Wildcat wrestlers put in work over summer

By Andy Brown
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Updated: August 18, 2016

Members of the Louisburg wrestling team attended the Outdoor Challenge Camp earlier this month in Valentine, Neb. Those who attended are (from left) head coach Bobby Bovaird, Hunter Bindi, Brandon Doles, Jacob Felder, Garrett Caldwell, Mason Koechner, Kyle Allen, Hunter Millbern and Basehor-Linwood wrestler Aidan Baker.

Getting better in any sport involves more than just practice during the season, it starts with putting in the work in the offseason and members of the Louisburg High School wrestling team had a busy summer.

To motivate them a little more, head coach Bobby Bovaird came up with a system. Wildcat wrestlers had opportunities to attend a number of camps, competitions or workouts in order to earn Ironman points

If the wrestlers, whether in high school, middle school or elementary, earned 100 points or more they were presented with the Ironman Award.

Junior Ryan Adams, who missed all of last year with an arm injury, used this summer to get back into shape and showed he is ready for the season to start. Adams led the Wildcat team with 157 points and won the Titan Games in Missouri, going 4-0 against area wrestlers and was 11-1 at the Top City Wrestling League, which took place in Topeka in June.

Garrett Caldwell (151 points), Brandon Doles (138), Kyle Allen (106) and Hunter Bindi (100) also earned Ironman honors.

“My goal was to get some extrinsic motivation for the wrestlers — not just the high school wrestlers, but also the middle school and the youth wrestlers,” Bovaird said. “In all, we had 30 wrestlers from all levels doing something wrestling-based this summer. That kind of commitment is awesome — especially considering the number of wrestlers who are working summer jobs, getting ready for fall sports, or staying active with community, church, and school events. Plus, we’ve been getting a great number of youth wrestlers involved, which will make a smooth transition for them when they get to high school.”

For the third straight year, Bovaird also took several wrestlers to the Outdoor Challenge Camp in Valentine, Neb., earlier this month. Mason Koechner, Jacob Felder, Caldwell, Allen, Bindi, Hunter Millbern and Doles.

“We got some pretty good wrestling instruction, and it was awesome seeing everyone competing in the various outdoor challenges all week,” Bovaird said. “One of my favorite things was Garrett Caldwell getting the sportsmanship award at the end of camp because when the boys played in the river nerf football tournament, Garrett made sure that everyone on his team had a chance to catch the ball. Everyone at the camp was mixed up into different teams — kids from ages 10 to 18 — and Garrett really made sure to involve the younger kids on his team.

“I also loved seeing the guys compete on the military style obstacle course that is a big tradition with the Outdoor Challenge Camp. Hunter Bindi had the fastest Louisburg time at 8:03, followed by Hunter Millbern with a time of 9:16. We did the course as a team and got a time of 5:43 (we got 7:23 as a team last summer). Garrett and Brandon were members of the overall camp champions. Their team won the river nerf football game, the dodgeball tournament, the team relay on the obstacle course, and the paintball tournament.”

Baldwin High School coach Kit Harris set up a number of summer wrestling clinics called DC Gold and Bovaird took his athletes there as well. Bovaird was also a clinician for a week at the camp, while Adams, Caldwell, Doles, Cade Holtzen, Collin Hamilton, Koechner and Thad Hendrix made the trip for at least a day to work on leg wrestling.

“Coach Harris and I both demonstrated techniques and then the boys wrestled live,” Bovaird said. “It was a mix of Baldwin and Louisburg kids. Seeing as Coach Harris was my high school coach and he got me into coaching while I was in college, it was pretty nice collaborating with him for a change, rather than competing against him.”

Senior Ben Hupp did some work as well as he spent a week at the Oklahoma State wrestling camp in Stillwater, Okla. Caldwell, Kyle Allen and Kaden Allen went to the Penn State camp at Baker University at the end of May, while senior Austin Raetzel attended some DC Gold clinics that specialized in throws.