LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews wrestling program kicked off its Knights Wrestling Fitness Day Camp on Monday.
The camp, for girls and boys in kindergarten through the sixth grade, is designed for beginner wrestlers and those with slightly more experience.
During the first day, the 19 campers learned about which states have the best college wrestling programs — Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina were the top four teams in the country last season.
St. Andrews head coach Joe Baranik and his son Troy Baranik, the sports information director at the university, worked with the participants on the proper takedown techniques.
Baranik demonstrated to campers the importance of getting low and and how to take their opponent off their feet for two points. The long-time coach also pointed out that some of the wrestling maneuvers could be used for self-defense, should the campers ever need them.
Campers paired up by weight, age and skill level and worked on taking their opponent to the ground by grabbing their ankle and using their body weight to topple them over.
Baranik got creative in helping the kids with their hand-eye coordination and foot work with games such as tug-of-war, team handball, “vision quest,” odd-man-out scramble, whiffle ball and kickball.
The camp runs each day 9 a.m. to noon through Friday, July 19.
Amber Hatten-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or [email protected].