EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers announced Wednesday that they will be hosting a youth wrestling camp this summer running from June 29-July 1 from 8:30 a.m. to noon each day at the Ephrata High School PAC Gym. The camp will be open to all incoming second through ninth grade students. 

“I’ll be in the camp and kind of be the head clinician,” said Tigers Boys Wrestling Head Coach Joe Knox. “We’ll have some of the high school boys in there helping out and just kind of working on basic skills and giving kids an opportunity to get a little wrestling in this summer.”

Registration for the camp opened Wednesday morning with limited spots available. The cost for the camp is $75, which will include coverage for a camp T-shirt and lunch each day. 

Knox said that sessions will include a focus on wrestling techniques in the morning and transition into live wrestling toward the end of the day. The camp will conclude with a mini tournament on the final day.  

This marks the first youth wrestling camp for the Tigers program, which Knox said is not only a good opportunity to get younger kids wrestling, but also gives the children something to keep them busy during the summer. 

“Any time in wrestling or really any other sport you get an opportunity to get some additional training, I think it helps,” said the coach. “Maybe you get some different partners to work out with, maybe you see some things from a different point of view from aa different coach.” 

He said as the kids start to develop their own individual styles for wrestling, being provided with different viewpoints and inputs from others will allow them to grow more as athletes. This is something that Knox feels will serve as the biggest benefit of running the camp. 

Along with developing newer wrestlers, the camp is also expected to deepen the understanding of those already enrolled in the Tigers program. 

“I think you learn a heck of a lot more about wrestling when you have to think about it, and you have to teach it,” said Knox. “That’ll be the biggest benefit for returning Tiger wrestlers is they’re going to have to kind of think about how they would break down the technique and how they would do it with a kid who’s maybe nine, 10 years old.” 

The coach said he is looking forward to the opportunity to work with and develop younger kids and build a strong foundation for Ephrata wrestling. At the same time, he also said the camp is open to youth across the basin who might be interested in doing summer wrestling workouts. 

“Wrestling is a big family and anything we can do to help kids get better, I mean, we’re all for that,” said Knox.