Wrestling Club seeks to leave mark on campus
From left to right Justin Acala, David Mosley, Connor Shin, Donovan Lay and Sebastian Ring at a booth representing their wrestling club.
March 9, 2016
The Wrestling Club has been a part of CSUSM since 2013 and consists of five members: Club President Connor Shinn, Vice President David Mosley, Treasurer Justin Acala and members Donovan Lay and Sebastian Ring.
Shinn helped found the club in 2013. A junior at CSUSM, he hopes to expand the club and bring it to the attention of all students on campus interested in wrestling at the collegiate level.
“We are a very small club and even with the amount of time we have been here, we aren’t really that well known,” Shinn said. “I’m looking to change that and I’m hoping to help build a good reputation for our club here.”
The Wrestling Club typically holds their practices from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday at The Clarke Field House in room 130, consisting of light drilling, technical work and live sessions.
Light drilling and technical work can include the likes of sprawling, a commonly used defensive move. During this portion of practice, wrestlers might also practice double leg and single leg shots, better known to non-wrestlers as takedowns.
Live sessions, similar to scrimmages in sports such as football, are where athletes wrestle each other for a short duration using full effort. Conditioning also goes along with live sessions.
The Wrestling Club belongs to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) that sets up tournaments and duals for universities across the country, including USC, UC Merced, and Fresno State.
The Wrestling Club recently closed tryouts and registration for the semester, but students will have the opportunity to join next semester.
Students are just required to fill out a membership packet available on the CSUSM Campus Recreation website under resources. The membership fee is $40 and the NCWA membership is $35, making the Wrestling Club one of the more affordable club sports on campus.
The Wrestling Club is open to anyone interested in wrestling, regardless of ability.
“[We want] to give the students the opportunity to wrestle on the collegiate level regardless of their past experiences,” Shinn said.