Wrestling with more than the heat at Luther Team Camp

Charm Carpenter
Red Oak Express

The Tiger Wrestling Club has been working throughout the summer, and just returned from Luther Team Camp in Decorah. Coach Tiegen Podliska  and assistant coach Nathan Rouse took eleven wrestlers on the four-day trip. The camp targeted the high-school age and held sessions for technique and daily wrestling matches with a tournament the final day. The camp is a Freestyle-Greco camp, which is the type of wrestling program Red Oak High School has, and both are Olympic style.
“I was always a big proponent of off- season wrestling, especially Freestyle-Greco. That’s how I got my success,” Coach Podliska said. “I started out in elementary school and didn’t win a match. Then in middle school, I won five matches. My freshman year, after I really committed to off-season, I shot up from there and ended up winning like forty matches.”
Coach Podliska admitted that the Red Oak team has been steadily growing since his first year here, six years ago. “My first year here, I took three kids to a camp. This year we took eleven. It’s definitely a trend in the right direction.”
Not only has the team grown, but the expectations have also. According to Podliska, “We talk expectations instead of goals because once you have a goal and you reach it, you are content. When you have an expectation, you expect this. Anything on top is like a cherry on your sundae.”
Podliska shared that wrestling is indeed a team sport. Members become “brothers in the sport of wrestling.” The individual needs the team to improve.
“We talk a lot about expectations. Initially, they were talking about beating some of the lower-tiered, local teams, and now they are hunting for top dogs. They want to beat the Hawkeye 10 teams.”
Podliska anticipates about thirty kids on the team this year, and “We expect to be regional qualifiers.”
Coach Podliska has taken members of the Wrestling Club to Decorah for two years. The camp offers three sessions, and Red Oak goes to the latest one available, due to wrestlers who are also on the baseball team.
“We come from a small school, so the coaches help each other,” Podliska said. “There are seven coaches who work the weight room four days a week. We all need to push for each other.”  
Upon arrival at the camp, each team is assigned a counselor, who helps the coach with the team.
“Our counselor was Bailey Slater and he did an amazing job,” Podliska said.
All wrestlers are at different levels of competition. The camp allows for growth for the new wrestlers as well as the more experienced ones.
 “That’s what I love about wrestling. There are a hundred ways to make a move, and I will be the first one to tell you, my way isn’t necessarily the best way for you. We have every body type imaginable and all of them find a way to be successful.”
At camp, the wrestlers work in teams doing fun activities that build strength, team work, and perseverance. Some of the activities this year included the human ladder, noodle-wars, bite the bone and snapper.
Every day the wrestlers were matched up according to skill level for duals. The final day of camp is a tournament and this year there were eight-man brackets with a total of sixty-six brackets. The Red Oak Wrestling Club finals for the camp are as follows: Name- Total Number of Wins (Place in tournament)
Johnathan Erp-2 (seventh), Bruce Lukehart-2 (eighth), Michael Gomez-9 (first), Isaac Bower-5 (fifth), Carter Maynes-5 (second), Liam Mahoney- 1 (sixth), Thomas Bentley-7 (third), Christian Terry- 7 (third), Justin McCunn-9 (third), Tyler McMann-5 (fourth).
Red Oak and Atlantic wrestlers teamed together in the tournament to represent the Hawkeye 10. Podliska praised Atlantic Coach Duff and his highly competitive wrestlers.
Red Oak and Atlantic team standings are as follows:
Round 1- Red Oak/Atlantic 21, OABCIG/Austin 27
Round 2- Red Oak/Atlantic 22, Decorah 28
Round 3- Red Oak/Atlantic 32, Maple River 34
Round 4- Red Oak/Atlantic lost to Lisbon
Round 5- Red Oak/Atlantic 26, Dessel-Cokato 28
Round 6- Red Oak/Atlantic 39, Ankeny 33
Round 7- Red Oak/Atlantic 55, Mount Pleasant 6
Round 8- Red Oak/Atlantic 52, Riverside 9
Round 9- Red Oak/Atlantic won over Mt. Vernon
Round 10- Red Oak/Atlantic 36, New Hampton 12