Wrestlers, managers, and wrestling families,
Welcome to the 2023 – 2024 wrestling season! The beginning of a new wrestling season is one of the most exciting times of the year – everyone has a fresh start and a new opportunity to write their story. Every season there are wrestlers who come out of seemingly nowhere to establish themselves amongst the best. Can’t wait to see our athletes create their wrestling fate these next couple of months. Regardless of wins and losses, every Crimson wrestler who completes the season will have grown significantly (on and off the mat). Can’t wait to get it rolling this week!
There are some new additions to the coaching staff that I’m excited to expose our wrestlers to. We return eight of our nine coaches from last season (Ron Seubert, Brad Holzerland, Alex Nelson, Carl Leuer, Boone Young, Daniel Polanco, Eddie Kilgard, and myself) and have also added four others that I think will be great additions. Spencer Steiner is currently competing with the Minnesota Gophers and will be helping in our practice room a few times a week. Josh Barzowski is a recent St. Cloud wrestling alumni and will be at practices regularly. Jake Olmstead is a recent graduate of Simley wrestling and will be at most of our practices and meets throughout the season. Jack Herbes is back to help after finishing his wrestling career at Itasca community college. Donnie Leuer is also planning to provide additional support during practices (he’s also our youth coach). In short, I anticipate us having a strong team of coaches to support each of our Crimson wrestlers.
On the Mat our numbers should approach and possibly exceed our previous all-time high for our program. We currently have 46 registered wrestlers and I believe 51 is the previous high to start
a season. The roster is split between returners (24 wrestlers) and guys who are new to the team this season (22 wrestlers). The freshman class leads the way with an AWESOME 19 currently
registered wrestlers! We continue to be a young team – with most of our team (27/46 wrestlers) being eligible for 9 th grade competitions once again (7 th , 8 th , and 9 th graders). After the Freshman we have 10 –Sophomores, seven Juniors, four eighth graders, four seventh graders, and just two Seniors. We do have several returning wrestlers with considerable Varsity experience and success including two state place winners from a year ago (Sophomore Connor Peterson and Junior Ben Schultz). We also have some very talented Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors who are well equipped to lead the team on and off the mat. This is an exciting and deep roster that should have plenty of opportunities to compete for some impressive individual and team accomplishments at all stages of the season. Looking forward to what should be a fun season of Maple Grove Wrestling!!
Below is the Maple Grove Wrestling Schedule for a VERY BUSY week 1:
Practices:
Monday, Nov. 20th - Weight room at 2:10p for the high school students with practice beginning in the wrestling room at 3:10p. High-school wrestlers should plan on lifting right after school from 2:10p to 3:05p at least 2-3 times per week if they don’t need to spend the time with a teacher or devote that time to schoolwork. Practices will typically go until around 5p.m. –although some days will be a little later and others will be a little earlier depending on what is needed that day. We will also start the weight certification with the team trainer. All wrestlers need to be certified and have their certification sheets signed by the team doctor and a parent/guardian prior to being allowed to participate in competition (MSHSL rule).
Tuesday, Nov. 21st – Yoga in the wrestling room at 2:05p for the high school students with practice beginning in the wrestling room at 3:10p. We will also continue doing our weight certifications with the team trainer.
Wednesday, Nov. 22nd - Weight room at 2:10p for the high school students with practice beginning in the wrestling room at 3:10p. The team doctor will be coming to sign certification sheets during practice so hopefully all wrestlers can get their parent signatures and return them to Coach Troy by the end of the week.
Thursday, Nov. 23rd – Happy Thanksgiving. No Practice. We have traditionally played a Thanksgiving Day fun game of touch football with the wrestling Alumni. The Alumni will be there once again. The game will be on the Fernbrook Turf fields at 9am for anyone who wants to play. The game typically lasts an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
Friday, Nov. 24th – Practice 3p – 5p. First competition challenge matches will begin as necessary.
Saturday, Nov. 25th – Change in practice timing: The Saturday practice will likely be from 12p– 1:30p. First competition challenge matches will continue as needed. This will be an open practice where friends and family members are invited and encouraged to attend and check out a practice. Parents and/or family members are typically asked to refrain from being in the practice room during practices other than 1 or 2 open practices per season so if you can make it this is a good opportunity to see what your wrestler is typically doing at practice every day. Following practice, we will need to set up mats on Saturday for the Maple Grove Youth Tournament that is on Sunday, Nov. 26th . Mat set-up should take 45 minutes to an hour -depending on how much help we have and how busy everybody remains throughout the process. Parent help is welcome if parents are free. Many hands make light work. This tournament is a great opportunity for our newest wrestlers to get an idea of what a wrestling match looks like. It’s also one of our biggest fundraisers of the season and helps us to be able to afford items such as team apparel, out of town trips, and additional coaches.
Season Kick-Off Party:The Peterson’s are hosting the Team’s Season kick-off Party on Saturday, Nov. 25 th at 6p. Wrestlers, team managers, and parents are all invited to attend. It is a potluck so please bring something to share. The address is 11492 Arrowood Lane N., Maple Grove, 55369.
Youth Tournament Details:
Sunday, Nov. 26th – Wrestling begins at 9a. Wrestlers should be there at 8a. Experienced wrestlers will be used to Ref while newer wrestlers will be used at scoring tables. All will be trained in their duties prior to the tournament beginning. All wrestlers/managers will have a job to do as this tournament is the primary way, we ask our wrestlers to contribute to an effort that will directly benefit their experience this season.
If parents are available to help with this process, we’ll take their help as well. This could also be great practice for the help that we are going to need from the parents while our wrestlers compete
at our home tournament on Dec. 9 th . Parent volunteer opportunities can be found here:
Maple Grove Youth Individual Tournament – November 26th (Sunday):
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094FABAC29AAFFC16-45012281-mgyouth#/
Maple Grove Varsity, J.V., and girls Invite - Dec. 9th :
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050545ADAA2CA5F85-45012793-mgsenior#/

Awesome Maple Grove Wrestling Fan Gear
If you missed the first round of orders, don’t panic! Order your gear now to receive it by Christmas.  The link is: https://maplegrovewrestlingapparel.dakawards.com/
If you have ordered during the first window, we will let you know when those have arrived. 

Sports Engine and Future Communication
Lastly please download the Sports Engine App/sign up to receive future communications if you haven’t already. Parents and wrestlers can each sign up to receive future communications and schedule changes through the Sports Engine app by going to www.Crimson-Wrestling.com.
Please let me know if you have any questions as we will use this app for communications throughout the week.

We like to get the busiest week of the season out of the way right out of the gate. It’s a little crazy but it’s going to be a good experience and then we settle in from there. Looking forward to getting the season started and seeing this team come together! Please let me know if you have any questions. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving week, and we’ll see you all soon.
Coach Troy
Mgwrestling99@gmail.com
763-913-0601