Wrestling fed rolls out open house to grow the sport further

The Northern Marianas Wrestling Federation hosted its first open house on Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, with about 30 participants in two sessions—younger kids aged 5-12, and 13 and above.

The open house’s purpose was to get more word out to the community about the federation’s mission, vision, core values, and goals for future competitions and training both off-island and locally. Participants also went through some wrestling drills and watched demonstrations by members of the national team.

According to the federation, their goal is to build an inclusive and growing wrestling community in the NMI and help athletes reach the regional and international level.

NMWF head coach Rick Bauer said after the open house, “the most important thing is growing the sport at the grassroots level—having fun on the mat.” For the younger group, Bauer said they made their session fun, fast-paced, and interactive; as for the older group, they dipped into more knowledge of the sport.

The federation also handed out QR codes for participants to fill out their preferred training days and time slots. Bauer said they’re not going to set a formal training schedule until they review the responses and see what will work best. “We want to have times that work to get more people in the room,” he said.

The open house was made possible by a full wrestling mat donated by Palau and a new home for the federation in one of the rooms north of the gym. There, the federation holds informal practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5pm to 6:30pm and anyone is welcome to join.

One of the open house participants, 14-year-old Beatrice Gross—the only girl in the older group—said she joined because of her parents but also wanted to take on the opportunity to try something new. “It was honestly intimidating at first because I was the only girl, but going through it, it was pretty fun,” she said. “You need a lot of quad and leg movement, fast reflexes to be aware of your surroundings… really fun, just get ready to be injured.”

For 18-year-old Herman Aldan, he said, “It was pretty nice. Something new for a change.” He added that he plans to return for future sessions.

With these developments, the NMWF continues its push to grow and strengthen the sport in the islands.