Team raises funds for new mats during 'beach wrestling' event at the fair – Chilkat Valley News

The sandy area next to the Klondike Stage at the fairgrounds is technically an outdoor volleyball court. But on Friday afternoon at the Southeast Alaska State Fair about 100 spectators gathered to watch nearly two dozen people compete in something else – beach wrestling. 

“It’s loosely based on USA beach wrestling,” said Haines middle school wrestling coach Jake Mason. Mason raked the uneven sand inside of the circular rope that served as the wrestling ring. 

“So it’s one point for a push out, which is when you take a wrestler beyond the rope, and then it’s two points for a takedown.” Mason said. He was one of two referees for the bracketed style tournament. 

“We’re calling it a ‘takedown’ when the initiating wrestler gets the opposing wrestler to take a knee or another part of the body down into the sand, … and that’s basically it,” he said. 

The wrestlers start from neutral – that is they stand and face each other before the referee’s starting whistle blasts. 

The wrestlers were scored primarily on takedowns, and there were no pins – so it was nonstop action. 

The event was hosted by the Haines Glacier Bears wrestling team. Competitors paid to enter,  $25 for adults and $15 for youth. The money raised will go toward purchase of new wrestling mats for the next high school wrestling season. The team is scheduled to host its regional tournament in December.

There were no weight classes but wrestlers were grouped by three categories – 14 and under boys, women, and men aged 15 and up. It was a single elimination tournament, so the winner of each match moved on. Each match consisted of two, two-minute periods, said Mason.  

“With a short maybe about 10 [to] 15 second break in between,” Mason said.  

Mason was not only a referee but he also competed in the adult men’s division. He lost to 18-year-old Jackson Long. 

“I was surprised the first one was against my coach. I’ve been beat up by him hundreds, maybe thousands of times. But I beat him for the first time this [past] spring,” said Long, who has been wrestling since he was 12. 

“That was maybe my second time [beating him],” he said. 

Long is a recent Haines High School graduate who started wrestling in sixth grade when it was first offered as a sport at the middle school.  

He wrestled four matches to win this year’s beach wrestling. Long also placed third in his weight class during the state tournament this year and said he is passionate about wrestling.  

“I think it’s the greatest sport for anyone to learn discipline and hard work and grit. And it’s the most challenging sport, of course. So I recommend everyone try it,” he said.“Nothing is gonna make you grow as a person as much as wrestling does.” 

Long is going to Fairbanks for aviation mechanics school but he still wants his former team to succeed. 

“We have the opportunity to host regionals this year. And [it would] really help us host more tournaments here if we had a great facility… and new mats,” he said. “I think any donations to get new mats and put on an awesome regional tournament would just be huge for the town.” 

Twelve-year-old Lylah Wray has only been wrestling for a year but she was not afraid to test her mettle. 

“I wrestled an adult –one of my friend’s moms,” Wray said. She lost that match-up. “I definitely would’ve liked it if I scored a couple of points, but I think it’s okay.”

Wray was tired after back-to-back matches but that didn’t dampen her spirit. 

“It was kind of like sumo wrestling but not really. My knees couldn’t touch the ground. It was definitely not normal wrestling, but I think it was still fun,” she said. 

Wray said her older brother got her into wrestling.

“I want to wrestle in college,” said the seventh-grader. “I love wrestling and I love the sport. More than anything,” she said. “You have to have a lot of mental toughness to do it. So I think no one is going to be that great when they first start to do wrestling. It depends on how long you do it. So definitely try to stay in it.”