Youth News

J Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camps, founded in 1978, announces the permanent closure of all of its camps

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Today, J Robinson Intensive Camps, the largest wrestling camp system in the nation, announced the permanent closure of all summer camps. The COVID-19 virus and ensuing pandemic forced business operations to halt in 2020 and 2021, resulting in a devastating financial impact on the company’s ability to relaunch.

Founded in 1978 by National Wrestling Hall of Fame member J Robinson, the legendary camps trained over 60,000 wrestlers with a unique philosophy focusing on physical preparation, mental toughness, and life skills development.

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Donny Wichmann Foundation Gives Back

By Jeff Beshey

When Donny Wichmann passed away in July 2019 at the age of 53, it left a void in the Minnesota wrestling community. He touched the lives of the many people he met in a special way – whether as a family member, a teammate, a coach, a friend, or even just an acquaintance.

At Donny’s funeral, a group of Augsburg Wrestling alumni came together to celebrate his life, and that’s when the idea of a Donny Wichmann Foundation came into being.

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Minnesota Wrestling Round Table

Listen to the latest episode of the Minnesota Wrestling Round Table Podcast brought to you by KNUJ Radio out of New Ulm, Minn. The Round Table includes Larry Baumgardt, Chuck Albrecht, and Host Jim Bartels.

Check out interviews with Minnesota State Coach Jim Makovsky and NYWA’s Curt Olson.

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Minnesota Wrestling Round Table

Listen to the latest episode of the Minnesota Wrestling Round Table Podcast brought to you by KNUJ Radio out of New Ulm, Minn. The Round Table includes Adam Bartels, Chad Johnson, Larry Baumgardt, Cathy Koob, Paul Dunn, and Host Jim Bartels.

Check out interviews with SCSU Coach Steve Costanzo and MN/USA Wrestling State Director Matt Njos.

High school, college, youth, and USA Wrestling are covered. Tune in to the podcast that covers our wrestling watercooler talk.

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NYWA to host a State Tournament in 2021

Northland Youth Wrestling Association lost much of their 2020 season to the pandemic, including their flagship state tournament. The obstacles for holding a typical NYWA season in 2021 have been nearly impossible to overcome. So, despite the challenges, NYWA has figured out a way to provide an opportunity for youth wrestlers to compete this season – an NYWA State Tournament Open.

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Too Good To Be True?

By Jeff Beshey

There’s a lot of cleaning and sanitizing going on these days – on wrestling mats, in locker rooms, in classrooms, in our homes, and everywhere else we might come into contact with harmful pathogens. What’s the best way to deal with these bugs? There are chemicals like chlorine bleach that work, but they take a relatively long time to be effective and using harmful chemicals to fight harmful pathogens just doesn’t seem like a great solution.

What if there was a technology that produces a safe, natural cleaning solution that is more powerful than chlorine bleach and works 3,000 times faster!?

When I received an email telling me exactly that, I was a bit skeptical.

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Minnesota Wrestling Round Table

The Minnesota Wrestling Round Table Podcast starts its third year of covering amateur wrestling. The first show of the season is here.

Host Jim Bartels and guests Larry Baumgardt, Adam Bartels, Kirky Dittrict, and Cathy Koob square up with the latest ‘water cooler conversation’ on high school, collegiate, and youth wrestling from last season and heading into this season. Tune in to this, the first of four podcasts for the seasons. Tons of info packed into a one hour Rasslin Spectacular!

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MN/USA Wrestling Produces COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for Tournaments

MN/USA Wrestling has published a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for MN/USA Wrestling Tournaments on their website along with the following statement:

“Minnesota/USA Wrestling is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all our members, workers, officials, coaches, parents, and participants. To ensure we have a safe and healthy environment, MN/USA Wrestling has developed the following COVID-19 Preparedness Plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tournament organizers and hosts are all responsible for implementing this plan. Our goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 in our tournaments and communities, and that requires full cooperation among our workers and management. Only through this cooperative effort can we establish and maintain the safety and health of all persons in our workplaces.”

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