Boys and girls in all shapes and sizes battled it out during the opening rounds of the State AAU wrestling tournament at the Barnett Center on Saturday.

The event, which concludes today, features wrestlers from all across the state and is instrumental to high school programs because the youth will someday fill those rosters.

“This is the start. This is where it all begins to get the base of your program,” said Aberdeen Central coach Donnie Bowden. “To get a foundation for your program, this is where you need to be.”

Bowden was in attendance trying to watch as many Aberdeen wrestlers as he could. He said the Hub City has quality youth coaches who work with the up-and-coming wrestlers.

Bowden doesn’t get too caught up in the final results of the AAU tourney.

“It’s more about just getting into it. I mean every kid that’s in it, when they’re here they’re going to want to win, that’s the ultimate goal,” Bowden said. “But from my standpoint, it’s that they’re just a part of it and that they’re enjoying it.”

Saturday’s action drew a huge crowd as they watched nearly 1,600 participants compete.

“Wrestling is in a great place … and Aberdeen Central wrestling is in a good place at all levels,” Bowden said. “We’ve got good leaders at all levels that are making this thing go. It’s not just one person.”

SMALL WRESTLER, BIG HEART

One of the smallest wrestlers Saturday was making a big impact out on the mat.

Aubree DeJong, age 8, of Iroquois, may be young, but she is no stranger to wrestling. She was trying a variety of moves and took advantage to throw in a half-nelson on her opponent.

“I practice with my mom and my dad and the coach,” DeJong said.

The first-grader has also gotten a few pointers from her uncles who wrestle for Custer High School.

She also has a workout partner in her sister, who will turn 10 in two days.

“Sometimes at home we practice on each other,” DeJong said.

SERVING IN AN OFFICIAL ROLE

One of the many individuals who is helping to officiate the matches is Chad Schaunaman. The Aberdeen man, who has worked numerous state high school tournaments, said working with youth wrestlers is much the same.

“The big thing we want to do as officials is teach, make it be a good experience for them,” Schaunaman said. “As far as illegal holds, you call them, just like you would in high school. You can’t let them get away with that now.”

The atmosphere inside the Barnett Center was loud and full of commotion as matches filled up eight mats across the floor. Schaunaman said it takes a bit to unwind after a full day at the tourney.

“After doing a tournament, like I told my wife, I want to go home, sit down in my recliner, I want quiet. The TV on quiet,” Schaunaman said. “When you do an out of town event, you can drive home and that’s your decompression, just to slow everything down.”

However, there will be much more amping up before slowing everything down before the tournament concludes today.

“You get here, especially as the days goes on, where the matches become more intense, as an official you have to be a little more jacked up and want to be on your game,” Schaunaman said. “You’re mentally taxed after a long day.”

Still, Schaunaman is happy to be a part of the tournament and wants to do his best for the athletes.

“You want to do a good job,” he said, “because the kids have worked for this goal this year, whether it’s being here or being a state champ, and you want do a good job for them.”

FOCUSING ON THE TASK AT HAND

While fans were literally everywhere surrounding the mats on Saturday afternoon, it did not bother Brantley Schwartz.

The 11-year-old from Redfield kept his concentration on the way to defeating his opponent.

When asked if was nervous about wrestling in front of thousands of fans, Brantley responded, “Not really, because I’m more focused on wrestling than the crowd.”

He said is he able to tune out the surroundings when he steps onto the mat.

“Everything is like mute to me,” Schwartz said, “except for myself and the wrestler.”

Schwartz, whose favorite move is the butcher, said he enjoys wrestling, “because it’s something that’s fun and you can do it all the time, and practice is fun, so just why not?”

PARENTING FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

One of the fans in attendance Saturday was Lee Sumner of Aberdeen, who had a son competing in the tournament.

A few years ago, Sumner could be found at the tennis courts cheering on his daughter.

He said there is one noticeable difference between wrestling and tennis fans.

“Wrestlers, they’re dedicated for their entire life. They go watch even if their kids aren’t wrestling,” Sumner said. “There is some of that in tennis, it just isn’t as popular in Aberdeen.”

While in tennis spectators need to refrain from shouting and in wrestling fans tend to be quite vocal, Sumner isn’t impacted either way.

“I’ve never screamed too much during sports anyway. It’s individual sports. They’ve got to know what they’re doing when they’re out there,” Sumner said. “There’s really nothing you can say that’s going to make a whole lot of difference.”

Sumner said while he gets nervous watching his children regardless of the sport, he said wrestling is tougher on him than watching tennis.

“It’s way more intense,” he said. “There’s ups and downs in tennis, where wrestling, if you have a down, it’s done.”

WRESTLING FILLS WINTER VOID

Kendall Clayton was looking for something to do between cross country and track and field. The 13-year-old eighth-grader at Brandon Valley found the perfect solution.

“I kind of needed something to do in the winter. I don’t like being unbusy and I didn’t want to play basketball,” Clayton said. “I’m like wrestling should be a good thing for me, so I’m going to try it.”

Clayton has enjoyed her two years in wrestling and continues to improve as she progresses in the sport.

“I really want to be able to get faster at the moves I like to do and get stronger at them,” she said, “and just think how good I’ve gotten since the beginning of the season.”

When asked what her female classmates think of her wrestling, Clayton responded, “Some of them think I’m scary, but a lot of my friends, they do it with me.”

Clayton, whose favorite move is a single leg, said her goal is to place in her division this weekend and keep improving.

“I really want to place. I’ve been struggling a little bit at the beginning of the season, it’s like been a 50-50 type thing,” Clayton said. “I’m really here to just try to do my best, try to win as many matches as I can.”

While wrestling is a physically demanding sport, Clayton said mental toughness also plays a key role.

“A lot of it is mental,” she said, “because things can be sore, they can hurt, but you still have to go out there and you just have to wrestle.”

Complete meet results can be found by clicking on the following link:

https://www.trackwrestling.com/opentournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&TIM=1679796961608&pageName=%2Fopentournaments%2FTournamentHub.jsp&twSessionId=afkhoguqoc