We wish all the best to our previous technical coach, Nick Drendel, who was recruited away from us to go back to college competition at the University of Dubuque. We will be rooting for him next season!

To fill the spot left by Coach Nick, we're happy to welcome Conner and Clayton Bass as our new technical coaches. The "Bass brothers" graduated from Yorkville High School in 2012, and each was a two-time IHSA state placewinner. Coach Conner and Coach Clayton will be working with our older boys on Monday and Wednesday nights as they prepare for the state series in just a few weeks!

We sent nine boys down to Springfield last weekend to represent the Pinners in the IKWF Open, and we're excited to report that six of them brought home medals! Congratulations to our Elite division placewinners Seth Winkle (2nd), Dylan Doranski (3rd), and Jordan Soto (5th). In the Open division, Andy Posledni placed 2nd, John Conover placed 4th, and Andrew Esch placed 5th. Great job boys

By all accounts, it was another hugely successful year for our tournament. We hosted 700 wrestlers from about 20 clubs and earned high praise from many attendees, including coaches and parents, some of whom are new to the Pinners Classic but promised to be back. We know how to run things efficiently and fairly, and our volunteers got lots of praise for their friendliness throughout the day. Special thanks to all of our club members for pitching in. Whether your job was big or small, it was absolutely a key to our success and we are grateful. We were also so fortunate to have such strong support from the BHS wrestling team, with both wrestlers and their parents giving up a Sunday to give back to the club. It was one more day that reminded me what a special community we are part of!

It's looking like the date for the Pinners Classic 2014 will be Sunday, Jan. 12. Mark your calendars!

Our wrestlers were back in action after the Christmas break, and on Jan. 6 we had more than 50 kids competing in three separate tournaments.

Eight of our boys competed in the Midwest Classic in Tinley Park, taking away a 1st, 3rd, and 4th place on the day. The team placed 9th out of 37 teams, which was a great showing considering the few kids we had competing! We believe this is the first time one of our club members has brought home the championship from this elite tournament, so we are very proud!

We sent 35 rookies to a tournament in Aurora, and many of them wrestled their first matches ever! There were some nerves and scary moments for the youngest rookies, but they all pushed through and came away smiling at the end of the day. We have a huge group of tots and bantams this year, and if this tournament is any indication, the future is bright for our club!

We also sent 11 boys to the Mid-Winter Massacre in Arlington Heights, and they wrestled tough at a tough tournament!

After a flurry of new kids registering with us, we now have 91 local boys on our roster. This is roughly 20% more than we had last year, and we are really excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds. Many of our kids are setting their sights on Rockford in March. Stay tuned!