Photo by Steve Hopper.
Beach Wrestling is back, as the 2024 USA Wrestling-sanctioned Beach season kicked off last Saturday, with the Second Annual Atlantic Beach Championships in Atlantic Beach, N.C.
The event drew competitors from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and featured a spectacular day of perfect weather and great beach wrestling action.
First time participants were well represented, but there were also some “celebrity” sightings, including 2023 U17 Beach World Champion Kennedie Snow, and 2023 Beach World Team Member Jamel Johnson. Full results from Atlantic Beach can be found HERE.
Coach Harrison Smith of Undertow Wrestling Club said he was thrilled with the increased turnout and is already planing year three for the last week of March again in 2025.
Beach Wrestling is also set to kick off on the west coast this weekend with two events, one in Northern California and the other in Southern California. These events, sanctioned by California USA Wrestling, will be held on April 7.
The Nor-Cal Beach Wrestling Kick Off Tournament will be held at Pacifica State Beach in Pacifica, California. For details on the Nor-Cal Beach event, click here.
The So-Cal Beach Championships will be held at Huntington Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif. . For details on the So-Cal Beach event, click here.
Many of these early season Beach events are helping prepare wrestlers for the Carolina Beach Nationals (U17, U20 and Senior World Team Qualifier), set for Carolina Beach, N.C., May 11.
Results from this event will qualify athletes for the U17 and U20 Beach World Championships, set for Katerini-Pierria, Greece, September 19-20. The results from the Senior division at the Carolina Beach Nationals will be used in forming U.S. teams for the 2024 UWW Beach World Series.
Official website for Carolina Beach Nationals
More and more Beach wrestling events are being held across the nation. To keep up with all of the great Beach events sanctioned by USA Wrestling, check out the USA Beach Wrestling schedule here.
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