By Ed Muniz-Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
*Additional photos are available at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p430457032*
The 2023 Lemont “Bears Bash” wrestling tournament took place recently in Lemont. The yearly wrestling event is hosted by the Lemont Bears youth wrestling club of the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation.
This years’ version saw over 1300 boys’ and girls’ wrestlers, ages 5 to 14, all competing in several weight classes and divisions. With that many wrestlers, along every available space, were parents nestled in their fold-up chairs getting comfortable for the long day of wrestling.
The event was held in the large fieldhouse at Lemont High School but the over-flowing number of competitors also had an adjacent gymnasium being used.
Both floors were covered in wrestling mats along with numerous scoring tables and volunteer workers.
Heading the tournament was Lemont Bears President Jason Nash. The 16-year leader, barely had time to breathe as expected when you host that size of event.
“I took over from a group of older guys and they had a good platform in place, so I just continued to string it along and its been successful for the most part,” said Nash.
Covid did affect the Bears as it did many other programs, but since then, the Lemont Bears have excelled and mainly because of its young wrestlers.
“Our program has about 90 kids this year and most of them are under the age of 10-years-old. The hardest thing for us is convincing parents to volunteer because we don’t succeed without parent participation while still trying to keep cost low enough that the parents can be involved.”
The “Bears Bash” has become recognized as one of the biggest and well-run tournaments in the state thus the large number of participants.
With 1300 wrestlers attending and 45 teams represented, Nash agreed it was a pretty good representation of wrestling in the Chicagoland area, along with wrestlers from Indiana and Wisconsin.
Another Volunteer who has become invaluable to the success of this large tournament is Tournament Day Director and software specialist, John Ambrose. The work Ambrose contributes and does behind the scenes is a task that requires special skills, and for Nash, John is that guy. He is valued beyond words for the Lemont Bears.
Nash is fortunate to be surrounded by a great group that works tirelessly towards perfection. They include Ali Powers, Tony Femminella, Mike Pelikan, John Thompson, Nick Distasio, Tommy Ambrose, Keith Kamberos and Michelle Katauskas, along with many others.
“Bigger isn’t always better, but we feel we do a very good job in this tournament, but it’s still a lot of work for us. The main reason our tournament is successful with numbers is because of the competition; the parents of good wrestlers are chasing good competition and they know they’ll get that at our tournament.”
Prior to the onset of wrestling, there’s a lot of paperwork needed with bracketing and removing those that didn’t show. So there is plenty of tedious work that needs to get done.
“We start wrestling at 8AM and everything is age and weight bracketed in what we do,” said Nash “We try and tweak our tournament every year. We went to staggered sessions about three years ago and I think it help many of the parents who attend so they aren’t here all day.”
The younger 5 and 6, 7 and 8-year-old wrestlers begin all the wrestling and are held in the gymnasium in the first session, then the 10 and 11-year-olds take to the mats in the field house, all on 24 mats between both areas. The tournament runs efficiently that way.
This is the Lemont Bears biggest fund raiser which allows them to pay for cost related to other tournaments including the IKWF State Finals tournament in Rockford.
“We help the parents with cost, so pay for our wrestlers to participate in other tournaments,” added Nash.
The size of this tournament still incurs costs which includes paying referees, trainers and several other added necessities but Nash recognizes it’s all part of running a huge event like this.
Not only does this help provide cost assistance to the parents of the Lemont Bears, it also helps the community.
“We provided four-$1000 scholarships to Lemont High School and donate money to the Lemont High School every year,” said Jason Nash.
Entering the tournament area, immediately you notice the number of spectators that are fixtures in this sport. Illinois is second to none when it comes to the support of wrestling.
Most were season veterans and knew what to expect. They’re use to the grind and are savvy and up to date on the schedule of things and when their son or daughter next wrestle. They are their wrestlers best manager in many cases.
But occasionally, you find a newbie in the crowd and their reaction upon its’ introduction is rewarding.
This was the case for Mary Hummert. The 87-year-old was attending her first wrestling event and was there to see her great-grandson, Gael Lagunas compete for the Frankfort Wildcats.
She was confused as to what was actually wrestling asking one in her family if it had started with the mats covered with kids warming up prior to the session beginning. But soon she was at the roped-off edge of the mat watching Gael.
For Gael, he was happy she was there, but he was more into the wrestling. “I was disappointed at how she saw me wrestle, I took the lead and then gave it up, I should have made it harder to be taken down. Not too happy about that. I’ll do better in my next match.”
There was plenty of action during the “Bears Bash” with many matches going on simultaneously. If wrestling is your thing, attending the Bears Bash in 2024 will not disappoint, Guarantee that!
