Collegiate wrestling in Canada

Daniel Fox said:
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.
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Yeah this is it mostly. Poor guy works his ass off for this, even had a match with burroughs and did decent all things considered.
 
Wrestled in uni through Guelph after injuring my Achilles from track. Can say that the program is fantastic but the quality of guys on the mat most nights were not on par to those that I ended up wrestling when I went down to Texas, which didn't even have a proper wrestling program. I cannot say I have ever met a parent who put their kid into wrestling in Canada, in the US every other parent I spoke to had their kid in wrestling or cheer (child prostitution).
 
Ryuuto Henge said:
Wrestled in uni through Guelph after injuring my Achilles from track. Can say that the program is fantastic but the quality of guys on the mat most nights were not on par to those that I ended up wrestling when I went down to Texas, which didn't even have a proper wrestling program. I cannot say I have ever met a parent who put their kid into wrestling in Canada, in the US every other parent I spoke to had their kid in wrestling or cheer (child prostitution).
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It depends on the community, the Indian parents, especially the Sihks, push their kids into wrestling. There are several Indian Clubs in Canada that are really good. The Akhara of Champions in Mississauga is a really good kids club. Ashok is a fantastic coach! The Toronto area also has Mat Men and Team impact, which have a large size kids program that goes all year round. The future of wrestling in Canada in my opinion is good for a country with a population of 38 million.
 
Was about to say akhara.

Kelman used to coach at matmen i think, he was my landlord.
 
Ryuuto Henge said:
Wrestled in uni through Guelph after injuring my Achilles from track. Can say that the program is fantastic but the quality of guys on the mat most nights were not on par to those that I ended up wrestling when I went down to Texas, which didn't even have a proper wrestling program. I cannot say I have ever met a parent who put their kid into wrestling in Canada, in the US every other parent I spoke to had their kid in wrestling or cheer (child prostitution).
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Texas cheer culture is so goddamn creepy and toxic
 
Is Shawn Geris still coaching? His father, and brother wrestled for Oklahoma State. Sean wrestled for Eastern Michigan.
 
Kforcer said:
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?
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I am from Québec and wrestling does not exist here. Judo yes but no wrestling.
 
Daniel Fox said:
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.
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Nice post. I can offer a few tidbits as well. I don't think there is any organized collegiate wrestling in Europe. The only countries that I'm aware of that have any kind of structured collegiate system is Canada, the USA, and Japan. Also, I know Simon Fraser University competes in the NAIA, any other Canadian schools? You had guys like Arjhun Bullard and Daniel Igali win multiple NAIA titles. Igali is interesting bc he had to have gained the bulk of his ability in Canada and went on to win world and Olympic titles. I can think of a few really good Canadian wrestlers from over the years that continue to push Canadian wrestling upward. Guys like Matt Gentry who won a NCAA DI title, Ossettian Khetag Pliev who was a high school phenom in the USA. His rival David Zilberman. NCAA DI All American and junior world medalist Amir Dhesi. GSP's buddy Cleo Ncube. As you mentioned, guys like Victor Zilberman and Sissaouri have been huge for Canada. I remember an interview Kenny Florian did where he said Sissaouri was the best grappler's of any kind he had ever come across. Thsts a tremendous statement.
 
winterbike said:
It's mostly separate from football now. It's basically team gymnastics.
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Yeah, something like that. It's got a lot of dangers and takes a lot of skill, agility and strength, especially for people that are, I think called, "base", the people who catch and hold up other girls. A friend of mine served that function and she has won a number of lifting contests. She's like, 125 or something when she's lean and she can squat 315, maybe more at this point.

But the thing is, she was insanely strong when she started lifting--I assumed she was a long-time power lifter because of her quads--and I think a lot of that came from cheerleading.
 
dsdoubled said:
Nice post. I can offer a few tidbits as well. I don't think there is any organized collegiate wrestling in Europe. The only countries that I'm aware of that have any kind of structured collegiate system is Canada, the USA, and Japan. Also, I know Simon Fraser University competes in the NAIA, any other Canadian schools? You had guys like Arjhun Bullard and Daniel Igali win multiple NAIA titles. Igali is interesting bc he had to have gained the bulk of his ability in Canada and went on to win world and Olympic titles. I can think of a few really good Canadian wrestlers from over the years that continue to push Canadian wrestling upward. Guys like Matt Gentry who won a NCAA DI title, Ossettian Khetag Pliev who was a high school phenom in the USA. His rival David Zilberman. NCAA DI All American and junior world medalist Amir Dhesi. GSP's buddy Cleo Ncube. As you mentioned, guys like Victor Zilberman and Sissaouri have been huge for Canada. I remember an interview Kenny Florian did where he said Sissaouri was the best grappler's of any kind he had ever come across. Thsts a tremendous statement.
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Due to the coaching of many immigrants Canada's wreetling has certainly gotten stronger, and i think there is a bright future for it. Matt Gentry is a dual citizen, and he learned his wrestling in the US, I believe he was an NCAA Champion for Stanford. I have met Piliev several times, and when he would train for a big tournament he would go back home to Ossetia. Daniel Igali, Cleo Ncube, and Evan Macdonald learned most if not all of their wreslting in Canada. Arjan Bhular, and Amar Dhesi are of Sikh decent who were born in Canada, and were trained in Canada at Indian Wrestling Clubs. Of the Canadian born, I think the Indian Canadian's are the best right now due to the interest the Sikh culture takes in the sport of wrestling.

David Zilberman is the son of Victor Zilberman, and honed his skills at the MWC.
 
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Daniel Fox said:
Due to the coaching of many immigrants Canada's wreetling has certainly gotten stronger, and i think there is a bright future for it. Matt Gentry is a dual citizen, and he learned his wrestling in the US, I believe he was an NCAA Champion for Stanford. I have met Piliev several times, and when he would train for a big tournament he would go back home to Ossetia. Daniel Igali, Cleo Ncube, and Evan Macdonald learned most if not all of their wreslting in Canada. Arjan Bhular, and Amar Dhesi are of Sikh decent who were born in Canada, and were trained in Canada at Indian Wrestling Clubs. Of the Canadian born, I think the Indian Canadian's are the best right now due to the interest the Sikh culture takes in the sport of wrestling.

David Zilberman is the son of Victor Zilberman, and honed his skills at the MWC.
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This discussion reminds me of a funny story, when Khetag Pilev trained, he didn't try to be the best guy in the practice room, instead he would take it easy and work on things that he needed to work on. Current UFC fighter Misha Cirkunov once went to the Toronto Centre for Wrestling, and worked out with Pilev. Misha actually thought he got the best of him, and was sure he was going to win the Canada Cup (Guelph, Ontario). During the Canada Cup Khetag took Misha down and pinned him in a matter of seconds.
 
There is a VERY good high school wrestler from Canada who competes for America’s best prep school for wrestling, Wyoming Seminary. His name is Lachlan McNeil. I believe he is both Canadian and British. Plenty of footage of him on YouTube.
 
Daniel Fox said:
This discussion reminds me of a funny story, when Khetag Pilev trained, he didn't try to be the best guy in the practice room, instead he would take it easy and work on things that he needed to work on. Current UFC fighter Misha Cirkunov once went to the Toronto Centre for Wrestling, and worked out with Pilev. Misha actually thought he got the best of him, and was sure he was going to win the Canada Cup (Guelph, Ontario). During the Canada Cup Khetag took Misha down and pinned him in a matter of seconds.
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Awesome. Pliev is such an interesting case and kinda heartbreaking. Wrestled high school at a powerhouse school in Ohio and won everything. State titles, folkstyle nationals, freestyle nationals. His trouble with English saw him have to pass up on scholarship offers from all of the big DI colleges and he signed on to wrestle for Lassen Community College. The same program that guys like Rampage, Rumble, Matyushenko, and other big names wrestled for. Before the season started he took a trip home to Ossetia and was just denied entry back into the states. His coaches even flew to Russia to try and help out and it still didn't happen. This took a lot of the wind out of his sales. He took bronze at Russian Nationals before heading to Canada. His high school coach said he could've been a lock for world and Olympic medals before all that craziness. Then eventually entered MMA fighting out of Canada and Brazil with Team Nogueira and I believe is now boxing back home in Ossetia.
 
dsdoubled said:
Awesome. Pliev is such an interesting case and kinda heartbreaking. Wrestled high school at a powerhouse school in Ohio and won everything. State titles, folkstyle nationals, freestyle nationals. His trouble with English saw him have to pass up on scholarship offers from all of the big DI colleges and he signed on to wrestle for Lassen Community College. The same program that guys like Rampage, Rumble, Matyushenko, and other big names wrestled for. Before the season started he took a trip home to Ossetia and was just denied entry back into the states. His coaches even flew to Russia to try and help out and it still didn't happen. This took a lot of the wind out of his sales. He took bronze at Russian Nationals before heading to Canada. His high school coach said he could've been a lock for world and Olympic medals before all that craziness. Then eventually entered MMA fighting out of Canada and Brazil with Team Nogueira and I believe is now boxing back home in Ossetia.
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I did not know that he is boxing. I find it sad, he was a real talent in Russian style wrestling. I would rather him coaching than taking repetitive shots to the head. With that said coaches in Canada do not make much at all. Coaches in the US do much better.
 
dsdoubled said:
Awesome. Pliev is such an interesting case and kinda heartbreaking. Wrestled high school at a powerhouse school in Ohio and won everything. State titles, folkstyle nationals, freestyle nationals. His trouble with English saw him have to pass up on scholarship offers from all of the big DI colleges and he signed on to wrestle for Lassen Community College. The same program that guys like Rampage, Rumble, Matyushenko, and other big names wrestled for. Before the season started he took a trip home to Ossetia and was just denied entry back into the states. His coaches even flew to Russia to try and help out and it still didn't happen. This took a lot of the wind out of his sales. He took bronze at Russian Nationals before heading to Canada. His high school coach said he could've been a lock for world and Olympic medals before all that craziness. Then eventually entered MMA fighting out of Canada and Brazil with Team Nogueira and I believe is now boxing back home in Ossetia.
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Lakota East is not and was not a powerhouse school LOL. Their old coach was decent at technique but better suited to being an assistant coach honestly. Good guy. Pliev was their one state champion. And only one of a couple placers

The only time my Hs ever lost to that school was when I was hurt. My backup got pinned and we were missing 4 other starters lol.

The new head coach there was recruiting me hard to be the associate head coach before I moved to Chicago. I’m from that area
 
jack36767 said:
Lakota East is not and was not a powerhouse school LOL. Their old coach was decent at technique but better suited to being an assistant coach honestly. Good guy. Pliev was their one state champion. And only one of a couple placers

The only time my Hs ever lost to that school was when I was hurt. My backup got pinned and we were missing 4 other starters lol.

The new head coach there was recruiting me hard to be the associate head coach before I moved to Chicago. I’m from that area
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I don't know why I thought he went to St. Edward's. Pliev's coach, he wasn't a highly regarded coach?
 
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