When arriving in town last year as the new wrestling head coach at Daviess County, Colton Gonzalez noticed only a few local off-season wrestling programs — a culture shock to him. Growing up in Indiana, Gonzalez spent most of his week during the wrestling off-season traveling to different open mats and events.
“I’m somebody who’s come from that world of off-season wrestling where … we [would] travel an hour away,” Gonzalez said. “We could be in Richmond or my hometown Connersville wrestling on Tuesday at an open mat. On Wednesday we might go over to Red Cobra in New Palestine or even in Indianapolis to a wrestling Academy called CIA.”
On the weekends, they would go directly into competitions at the state or even national level, sometimes traveling to events held in Iowa.
With nothing but fond memories of his wrestling off-season and wanting to help the local talent in and outside of the Owensboro area grow as a whole, Gonzalez quickly decided he wanted to start his own youth camp and off-season academy.
Enter: Lights Out Wrestling Academy.
Gonzalez wants to help athletes fall in love with wrestling at a young age and help them grow their technique and talent.
“To have them fall in love with wrestling at a young age, you direct and control your success as a wrestling program,” Gonzalez said. “If you can get them to have fun and establish solid techniques when they are young, they will be great wrestlers once they reach middle school and high school.”
The first session was held on December 31, primarily for elementary school students. Special stipulations have been made for middle schoolers who are not a part of a school team. The class is being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30-8:45 in the evening at Owensboro Gracie, which is inside the Owensboro Athletic Club.
“The location takes the fear away from kids at Ohio County or Henderson County, or even here just locally,” Gonzalez said “It’s a centralized location… We have to elevate not just Daviess County, but the surrounding area. I want to be in a room filled with wrestlers that aren’t just my athletes.”
Once the high school season ends in late February, Gonzalez wants his wrestlers to take a couple of weeks to themselves to recuperate before attending his academy. The plan is to have an advanced session for high schoolers on Mondays and Wednesdays at the same time, with middle schoolers choosing between the two options based on their skill level.
“In a perfect world, you start in mid to late October and will run for almost nine months out of the year up to mid to late July,” he said. “You give them about three months to rest and play other sports because that’s around when football starts up.”
The plan is for the program to run for nine months, but Gonzalez and his staff — which so far only consists of his assistant coach — will need to analyze how many kids want to wrestle for almost an entire year.
Despite only having a few meetings, Gonzalez was thrilled with the early turnout, stating around 12-15 wrestlers attended the second session. It was almost an even mix between boys and girls. Once the high school season ends, Gonzalez is hoping that it’s not just Daviess County students that attend and wants to see turnout from the local schools and the surrounding areas.
