wrestlers as possible,” Prebish says. “Camps can help younger wrestlers develop more advanced skills, while clubs provide continuity in training. We sit down with our more advanced wrestlers and develop a plan for off-season wrestling. Not every wrestler in our club has to, or wants to compete at the national-level events. Some want to continue to improve with a consistent training program, which is okay with our staff.”

The best wrestlers take advantage of opportunities to improve. Wrestling camps and wrestling clubs provide both.