Beaver Dam Wrestling Camp

This year saw my son attending the Beaver Dam Wrestling Camp for the second summer in a row. Last years experience was excellent for my son. The camp the previous year had been run by Mike DeRoehn the head coach at UW Oshkosh. However in talking with Coach DeRoehn at the WWF Youth State Tournament, he indicated that his schedule wouldn't allow for him to take on the Beaver Dam camp this year.

I was curious early on who would run this year's four nights of wrestling. But when the camp wrapped up on Thursday night, I was very pleased once again.

The Beaver Dam Wrestling Camp format is simple. Camp runs 6:00PM to 9:00PM at the Beaver Dam High School in the old gym for four nights, Monday through Thursday. The camp is currently run through Beaver Dam's community services department so it isn't advertised on any major Wisconsin wrestling websites like www.wiwrestling.com. However it is listed in the community activities book and costs only $22.00 for residents and $32.00 for non-residents. This camp is open to all ages and abilities and the cost includes a free camp shirt. Being my parents have a Beaver Dam address, we we're allowed to register for the resident price.

Monday night had Coach Joe Rens from Fond Du Lac High School. A Division I school north of Beaver Dam. Rens approach that night was more basic stuff and seemed to cater to the younger kids instead of the more advanced. The instruction was very good, however since it was more for the younger kids, the level of intensity wasn't very high and the older kids seemed bored at times. The only time my son seemed to break into a sweat was during the end of the evening

The second night brought in Coach Tim Fader from UW Whitewater and a crew of about four of his wrestlers for assistants. This three hour session was much more advanced and really kept my sons interest the entire session. Not much for games, but in all reality, they're not there for that.

The third and fourth nights brought in Justin Lancaster, an assistant coach from UW Oshkosh. Early on he stepped up the pace and pushed the kids with a lot of new and variations on basic techniques. Any game played was physical and dealt with strength and involved wrestling. The last contest was a "Sumo-King of the Ring" match that started with the smallest two wrestlers squaring off against each other working up to the bigger kids.

As a wrestling parent I can tell the type of workout my son had based on the level of sweat soaked up in his shirt. The last three nights you could literally wring the sweat out of his shirts. That's a good workout.

My son is currently attending his fourth wrestling camp of the summer with Justin Lancaster from UW Oshkosh running this one as well. I'll have to review the current camp when it wraps up tomorrow. However, if you're looking for a camp that is both high in instruction and affordable, I would highly recommend the Beaver Dam Wrestling Camp.