Collegiate wrestling in Canada

[Kforcer]

So, a long time ago, I went against this Canadian fellow at a grappling tournament. Whether or not we admit, I'm guessing we all look up the names of our opponents to see what they did and all that. So it turns out this guy wrestled for a Canadian program called the Lakehead Thunderwolves. And it also turned out, based on my research, that Cananda does not grant students athletic scholarships.

So what that made me wonder was, where does that lack of scholarships leave Canadian collegiate wrestling programs compared to the US? Is college still the main feeder system for international wrestling, as it is in America, where almost all the top international wrestlers were NCAA athletes? Is Canada's CIS the equivalent of the NCAA, or is there something else that top athletes without sufficient grades or money compete in?

 

[Daniel Fox]

College wrestling in Canada is quite different that college wrestling in the United States, it's actually more comparable to European countries. First of all there are no dual meets, and the wrestling is Freestyle. The University has a club that is affiliated with the College, not everyone in the club is a college student, although everyone who competes in the CIS are active students. Each University has there own tournament, and each college can have as many wrestlers enter in a various weight class as they like. Pretty much anyone can join the club, and non students can compete in the university tournaments aside from the CIS. The best wrestlers in Canada are usually immigrants or from immigrant families, some went to college, some didn't. Although wrestling has made great strides in Canada, the feeder system is from Immigrants coming to Canada, such as Russians, Cubans, Indians, Iranians, etc.

 

[JSN]

College wrestling in Canada is quite different that college wrestling in the United States, it's actually more comparable to European countries. First of all there are no dual meets, and the wrestling is Freestyle. The University has a club that is affiliated with the College, not everyone in the club is a college student, although everyone who competes in the CIS are active students. Each University has there own tournament, and each college can have as many wrestlers enter in a various weight class as they like. Pretty much anyone can join the club, and non students can compete in the university tournaments aside from the CIS. The best wrestlers in Canada are usually immigrants or from immigrant families, some went to college, some didn't. Although wrestling has made great strides in Canada, the feeder system is from Immigrants coming to Canada, such as Russians, Cubans, Indians, Iranians, etc.

don't forget GSP. That guy must be an immigrant since his english is so poor.

 

[Daniel Fox]

don't forget GSP. That guy must be an immigrant since his english is so poor.

Although not a wrestler, he is a perfect example of progress in Canadian wrestling. GSP trained at the Montreal Wrestling Club, which is affiliated with Concordia College (he was never a student at Concordia). MWC is run by Victor Zilberman, an immigrant from the Ukraine, and Guivi Sissaouri, an immigrant from Gerogia (he defected to Canada, and then competed for Canada and won a World championship and many medals). Most of GSP's coaches were former Soviets, or Cubans.

 

[Kforcer]

College wrestling in Canada is quite different that college wrestling in the United States, it's actually more comparable to European countries. First of all there are no dual meets, and the wrestling is Freestyle. The University has a club that is affiliated with the College, not everyone in the club is a college student, although everyone who competes in the CIS are active students. Each University has there own tournament, and each college can have as many wrestlers enter in a various weight class as they like. Pretty much anyone can join the club, and non students can compete in the university tournaments aside from the CIS. The best wrestlers in Canada are usually immigrants or from immigrant families, some went to college, some didn't. Although wrestling has made great strides in Canada, the feeder system is from Immigrants coming to Canada, such as Russians, Cubans, Indians, Iranians, etc.

Thanks for the response. That's pretty fascinating. How much value would you say a CIS championship has...? Just curious.

 

[Daniel Fox]

Thanks for the response. That's pretty fascinating. How much value would you say a CIS championship has...? Just curious.

It's an accomplishment, but there are much harder tournaments. It doesn't really compare to the NCAA's. I actually think some of the hardest tournament are various Open Tournament. I remember one Guelph Open when 6 Dagastani/ Ossetian defectors pretty much beat everyone. One pinned a member of the Canadian National Team.

 

[Kforcer]

It's an accomplishment, but there are much harder tournaments. It doesn't really compare to the NCAA's. I actually think some of the hardest tournament are various Open Tournament. I remember one Guelph Open when 6 Dagastani/ Ossetian defectors pretty much beat everyone. One pinned a member of the Canadian National Team.

One of the most interesting things about that situation is having a team composed of international wrestlers, competing and training alongside college students, who may or may not participate in the collegiate championships. It sounds like a really interesting and cool experience, honestly. And the idea that anyone can basically be a part of a program attached to the college is really interesting as well. Seems like you could have some really interesting rag-tag teams.

 

[Daniel Fox]

One of the most interesting things about that situation is having a team composed of international wrestlers, competing and training alongside college students, who may or may not participate in the collegiate championships. It sounds like a really interesting and cool experience, honestly. And the idea that anyone can basically be a part of a program attached to the college is really interesting as well. Seems like you could have some really interesting rag-tag teams.

It is very interesting, and my experiences were very positive, wrestling brings together many cultures. I only remember one crazy thing happening, at the Wrestling Centre in Toronto a lot of the wrestlers were from the Kafkaz region of Russia and many wrestlers were from Iran. One time a Russian was wrestling an Iranian, and the Iranians felt that they got screwed over in the scoring (this was just a practice match). Apparently it spilled over into the parking lot after practice, and the police had to be called. Other than that people got along really well.

 

[Kforcer]

It is very interesting, and my experiences were very positive, wrestling brings together many cultures. I only remember one crazy thing happening, at the Wrestling Centre in Toronto a lot of the wrestlers were from the Kafkaz region of Russia and many wrestlers were from Iran. One time a Russian was wrestling an Iranian, and the Iranians felt that they got screwed over in the scoring (this was just a practice match). Apparently it spilled over into the parking lot after practice, and the police had to be called. Other than that people got along really well.

Wow, that's nuts...but also sort of epic. I've seen some fairly crazy wrestling brawls, but the fact that it was a battle between people hailing from two of wrestling's greatest powerhouses somehow elevates it above school versus school stuff.

 

[Badger67]

It is very interesting, and my experiences were very positive, wrestling brings together many cultures. I only remember one crazy thing happening, at the Wrestling Centre in Toronto a lot of the wrestlers were from the Kafkaz region of Russia and many wrestlers were from Iran. One time a Russian was wrestling an Iranian, and the Iranians felt that they got screwed over in the scoring (this was just a practice match). Apparently it spilled over into the parking lot after practice, and the police had to be called. Other than that people got along really well.

At the HS level, Hammarskjold and Hillcrest have had some decent brawls. But yeah, otherwise it's fairly good getting along wise. I can say in the years i wrestled in Hs i had maybe one issue. Our carding system needs to improve, but its a start for the wrestlers looking to make big improvements.

 

[jack36767]

At the HS level, Hammarskjold and Hillcrest have had some decent brawls. But yeah, otherwise it's fairly good getting along wise. I can say in the years i wrestled in Hs i had maybe one issue. Our carding system needs to improve, but its a start for the wrestlers looking to make big improvements.

Refs under the age of 50 who understand wrestling would be better lol. Most refs let crap get out of hand.

 

[asian-glow]

I used to practice with a JC wrestling team. One of the guys on the JC team was a Canadian who was nationally ranked (he was around 18 at the time). While I'm unaware of his exact situation, he chose to move down to my city so that he could train at a RTC of a top 10 wrestling HS in the USA.

He trained with the JC team because something got mixed up and he wasn't able to train at the RTC. With that said, he chose to train at the RTC at a high school rather than matriculate into a wrestling program in Canada. He was not poor either (i.e. he could choose to relocate to better programs in Canada), as he was planning on traveling to train with Penn State that upcoming summer.

 

[Daniel Fox]

I used to practice with a JC wrestling team. One of the guys on the JC team was a Canadian who was nationally ranked (he was around 18 at the time). While I'm unaware of his exact situation, he chose to move down to my city so that he could train at a RTC of a top 10 wrestling HS in the USA.

He trained with the JC team because something got mixed up and he wasn't able to train at the RTC. With that said, he chose to train at the RTC at a high school rather than matriculate into a wrestling program in Canada. He was not poor either (i.e. he could choose to relocate to better programs in Canada), as he was planning on traveling to train with Penn State that upcoming summer.

Brock Wrestling Club, Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, Montreal Wrestling Club, Guelph werestling clubs, and many others I am not mentioning are excellent clubs, it is true that some top Canadian wrestlers, not all, will train at American clubs for the competition, and to get a different feel. I mean if you are a competitive wrestler who wouldn't want to train with Penn State or Iowa? With that said, there are some very good clubs in Canada.

Edit: You just jarred my memory, I remember a couple of kids who would travel to Cuba to train. Canada does not have the embargo that the US has.

 

[winterbike]

don't forget GSP. That guy must be an immigrant since his english is so poor.

Funny enough, there is zero wrestling culture in the French speaking part of Quebec. There's plenty of judo, karate or taekwondo (and BJJ and MMA now), but nobody wrestles. I was surprised there was even a club in Montreal.

 

[Quebec Nick]

don't forget GSP. That guy must be an immigrant since his english is so poor.

Don't know if it's a joke but, GSP is French Canadian, we can live all our lives in Quebec without having to speak any english. But Let's just say that GSP isn't the most talented with languages, I would even say that he sounds a bit off in french also.

Funny enough, there is zero wrestling culture in the French speaking part of Quebec. There's plenty of judo, karate or taekwondo (and BJJ and MMA now), but nobody wrestles. I was surprised there was even a club in Montreal.

You're right, there's only a couple wrestling clubs, we have decent BJJ schools and MMA schools also (Tristar, H2O...)

So, a long time ago, I went against this Canadian fellow at a grappling tournament. Whether or not we admit, I'm guessing we all look up the names of our opponents to see what they did and all that. So it turns out this guy wrestled for a Canadian program called the Lakehead Thunderwolves. And it also turned out, based on my research, that Cananda does not grant students athletic scholarships.

So what that made me wonder was, where does that lack of scholarships leave Canadian collegiate wrestling programs compared to the US? Is college still the main feeder system for international wrestling, as it is in America, where almost all the top international wrestlers were NCAA athletes? Is Canada's CIS the equivalent of the NCAA, or is there something else that top athletes without sufficient grades or money compete in?

We don't really need full scholarships in Canada, the tuition fees are pretty low and it's not really a part of the collegiate sports. In Quebec they can give you some excellence scholarship to help you but I've never heard of someone getting all his expenses paid for him (rent, tuittion...). I know some people who were in the football team and the most they got from it is more support for classes and schedule and better jobs in the summer (working for a team sponsor).

 

[Badger67]

Brock Wrestling Club, Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, Montreal Wrestling Club, Guelph werestling clubs, and many others I am not mentioning are excellent clubs, it is true that some top Canadian wrestlers, not all, will train at American clubs for the competition, and to get a different feel. I mean if you are a competitive wrestler who wouldn't want to train with Penn State or Iowa? With that said, there are some very good clubs in Canada.

Edit: You just jarred my memory, I remember a couple of kids who would travel to Cuba to train. Canada does not have the ebargo that the US has.

Go Badgers!!

 

[Daniel Fox]

Go Badgers!!

They have been the best in Canada for the last 15 years. Marty Calder is a hell of a coach!

 

[Badger67]

They have been the best in Canada for the last 15 years. Marty Calder is a hell of a coach!

Only went out to a week and a half or practices before turning to bjj but definitely is, and he is helping niagara top team with mma alot now.

I watched a lot of tourneys when i went to brock, always a treat to see it. Had some bjj tourneys in the badger den too so it felt lile home team.

Jevon is getting fucked royally though.

 

[Daniel Fox]

St. Catherines is a Beautiful place. I am assuming you are talking about Jevon Balfour. What happened to him?

 

[Daniel Fox]

I just looked it up, you are right he is getting screwed. I had a detached retina, and I still train with goggles, and it has never hurt any of my practice partners. John Trenge Wrestled with goggles as well.