The following story is by Bear Creek Secondary School co-op student Bridgette Gilroy.
Bear Creek Secondary School’s wrestling team is pumped for the season, with an upcoming meet at Nouvelle-Alliance high school in Barrie on Jan. 17.
The south-end school's wrestling team has had plenty of success in tournaments, winning the last four Georgian Bay Secondary School Association (GBSSA) events and earning a rank in the top athletic programs in the province.
Additionally, the team’s numbers are growing. A recent tournament held at Grimsby Secondary School saw 44 Bear Creek students competing, the largest wrestling team the school has fielded, according to coach Nicholas Cryer.
In November, a rookie wrestling tournament was hosted at Bear Creek with 180 athletes from the area participating, 45 of whom were from Bear Creek.
Cryer has coached the team since 2005, with additional help from teacher Matt Bunn.
“It’s a great sport, one that anyone can do,” Cryer says.
Cryer, who was honoured by the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 as coach/official of the year, began his wrestling career in Grade 6.
In Grade 9, he returned and volunteered to be the elementary coach.
With much success, Cryer continued his passion for the sport and became a secondary school coach.
“I put a lot of time into this. I do it inside and outside of school and I’ve done it at all different levels,” Cryer says. “I have a program outside of school where I teach five-year-olds all the way to 20-year-olds. I also coach a national team.”
“The slightest mistake and you will lose,” says Abina Dushyanthan, reflecting on the challenges wrestling presents.
Dushyanthan, a returning Grade 12 student, has been on the school's wrestling team for four years.
“It builds that confidence within you to go out and do something," she says.
Presented with the Heart of the Team award in June 2024, Dushyanthan’s interest in wrestling began during her Grade 9 orientation day when she spotted the school’s athletic banners.
“I saw wrestling and I thought, ‘I’m going to do that,’” she says, adding that her background in karate fuelled her passion for the sport. “It’s such a fun sport. I’m going to be sad to leave the team after four years.”
The team has several more tournaments early in the new year, followed by the GBSSA championship on Feb. 13 and the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournament from March 3-5.
