Sixteen-year-old Nathen Schmidt of Carlyle was named Saskatchewan's top wrestler in his weight class at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association's (SHSAA) annual championship held March 11 and 12 in Saskatoon-in his first year wrestling.
The grade 11 student finished first for the season-in his first season as a wrestler- as the number one male wrestler in the 65 kg weight category, and says, “It feels like a lot of hard work paid off and I feel like I accomplished something, for sure.”
“I knew if I kept my head in the game, that I'd have a chance, but nothing in wrestling is set in stone,” adds Schmidt.
Coach Monte McNaughton says, “I was looking to expand my (Manor School) team. I approached Carlyle School to see if I could run a wrestling team for them...Nathen and I had been training jiu-jitsu together for years in Carlyle under our coach Scott Nicholson. I knew Nathen already had a strong wrestling base and that with some more sport-specific training, he could be very successful.”
“We practiced twice a week and most of the practice was very high-level, technique-focused.”
“(Our team) travelled to Regina to train a few times with Cattown Wrestling Club under Leo and Dan McGee, which our team has done in years past. We also spent some time in Weyburn, training with the Weyburn Wrestling Club,” adds McNaughton. “All of (our team's) wrestlers hold themselves to a higher standard as far as health and training. They all work out regularly on their own outside of wrestling practice, so that our practice can be focused on skill and technique and less on conditioning.”
“Nathen found immediate success and lost only one match all season,” adds McNaughton. “He was very open to advice and willing to learn. We took his natural athletic ability and explosiveness and added some advanced techniques and strategies and the results speak for themselves.”
When asked about how it felt to stand on the podium's top tier, Schmidt says, “We all put in so much effort and everyone worked hard. It felt great and I was smiling.”
“I'll definitely be wrestling next year.”
