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Former Po-Hi wrestler and Olympian Shelby Wilson once said, “Without a goal, an athlete isn’t really going to struggle to achieve. Whether or not he wins a victory – the struggle, the discipline, the battle with adversity give him the championship qualities he needs for success in life.” This quote speaks to the heart of the sport of wrestling, which is a physical battle as well as a mental one.
The new Board members of the Takedown Club wholeheartedly agree with Shelby’s statement. President Rick Hancock, Vice President Kenny Bellmard, Secretary Brett Kinkaid and Treasurer Kenny Wheeler each attribute their successes in life and business to what they learned and overcame during their time as wrestlers.
These four are uniquely suited to lead the Takedown Club. Each of them wrestled at Po-Hi and have many fond memories of their time on the mats. Historically, the Takedown Club has been a group of community members and wrestling parents who work to raise funds to support high school wrestling, as well as help create cohesion between the high school and youth wrestling programs. The new leadership team in place is looking to reinvigorate the program. They want to see a resurgence in community pride for wrestlers of all ages.
The Ponca City Wrestling Program has an incredibly rich history steeped in hard work, commitment and tradition. Ponca City boasts two wrestlers who won Gold Medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome – Shelby Wilson and Douglas Blubaugh. Both Wilson and Blubaugh beat the current world champions in their weight class at the Olympics that year. As of this year, both have been inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
The members of the Takedown Club Board talk about those Olympians as heroes. They remember entering the wrestling room and seeing their photographs on the wall, photos that are still there today. Those photos meant something to them. They represented a benchmark that had been set for members of the team to work toward. They were also a beacon of possibility for young wrestlers. They proved that greatness could be achieved if one worked hard enough and was mentally tough.
Mental toughness is one of the values the Takedown Club is looking to bring back to Ponca City Wrestling in a big way. The new Wrestling Coach Steven Moore speaks to the importance of being mentally tough. “I can show all the techniques in the world, but if you don’t have the mental toughness to go complete it, if you’re scared when you step on a mat, it doesn’t matter what I showed you.”
Moore is 41 years old and admittedly a lifelong lover of the sport. He wrestled from the time he was a young boy and enjoys the sport so much he has helped with programs all over the state for years. He took a break for a few years to get his own business up and running. Now that it’s well established, he’s excited to be the Head Coach at Ponca City. Moore took his first official coaching job a few years ago. He believes starting as a coach later in life has given him a unique lens through which to reach the kids he works with. His passion about the sport is evident in the way he talks about it. Moore says, “From my opinion, there’s not a sport out there that can better prepare you – if you treat it as such – for what you’re going to experience in life.”
Moore started in Ponca City a few months ago and has been going full speed from the drop. He brought in some wrestlers from UCO for a two-day clinic earlier this summer. He’s also been having a wrestler from OSU come up for the high school practices once a week. Moore gets that the wrestlers at Po-Hi can be motivated by training with wrestlers who’ve qualified at State and have National Titles. He is showing our kids today’s role models. He gets that new things must be tried if they’re going to reinvigorate the program.
Summer practices take place two days per week with wrestlers attending Summer Pride practices Monday through Thursday as well. Moore took 11 wrestlers to the OSU Wrestling Camp in June. He shared that every wrestler that attended got at least 12 matches, and some wrestled up to 16. This is significant because in a normal season, wrestlers get no more than 30 matches. Wrestlers who attended camp gained a lot of experience through their time on the mat during those four days.
Get ready to see the new Takedown Club out and about in our community. They’ll be knocking on your doors to rally the community’s support for our young wrestlers. On Saturday, Sept. 28, they’re hosting their annual Takedown Club Golf Tournament at Wentz. They hope to host 30 teams that day and will be out seeking sponsors for the event soon.
Both Coach Moore and the members of the Takedown Club know that great change takes time. The members of the Club were each a part of the program during periods of great success. They are excited about the future of wrestling in Ponca City and the work they will do to build it up again for our kids. For more information about the Po-Hi Wrestling Program, you can contact Steven Moore at Po-Hi. For more information about the Takedown Club, contact President Rick Hancock.
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