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Framework for Growth in School Wrestling

Spartan Wrestling’s Growth Framework to Support Local Junior High & High School Programs

 

The strategic plan for Spartan Wrestling is to build a foundation of Calgary wrestling from the fundamentally publicly accessible programs as a strong base to continue on to the high school and ultimately university levels. Currently Calgary high schools are at an all time low for registration numbers for wrestlers and from an outside perspective it appears that the female wrestling numbers are extremely low. 

 

Spartan Wrestling Clubs HS Program Five Year Goals:

  1. Re-establish HS programs that have folded in the last ten years (Bishop O’Byrne, All Saints, Ernest Manning, Bowness, Dr. EP Scarlett and Henry Wisewood)
  2. Strengthen HS programs that have recently developed (Centennial, Lord Beaverbrook, Our Lady of the Rockies, Bishop Carrol, Aberhart, Robert Thirsk)
  3. Provide assistance to currently strong HS programs to help keep them functioning. (Sir Winston Churchill, Crescent Heights, Diefenbaker, Central Memorial)
  4. Initiate HS programs that have not had a program in the last 20 years (St. Francis, Notre Dame, James Fowler)

 

To do this Spartan Wrestling wishes to do the following steps; 

  1. Commit to scholarships for the previously mentioned high schools for an immediate impact to help keep kids in the sport and experience what it is like outside of school wrestling and maintain interest for the following season. 
  2. Commit scholarships to the Junior high programs that are currently active that feed into these struggling HS programs. Additional scholarships can be allocated to HS programs that are struggling with registration numbers in 2023
  3. Develop a plan for the 2023-2024 season wherein grade 11 students from the HS programs volunteer at least once per week with their feeder JH program. This helps in a few ways. First, it helps the teacher sponsors with coaching as some JH teachers are not confident in their ability to coach wrestling. Secondly, a grade 11 student can interact with the grade 9 athletes at the feeder school so that when they continue on to the HS program they have a familiar face and role model. Lastly, this helps the grade 11 student learn the technical aspects of the sport better, by articulating the technique and teaching it to the JH programs.
  4. Develop a plan where JH programs visit their feeder HS program for a joint practice. The JH will head to the HS for an “away event” as their schedules are incredibly sparse for their short season. The HS program will host the JH program and Ideally work in a 1:1 or 2:1 JH:HS athlete ratio to have the HS athletes aide the JH athletes with their technique. This plan will allow JH athletes experience a HS practice, allow JH teachers to network and learn from a HS counterpart, and hopefully overall bolster the numbers over the course of a 3-4 year span as it becomes tradition between the schools. 
  5. Finish developing and Launch in September 2023 the Spartan Wrestling Club online course for teachers that need some guidance with coaching a season of wrestling. We will have dedicated sections for the difference between the CBE and CCSD. Teachers will be invited to one or two in house sessions focused on rules, safety and technique.
  6. Spartan Alumni will be allocated to JH programs that need volunteer coaches for a minimum of once per week to enhance the Grade 11 volunteer coach. 
  7. Spartan Alumni will be allocated to HS programs that need volunteer coaches. Ideally these alumni are at least 20-21 years old and volunteer at a highschool they did not attend. 
  8. Spartan Wrestling will host a JH camp at low cost ($10-20) annually for each of the CBE and CCSD seasons to help promote the sport and show the athletes what the sport is like at a club level. 
  9. Spartan Wrestling will commit 2 scholarships to grade 7/8 athletes at each feeder school from November 2023 – 2028 to continue relationships with the feeder JH programs and provide an opportunity each year to athletes to experience the club level of the sport for the first time. 
  10. Once the current programs are stable, reach out to JH schools without programs and work with them on providing equipment or volunteers to get started.