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Amateur Wrestling Reports

‘Kind of got hooked’: How sand wrestling made its way to the Muskingum Valley

Ancient style helps improve hand fighting, upper body attacks, wrestlers say
EAST FULTONHAM — Wyatt Abele is trying to introduce something different to the local wrestling community.
The former state placer from New Lexington, who now wrestles for Frostburg State in western Maryland, learned of sand wrestling through some former teammates with the 2019 Ohio All-Star team during a trip to Lake Tahoe. He immediately became intrigued. “I don’t remember who it was at the time, but it was just me and my teammates,” Abele said. “The coaches explained the rule set to us and were reffing our matches. We were just having fun with it.”
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Little did he know where it would take him. In October, he will compete in sand wrestling in Egypt.
In the meantime, he is passing his knowledge on to high schoolers during Monday sessions at Lake Isabella. They will be held weekly from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the beach.

New Lexington's D.J. Waite, right, tries to fend off an opponent's shot during a sand wrestling session on June 7 at Lake Isabella in East Fultonham. The sessions, hosted by SEO Wrestling's Wyatt Abele, are being held on Mondays at the beach.

The first session was held on July 7 with four eager beavers led by New Lexington teammates Hunter Hinkle and Danny “D.J” Waite.
Abele did the teaching, introducing the rules — matches end after three points — while working mostly on hand fighting and upper body tactics. Points are awarded for takedowns, as well as by pushing an opponent out of bounds or taking them to their backs.
“You can end the match in the one move,” Abele noted. … more at … https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/07/09/kind-of-got-hooked-muskingum-valley-wrestlers-take-to-the-sand/84497198007/

July 11, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wrestling with the American Dream

Afghan refugees find a home on a San Antonio high school athletics team
by Brant deBoer
Elham Jalak and Mustafa Pashtoon met for the first time on a flight from Kabul in February 2016. Jalak was 6 years old, Pashtoon just 8. Their fathers had known each other in the Afghan Army, and their families came to the United States through the Special Immigrant Visa program, which has helped resettle Afghan citizens who worked with the United States during the war. In America, their dads hoped to find better jobs and education for their children. 
It was a big plane, an Emirates double-decker, and the two boys sat next to each other. They didn’t know what to expect once they landed, aside from what they had seen in the movies, and neither spoke English. “Not even one word,” Pashtoon later told the Texas Observer. “I didn’t even know how to write my name.” After the 16-hour flight to Houston, they flew to San Antonio, their new home, where they settled in a northwest neighborhood known for its diverse immigrant communities. A couple years later, their families relocated to San Antonio’s West Side.
The pair started playing sports. “I played soccer, cross-country, track, golf, tennis, soccer, and then I did football and basketball,” Jalak proudly recounted. “We played together.” They sometimes speak about their experiences unemotionally, as if every teenager were forced to flee a war-torn country. Occasionally, they break into Pashto with each other, then switch back to English. 
When I first met them at an away junior varsity tournament at Legacy of Educational Excellence (LEE) High School, they were wrestling. In the gym bleachers, Jalak and Pashtoon, now 15 and 17, were waiting for their next matches along with Saifullah Gul, another Afghan immigrant. Altogether, they were among five Afghan wrestlers on Sidney Lanier High School’s team at that point in the season, about a quarter of the entire team. 
Traditional Afghan wrestling—known as Pehlwani—is a popular pastime for boys in the south-central Asian nation, so many Afghan refugees find a natural home on high school wrestling teams in America. This phenomenon is prevalent in California and Virginia, the states with the largest populations of Afghan immigrants. In Texas, the state with the third-largest concentration, it’s pretty much happening in one place: San Antonio’s West Side, and thanks to one person: Faridullah “Ferrari” Samsor. … more at … https://www.texasobserver.org/afghan-refugees-san-antonio-high-school-wrestling/

July 11, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , | Leave a comment