SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. — The Summit Wrestling Club accomplished a milestone this season by claiming the Penn Elementary League Division 1 regular season championship for the first time in the team’s 42-year history.

“Our boys and girls go out and try their hardest every time,” Club President Mark Giallorenzi said. “The kids are great; they really work hard and they love the sport. It’s all about them going out and doing their best.”

The team finished with a 15-1 regular season record and Giallorenzi believes each wrestler played a role in the group’s success.

“All our kids, from our 42-pounder at 7-years-old all the way up to our 160-pounder at 12-years-old, contributed all throughout the year,” he said.

According to Giallorenzi, the club aims to prepare the wrestlers for success down the road.

“Our goal isn’t to make great elementary wrestlers; we want to make high school wrestlers,” he said. “We want these kids to continue in the sport. Most of the wrestlers on the Abington Heights junior high and high school teams are from our club. We also have former wrestlers on seven varsity high school squads throughout the region and find they have a lot of success transitioning to the next level, which is a really exciting thing for us.”

Giallorenzi feels the club’s coaching methods help to make a demanding sport entertaining for the kids.

“You can tell they are enjoying themselves,” he said. “Wrestling is a very difficult sport and we try to make it fun for them. There is a great sense of camaraderie among the (team) and we have a fantastic coaching staff made up of a lot of dads, who make it good for the kids. They love these boys and girls.”

Giallorenzi, who has served as club president for the past five years and has been associated with the team for 12 years, believes the sport of wrestling is having a resurgence.

“In the past couple years, we’ve had the most members we’ve ever had,” he said. “We’ve had anywhere from 85 to 100 children. The league itself has grown from 12 or 13 to 16 teams throughout the whole region. The competition is fantastic and keeps getting better. Wrestling, itself over the past bunch of years, is starting to have a rebound nationally. I think one of the big drivers of it, aside from the successful college programs, is (the popularity) of mixed martial arts.”

According to Giallorenzi, while the team experienced a lot of success, the kids are acquiring valuable life skills just by stepping on the mat.

“The biggest advantage, I think, is not so much the wrestling as learning how to win and lose gracefully,” he said. “It’s a very difficult thing to ask anybody to go stand out in the middle of a gym, by themselves, with one other person and have a lot of people yelling in the stands. The kids really mature and get a sense of accomplishment out of themselves.”

The Summit Wrestling Club won the Penn Elementary League Division 1 championship for the first time in the league’s 42-year history this season.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_ABJ-Wrestling-Champs.jpg.optimal.jpgThe Summit Wrestling Club won the Penn Elementary League Division 1 championship for the first time in the league’s 42-year history this season. Submitted photo

By Robert Tomkavage

rtomkavage@timesleader.com

Reach Robert Tomkavage at 570-704-3941 or on Twitter @rtomkavage.