‘Girls Day In’ Wrestling Camp helps grow local female wrestling

Sallisaw Lady Diamonds assistant wrestling coach LuWella Harris wanted to do anything she could to help promote girls wrestling. So, the “Girls Day In” Wrestling Camp, which took place Friday at Sallisaw Middle School, was created.

“I wanted to host an all girls wrestling camp to give the girls an opportunity to learn from someone who has been in their shoes and to give them a chance to be able to be with girls who are passionate about the sport,” Harris said. “A lot of times camps are coed or geared for advanced wrestlers. Our camp was divided into different skill levels to ensure that everyone received the skills and technique that they need to improve their wrestling. The theme of our camp was ‘Grow Women’s Wrestling.’ Women’s wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the world, and I want to be able to contribute to that.”

Helping give instruction were Carl Albert State College Lady Viking wrestling coach Jake Lords, along with two of his Lady Vikings — Alexis Miller, two-time NJCAA National Champion, a two-time state champion at Wagoner and an All-American, and Malia Kehne, an NJCAA national finalists, twotime Arkansas All-Stater and an Arkansas state champion while at Rogers (Ark.)-Heritage High School.

“This was all the Sallisaw community,” Lords said. “They put this on and asked if we wanted to be a part of it. If we can be involved in the community and giving back, and growing the sport — especially on the women’s side — it’s a good thing. It’s growing, not only in this area but nationwide. It’s the fastest growing high school sport in the country. We’re fortunate to have a pretty successful women’s program with awesome people growing it. We’re happy and thankful for the opportunity to help grow this (women’s wrestling) in this area. There were about 75 to 80 girls here, so it was really fun to see them grow in the sport. There was a lot of talent in this room. It’s fun to see everybody get better, and the sport growing as a whole.”

While the camp was for the campers, Lords was quick to point out the camp’s usefulness as a recruiting tool.

“It’s a good recruiting tool to let them know we’re around and we’re in your backyard in Poteau,” Lords said. “There was a lot of talent here, so we’ll be keeping our eyes on a lot of these ladies — hopefully, making them Lady Vikings, keeping the local talent local.”

Several things were worked on during the oneday camp on Friday.

“There were two twohour sessions,” Lords said. “The first session, we did a lot of offensive things — takedowns, things like that. The second session, we mostly focused on defense to those takedowns, defending shots, scoring and counter offense. Then, we worked on some fun things that they haven’t seen before, like throws — fun camp moves I guess you would say.”