Junior Bucks Wrestling is preparing for its 22nd season, offering boys and girls from Red Bank, Shrewsbury, and Little Silver an opportunity to learn and compete in scholastic wrestling.
The program serves children from kindergarten through eighth grade, filling a gap for the three boroughs, which do not have middle school wrestling teams. No previous experience is necessary.
Here’s what parents should know:
- Who: Boys and girls from kindergarten through eighth grade, regardless of experience.
- Where: Red Bank Regional High School.
- When: Twice-weekly practices beginning the first week of November and running through mid-to-late February.
- Cost: A registration fee and a pair of wrestling shoes.
- Competition: Optional, with participants matched by age and weight. Girls can choose to compete exclusively against other girls.
- More information: Visit the Junior Bucks Wrestling website.
- Sign up: Register online here.
What’s new this year: The program is introducing three levels of practice to better accommodate different ages and abilities:
- Developmental: Younger children and beginners.
- Intermediate: Children with some wrestling experience.
- Travel: More experienced wrestlers who compete against other youth programs in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Red Bank resident Rich Ferguson, who lives on Brown Place, is entering his fourth year coaching with the program. He started wrestling in third grade, continued through college, and still wrestles regularly at age 44.
Ferguson says wrestling helps children develop physical fitness, discipline, confidence, and self-defense skills. While competition is individual, participants practice and train as part of a team.
“I don’t run into many people in life, both kids and adults, who are upset that they wrestled when they were younger,” Ferguson said. “But I do meet a lot of people later in life who wish they would have participated.”
Nick Groger serves as club president. Hugh Doherty, one of the club’s original founders, coaches the intermediate group, while Red Bank resident Jared Angelozzi helps coach the developmental group.
Children of all experience levels are welcome.
