Five members of the Sarnia Bluewater Wrestling Club have been selected for Team Ontario, travelling to Norway and Germany this November for international competition and training.
Five members of the Sarnia Bluewater Wrestling Club have been selected to represent Team Ontario on two separate European tours this November.
Three athletes and one coach will travel to Norway and Germany for international training camps and competition sponsored by the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Association (OAWA).
Athletes Taylor Chad and Abby Phelan will join the Women’s Team travelling to Oslo, Norway, from Nov. 19-26. They are set to compete in the Kolbotn Cup tournament and attend a subsequent training camp. The event is expected to feature competitors from several European countries, along with Team USA and a team from Japan.
Simultaneously, the Men’s Team will travel to Freiburg, Germany, for a week-long training camp with one of the country's top clubs from Nov. 16-23. Sarnia's Mathys Carrier Moreault and Griffin Wittliff will be travelling with the team. They will be joined by Sarnia Bluewater coach Lauchlin MacDonald, who was selected as a coach for the Team Ontario trip.
The camp will provide high-level training opportunities and will conclude with the team attending a professional Bundesliga Dual Meet.
MacDonald said he is grateful to see the local club represented on the international stage.
“I am so grateful to see Sarnia wrestling so well represented on an international level,” MacDonald told The Journal. “I think these camps will be a great way for our athletes to continue their growth and learning through wrestling.”
He also noted the trip is a key development opportunity for him as a coach.
“I am also very thankful to have been selected as a coach for Team Ontario to be able to develop my coaching abilities and help develop international relations with other teams,” he said.
MacDonald added that the experience gained overseas will benefit the entire local club, which trains at St. Patrick's Catholic High School.
“These training camps will have a profound effect on our athletes and myself,” he said. “I hope to be able to include what we’ve learned over seas and apply it back home to our whole program.”
