Pine Plains Rattlesnakes recruit young wrestlers

PINE PLAINS — For young athletes in the area who are looking to try a new sport, there’s the Pine Plains Rattlesnakes, a youth wrestling program open to students in grades one through 12.

According to Coach Tom Strudwick, the idea of forming a youth wrestling team began when he started asking around to see why the district didn’t have a wrestling team. He was then told that the district’s former team disbanded following the retirement of Coach Bob Stevenson. At the time, Strudwick’s son, Robert, was enrolled as a first-grader at Cold Spring Early Learning Center and now participates as a wrestler on the team. 

As a former wrestler at John Jay High School in East Fishkill, Strudwick said he thought it would be a great idea to get a team back in Pine Plains. Through the collaboration of the school district and the town, a youth wrestling team was organized around October of 2013 and has been going strong ever since, with 25 young athletes enrolled during the regular season.

As a reflection of the qualities needed in a strong wrestler, the team was named the Pine Plains Rattlesnakes to indicate the quick, unrelenting speed required by a wrestler.

While the team was originally organized at Cold Spring, an occupancy issue with the wrestling mats led to the team’s relocation to Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center before meeting in the Pine Plains Free Library. Throughout its various moves, the team’s focus on increasing membership and involvement has remained strong.

In an effort to spread the word about the Pine Plains Rattlesnakes, Strudwick has gone door-to-door, sent out team fliers and gotten involved with several fundraisers. He  hopes to present an update on the team’s progress to the school district in the near future.

“They said that it’s going to take me a good five years to get me back in the school,” Strudwick said, “and they weren’t kidding.”

Nowadays, future wrestlers in the area can find the team practicing drills in the basement of the library from 6 to 8 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday evening. Although the team’s age range runs from grades one through 12, a majority of the older students are ninth-grade students. Strudwick also aims to recruit athletes from the upper-grade levels.

On a typical night, the team’s coaches and young wrestlers will go through the basic fundamentals of youth wrestling, such as grappling, take downs, leg maneuvers, leg sweeps, triangles and headlocks.

Registration fees have recently increased to $25 for Pine Plains residents and $35 for non residents for the entire year. With regards to equipment, “all you have to bring is your heart and your mouthpiece, and we’ll take care of the rest,” Strudwick said. 

While team sign ups are scheduled for September, Strudwick encourages athletes to observe a practice before then. Membership is open to both boys and girls.

Along with training students, the team offers open mat sessions for participating coaches and fathers to compete against one another. 

“It’s just one big happy family around here,” Strudwick said. “I think it’s a fun sport, a great sport and I think the community would like to attend the matches and games. It seemed a shame for the program to go away only because of a lack of coaching.” 

For more information on the Pine Plains Rattlesnakes, go to the team’s Facebook page, Pine Plains Wrestling Team, or call 845-245-2048. Athletes are invited to visit the team any Tuesday or Thursday evening.