March 26, 2008

Banquet Reminder
A reminder to all wrestling families that our 21st annual Wrestling Banquet will be held this Sunday, March 30th at Jamie's. Any questions, please contact Kim Buono at wmbuono@verizon.net.

Support Mt. Lebanon Wrestling
Our first annual Night at the Races benefiting Mt. Lebanon wrestling will be held April 4, 7:00 pm at the Castle Shannon fire hall. The hall has two buildings right next to each other and we will be in the smaller one. Cost is $20 and this covers admission, beer and wine, light  food,  plus one horse. See attached flyer.

The fun part about the horse is the fact you get to name it. Creative names are most welcome.  Betting will follow and a great time will be had by all. Our MC needs to put together a program and we need the name of your horse ASAP. Please call or email Steve Patrick before the weekend.  If you have any questions or comments please call Steve at 412-388-0234 or 412-922-9090 or email smpatrick88@comcast.net.

Iron Horse Wrestling Academy
www.ironhorseacademy.com/

The Iron Horse Wrestling Academy will be starting up soon! Be sure to register early as sessions fill up fast. Workouts will be held every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the spring. Sessions are from 6:30-8:00 PM. Total cost to Lebo Wrestlers will be $150. An optional Sunday workout is being offered for an additional $35. These optional sessions will be held at the University of Pittsburgh in their state-of-the-art wrestling facility. For more information please contact Coach Bryan Stout at fourtimer@comcast.net or 412/341-3089.

March 22, 2008

NCAA D-1 CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

A reminder that the NCAA D-1 Championships will be broadcast live tonight on ESPN. Coverage will begin at 8:30 PM. Check with your local cable provider for the channel listing of ESPN in your area. Also, congratulations to University of Pittsburgh's Keith Gavin for earning a second trip to the NCAA Finals. Keith has been supportive of Lebo wrestling the past two years... putting on clinics for our youth wrestlers and Iron Horse Academy members. Show your support this evening while he attempts to win a National Championship.

Visit our team page on www.flowrestling.org for streaming video of the NCAA quarterfinals and semi-finals. We were able to link to footage on youtube that various folks were posting. Most of the matches can be viewed from our flowrestling page. You must be a registered member associated with our team. Directions to register can be found on our teamwebsite. Click on the Flowrestling link on the welcome page.

Please share this information with your wrestler... watching elite wrestlers is a great way for our kids to learn as well as feed their passion for wrestling.

March 20, 2008
NCAA National Wrestling Championship Coverage

Attention all wrestling enthusiasts and grappling junkies. The NCAA National Wrestling Championships are currently underway. This year they are being held in St. Louis and should prove to be another outstanding tournament of wrestling. We would like to wish Coach Stout and the Pittsburgh Panthers good luck and hope they bring home some All-Americans and hopefully a National Champion.

For those of you who wish to follow the action, here are some "must-have" resources:

BLUE DEVIL WRESTLING - FYI - REMINDERS

Upcoming Events

Saturday, March 15 - Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic -www.wrestlingclassic.com http://www.wrestlingclassic.com
Great opportunity to see some of the very best wrestling the WPIAL, PA, and the USA have to offer... right here in our own backyards. Don't miss this outstanding event.

Sunday, March 16 - MAWA District Qualifier - www.mawawrestling.com/northallegheny.html
Open tournament.  Held at North Allegheny H.S. All age wrestlers. Top 3 placers qualify for Western Regional Championships. High school coaches will be attending to coach Lebo wrestlers.

Sunday, March 30 - Annual Mt. Lebanon H.S. Wrestling Banquet
Invites are being mailed to all wrestling families and honored guests. For more information or questions please contact Kim Buono at 412-563-2367 or via email at wmbuono@verizon.net.

Saturday, April 19 -NHSCA State Qualifier - http://65.61.23.146/pywlistings/08nhscawestmifflin(4-19).pdf
All ages, Top 4 placers advance to NHSCA National Open Championships. Held at West Mifflin H.S. High school coaches will be attending to coach Lebo wrestlers.

Post-Season Calendar

Please print out a copy of the post-season calendar of events. Looks great on any refrigerator! This is the initial draft. Working on a final draft with interactive links...will be posted on team website when finished.
http://www.mtlsd.org/district/athletics/wrestling/stuff/spring_2008_calendar[1].pdf

Additional Post-Season Opportunities

Blue Devil Iron Club - Begins Wednesday, April 2 - South Gym Weight Room
Our spring strength and conditioning session will begin in April. Sessions will be held on Mon-Wed-Fri from 3:15-4:45 PM. All wrestlers not participating in a spring sport are strongly encouraged to participate. Coach Allemang will be facilitating our spring session.

Iron Horse Wrestling Academy - Spring Session - www.ironhorseacademy.com/
This begins the second year of the very successful Iron Horse Wrestling Academy. The varsity coaching staff strongly encourages any wrestler desiring to take another step toward improving their wrestling to consider joining the academy. Director and Head Coach Bryan Stout has put together an outstanding staff to work with area wrestlers in the spring/ summer. A majority of this year's PIAA State Champions and placewinners are members of USA Wrestling. The Iron Horse Academy is a chartered member of this olympic developmental organization. For more information please contact Coach Bryan Stout at 412-341-3089 or via email at fourtimer@comcast.net.

Note to Parents of Senior Wrestlers

If any family of a senior wrestler would like to be removed from the email distribution list please email Coach Lewis at blewis@mtlsd.net. If you do not wish to be removed, you will be added to the Grappler Report Email Newsletter list only. You will continue to receive updates about the program but not emails specific to team announcments.

Season Wrap Up
Lebo wrapped up the season this weekend at the WPIAL Regional Championships.  Lebo qualified 7 wrestlers for this weekends tournament. It had been 20 + years since the Blue Devils have sent 7 or more to the regional tournament. Lebo will graduate three of it's qualifiers... Stan Kochanek, Andrew Buda, and Greg Perri. The good news is that Lebo will return 4 WPIAL Qualifiers next year... Andy Buttler (10th), Adam Kemerer (9th), Chris Kostas (11th), and Connor O'Hara (11th).BLUE DEVIL WRESTLING - FYI - UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Attention Blue Devil Wrestling Coaches, Wrestlers, and Familes. There are three great opportunities for your son to get some valuable "mat" experience in competition. We are encouraging our wrestlers to participate in these post-season tournaments. We recommend strongly recommend these competitions. It would be great to see Lebo wrestlers of all age levels competing.

Ted Gates Memorial Open Tournaments (All ages)
Sunday, March 2
http://65.61.23.146/pywlistings/08bethelpark(3-2).pdf

MAWA District Qualifier
Sunday, March 16
http://www.mawawrestling.com/northallegheny.html

NHSCA State Qualifier (All ages, Top 4 placers advance to NHSCA National Open Championships)
Saturday, April 19
http://65.61.23.146/pywlistings/08nhscawestmifflin(4-19).pdf

MAWA  - MAWA Preliminary District Tournament Information
NHSCA National Middle and Elementary School Wrestling Championships
Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling
Pennsylvania Youth Wrestling
PA Amateur Wrestling Federation