Coaches Corner-Tom Crowden, Boone Girls Wrestling Club

And joining us on coaches corner here on KWBG, we get an opportunity to talk. Well, something different this time of year. And we're going to talk about the Boone Wrestling Club on the girls side.

And Tom crowd is going to join us and just an opportunity to kind of let folks know about the Boone Wrestling Club and what they've done.

And boy, anytime I read these and I, I told Tom, I said, listen, I don't obviously keep track of the wrestling club as close as, you know, some of my varsity sports, so give me some things to, to kind of chat about and man, man, when I see three girls to 17 girls to 31 this past year, we know how girls wrestling has grown number one, Tom, but, but number two, that is just outstanding growth in three years.

First off, congratulations with that. And what a, what a great start to, to this club here the last few years. It really is.

It's been a pretty big, um, accomplishment, I think, because in order to have a successful varsity program, you've got to start at the youth and be able to get those transitioned into your middle school and just have kind of that seamless transition and it's only going to help build numbers.

Um, so I think, I think we've done a really good job for the most part. And really it's, it's kind of a, uh, um, hats off to our parents because they're our best recruiters, parents and the girls, um, girls, other friends, and they're like, Hey, we're having a good time.

And, um, it's really fun to go on the weekends at tournaments and, and, uh, parents like, Hey, we, we really enjoy seeing our kids have fun and word of mouth spreads. And I think that really, really kind of set it up for us to continue to grow and build each year.

Well, and something else that you guys have been, uh, obviously experiencing is some real nice success. And obviously success is going to help.

I know the family, you know, the tight knit, that's something that's kind of huge too, I mean, this is a sport that yes, it is growing, but it is still new to people and it's still new to parents as well.

Tom, the reception you guys get when you have new people come in has to feel really nice though. It really does.

Um, and I think one of the best things is even when we get new girls, our girls within our club, um, really have open arms and open minds when we get new girls in the room and, uh, um, thankfully my own daughter is kind of in the club with me here and she's been one of the best, um, at receiving, she's just a super bubbly, super nice gal.

Um, and anytime we have somebody new come in, she always introduces herself and she like helps them through warmups and you can instantly see like, Oh, Hey, I like this girl. Um, and then they kind of cling on to her and, um, I think it really helps. Helps them get comfortable.

Um, and we've got a great group of parents and that helps the parents be comfortable because one of my rules is if you want to sit and watch practice, my home needs to come into it. I have no problems with that.

Um, and so then the parents just kind of sit and talk while the girls are wrestling and, um, it really helps out a ton. All right. So tell me, Tom, when do you guys get started?

I know you said that you guys go till about the end of April when they kind of transitioned to softball and then you get a chance to obviously get some open mats during the summer as well. And we know summer is really big for mat time too.

My varsity coaches, heck any, any wrestling coach would tell you the more time you're on the mat and not off the mat, it's the better for you. And I don't care what your success rate is. As long as you're getting mat time, it's huge. But when do you guys get started, Tom?

That is quite the grueling. I shouldn't say grueling. That is quite the schedule. How about that? It really is. It's a, it's a long season, but I think thankfully the fun comes and the girls enjoy their time so they don't necessarily see it that way.

Um, but we try to get started, right? I think towards the beginning of October, um, usually maybe the second week of October, um, but yeah, you're right.

We do, we do open mats, um, all the way through the summer and in the fall to kind of prep them and, and get their bodies ready for the harder practices. Um, this year we did something new where we split it.

We had a beginner's practice and advanced practice, which we haven't had the numbers to do before. Um, but now that we do, it makes it a lot easier to kind of slow things down for those beginners.

Um, and those advanced girls were able to kind of pick it right back up and hit the ground running. So.

Tom, I know when I tell people about AAU 50% of the people, when I talk about AAU, Tom, they get that look on their face and they go, Oh, you, the other 50% are like, no, we've had really good experiences. Why have you guys had such good luck with this?

You know, honestly, I think, I think it all starts with the girls.

Um, they have a great, they have a great experience and it's fun because they know after tournaments, we go out as like a large group, um, grab some food, um, kind of break bread together, which I think really helps the family atmosphere.

Um, cause parents get to talk, the kids get to hang out more just outside of wrestling itself. Um, and I think that the girls are super dedicated to learning. Like I could tell the difference because obviously coaching the varsity boys, um, compared to the girls.

Granted varsity boys are older, but they, some of them are a little stubborn. Some of them have that, you know, I've done it this way forever, right? Yep. Um, but the girls are always like, okay, I can try that. Let me see. And they really jump into it head first.

Um, so just the difference is kind of coaching girls is, is, is sometimes kind of a nice thing. Um, but we've been blessed and, and I haven't had like the, the cattiness or the, um, sometimes drama that is the stereo, you know, it's like the share type of girl coaching girls.

We haven't had it. And I think that's a, that's a hats off compliment, not just to the girls, but the parents, cause they don't, they don't allow that to happen either. So, well, and you've also opened things up too. And let's talk about this too, a little bit.

I know you've got girls from Southeast Valley that come down Augden, Gilbert and Ames as well. So when you tell me that you're bringing in all these different schools, all these different towns, and we still don't have these issues. Tom, that's kind of a compliment to you too.

Yeah, I, I kind of set the tone, um, right away. Um, I always say in my parents' meeting, um, every time, like we're here. For three things. The first thing is to have fun and learn to enjoy the grind that is wrestling. The second thing is, is we're here to compete.

And the third thing is you have to have a great attitude and you have to have great efforts. If you have those two things, you're going to, you're going to be able to accomplish the first two. Um, and the girls really kind of buy into that, right?

Even when we're wrestling, like sometimes I just give them a reminder, attitude and effort, we're okay here. You're down, you're down one. We can go score again. Next point. Um, and all the girls kind of really buy into it and enjoy it.

And then I, I got one dad, um, super, super nice guy, um, old Dan Zimmer, and he'll be yelling that from the stands. And it's really cool to hear. Cause if, even if the parents are buying into it, right, then you know the kids are cause that means the kids are saying it at home.

So now that's really good news. Well, something else that was good news to AAU state this year, nine girls competed. That is a really big number, Tom. I know that was probably a number. Maybe you did think this was possible.

Did you think that was a chance to almost get double digits? Yeah. I knew, um, once we started the season, I knew it was going to be close. Um, I knew that we had a lot of girls returning from previous years, which.

The first year any girl comes to me, I don't ever push them to do like extra, like whatever you want to do, whatever you feel comfortable doing. If you want to do one turn, they're awesome. If you don't want to do any, and you just want to practice, that's awesome too.

Um, but we had a great group of girls coming back and, uh, I knew that we were, we were probably going to have quite a few girls and I knew they were all going to compete tough. Um, and I was super excited for it.

Now, granted they used, uh, they used to, um, I couldn't be down at super PUE, which we had one girl there. Um, but at the, uh, AU state, they had the main, um, massive arena, and then they had an, uh, a conference room off to the side.

Um, so I was running my butt off between the two, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, it just, that is a pretty impressive number. And then I say three place winners two out of nine. I mean, number one, that's awesome.

Uh, when you look at numbers wise, but congratulations on getting three girls on the stand too. Yeah, absolutely.

And that's, that's really, uh, the, it really shows the dedication of hard work they put in, um, throughout the whole season in the off season with their weight training or extra summer wrestling. Um, those girls really, really put it in and we had girls fall just short.

Um, I think two in the blood round, um, and the rest, you know, we, I think everybody got some type of win. Some of them might've been a vibe, but for the most part, um, they moved out of that first and second round into the third round.

Um, whether it been the second round on the backside or, or, uh, you know, the third round on the backside, um, it was still, and the thing is, is it's not like these girls are just having like four or five man brackets.

They all had 16 plus, um, which is, that's a hard thing to do, um, to come in. And some of them are the odd ages, right? Um, and odd ages when you're wrestling, like a third grader, wrestling fourth graders, you could be a year or two completely behind in physical development.

And, uh, we still had like, um, Aliyah, she was a state champ last year. And then this year she fell to fourth, um, but she's wrestling with eighth graders and that's a tough thing to do. And it was kind of a realization that she was no longer like the big bully.

Um, sometimes these girls are just as big, just as strong. Um, but she really battled through and I was super proud of her effort. And then Zoe, our, uh, our eighth grader, um, she ended up on the very top, um, which was awesome.

She came to us after the middle school season and, uh, big shout out to Zoe, um, she really worked hard for that and, uh, had some battles, some close matches, um, that she was able to etch out. Um, and then my daughter Lily, um, and that place is seventh.

Um, she's a third grader, wrestling fourth graders and the only girls she lost to were fourth graders. So I was happy to see she ended her day on a, on a win, right?

On the odd even, um, side, cause I think when you lose that, that placing her on match, it just kind of leaves a sour feeling. I can feel that with Aliyah. Um, she knows she could have done better.

Um, but sometimes, you know, the mental side of this game is way harder than anything physical. Um, but I'm still super proud of all those girls and all of our girls have battled because afterwards they're still cheering each other around.

We still went out, broke bread, ate some food and, uh, they really enjoyed their time. So that was really cool to see. And I'm hoping that next year we have even more. I love to hear that Tom.

So we've talked so much about this and I'm sure somebody is going to say, Ryan, you're missing one big thing and then I'm not going to forget this and we'll, we'll get it in one more time before we wrap up with you.

But if people want to be a part of the club, Tom, what do they need to do? How can they get ahold of you? What's the quickest way to have a girl?

Maybe even if they're just like, Hey, coach, we'd like to come in and just watch practice and see if maybe we're a good fit or if you're a good fit for us. Yeah, absolutely. The, I think the easiest way is we have a, uh, boom girls wrestling club page.

Um, or sorry, girls, boom wrestling club page. Um, on Facebook, um, you can always reach out, send a message, um, ask. Otherwise, um, you can reach out to the normal boom wrestling club page and they'll, they'll direct them to me via cell phone or, um, email.

And, uh, we always welcome everybody. No, but we never turn anybody away. Doesn't matter where they're from. Um, or they're still level. Um, we've always got, I got a home for them and, and I coach everybody.

So, well, and I was doing a little research when I was talking to you about that and, uh, uh, apparently coach Tom doesn't brag on himself. So maybe I got to do that too here, but AAU girls coach of the year as well. Coach, congratulations on that accolade this past year.

Hey, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. It was, it was kind of a big one. I, I wasn't really expecting it. I was talking to Jason Lloyd, um, who was the director of the girls AAU and, uh, about something completely different to an rivers related.

And he, uh, he's like, Hey, congratulations. Um, you were nominated and, um, selected to be the, to receive an award this year. I was like, Oh, well, thanks. I appreciate it. Come to find out.

Um, a lot of the parents got together and, uh, some of the older wrestlers that we have in there, um, got together and sent submissions. I had no idea about it. Um, and, uh, they must've said some pretty cool stuff because, um, ended up getting selected.

Um, but all I, I told those girls, um, while we were there, um, cause they, they do the awards on the second day, um, placing day, I was like, Hey, first I asked Jason, I said, Hey, can I grab all my girls and they come down here and, uh, Oh, accept this award with me.

And he was like, absolutely. Um, because like I told them, like, this is a team award. This wasn't just me. Cause without them, um, I wouldn't be getting this award.

It's their effort, their hard work that they put in their coach ability, uh, that they're able to take that knowledge and run with it and really put forth an effort to it. Um, that, that I got, I got picked for it.

So, um, I let them come up and they got a hold of the award while we took the picture and, um, thought it was really cool for sure. That is very, very cool. All right. So tell me what's coming up next Cedar valleys this weekend. Is that right, Tom? Yes, sir.

We have Cedar Valley nationals this weekend. I think we got a good handful of girls, five or six, um, that are going to compete this weekend. Um, after that we got black Hills nationals up at a rapid city, South Dakota.

And I think we got another group of like four or five girls going with us there.

Um, and then twin rivers national dual down here in Des Moines, um, or West Des Moines, and I think again, we still got another handful of girls, four or five girls that are going to be competing on different teams, um, for team Iowa.

And, and I think one or two of them are on team Moen, um, Moen wrestling academy. So big, big news for us. Um, which is great. Cause I think last year we only had like two girls or three girls wrestle at twin rivers. Um, I think we only had three girls wrestling at black Hills.

So, um, their growth and being able to bring these ladies along with us on these kinds of long road trips. Um, they have fun. We turn into like a little mini vacation and still get some rest on it. So, no, no, that's, that's really good. Come on.

I guess I should have also mentioned to Tom before we go, when we talk about age groups, cause I think that's what people probably wonder as well. We're talking K through eighth graders.

So we're talking the little ones that are kind of just getting into wrestling to girls that are going to be transitioning real close to high school here in the next couple of years, that's what the club kind of takes in and gives opportunities to, to get more mat time.

Absolutely. And then once we, once the high school finishes their season, we also let high school girls come in as well to those advanced practices. Um, we've had girls join their eighth grade year. Um, Zoe Stevens who won a state title this year is a first year wrestler.

Um, not a first year combat sports girl. Um, she does jiu jitsu, but yeah, we take Meredith is in her second year and she's an eighth grader. Um, but we also have girls, uh, little Harley is a, is a kindergartener. Um, we had, I think probably four of those, um, age group girls.

So anywhere from K through eight and then up above when they come in after their season, um, we take them all. No, that's really neat. Tom, thank you so much for joining us here today.

Uh, really fun to, to kind of talk about the, uh, the Boone wrestling club on the girls side and just kind of learn more about what you guys do. As we talked about, you guys do have a Facebook page girls Boone wrestling club.

If people are looking for it and I know there's contact information on there. You do Matt practices in the summer too. So if people want to jump in or see if this is a good fit, boy, it sounds like this would be a good time to do it. Absolutely.

And I really appreciate this, Ryan. You betcha. That's Tom crown again, joining us, head coach for the Boone girls wrestling club. Joining us on KWBG.