Please visit our website for exciting information & further updates:  www.uscamps.net

Finally, I wish to remind you that although delayed registration & applications will be processed right up to the opening day of the Clinic the "early registration discount" applies only to all applications received in the Colorado Springs Office, postmarked on or before May 15, 2006.

Wrestling icons coming back to East Idaho
   By Ryan Thatcher (ran Tuesday, 5-3-06, edited version)


  Ever heard of Dan Gable? Steve Fraser? Dan Russell? What about the name Rulon Gardner? Does the USA Champions Clinic ring a bell?
   If you are grappling with the names and can't put a finger on who they are, keep on reading.
   If you are a wrestler - male or female, a wrestling coach or just a parent of an aspiring wrestler, stay tuned.
   Even if one knows of the four wrestling greats, there is always something new to find out, especially when all four of them come to East Idaho as part of the coaching staff that makes up this year's USA Champions Clinic in Pocatello starting June 26-29.
   National powerhouse wrestling teams will also be competing twice a day against each other and against local teams during the clinic.
   The camp started in 2004 after Hugh Suenaga of Pocatello and a group of wrestling lovers combined their love and knowledge to try to build up not only the state, but also the sport of wrestling.
   ³Idaho may have few chances to top the national rankings in any sport,² Suenaga said. ³But the USA Champions Clinic and team competitions is giving Idaho a chance to be known for national champions and championship teams in wrestling.²
   The clinic is stamped as a ³gold level² wrestling camp and has been recognized, as one of the premier nationally sanctioned events of it's kind by USA wrestling, the governing body of the United State Olympic Committee for Wrestling.
   ³The US Camps in Pocatello, Idaho is poised to be the best wrestling camp in the world,² said Russell, who since the clinic began has been a coach and inspiration to many wrestlers. ³As a parent, I would not want my child to miss out on the opportunity that is right in their own back yard.
   ³You will rarely, if ever, see so many great athletes gathered together with the purpose of making every one better.²
   If a wrestler has ever wanted to get to know what it takes to become the best in the world, the third-annual USA Champions Clinic is the place to be.
³How does it feel to stand on the top of the podium at the Olympics, draped in a gold medal?²
   Just ask Fraser, the 1984 gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at Los Angeles. Or Gardner, the 2000 gold medalist at Sydney who downed probably the most feared wrestler of the modern era, Russia's Alexander Karelin, who was unbeatable up until the Afton, Wyoming native took him out for the gold.
   All of the coaches know the feeling of victory and defeat. And they all know what it takes to become the best.
   That is something the coaching staff wants to share: their personal ³Road to Glory². Each day clinic coaches are given a chance to share in detail what it took for them to get to the level of greatness.
   ³My career was successful because of so many that helped to pass the torch on to me,² Russell said. ³I believe it's my responsibility to do the same as those that walked before me.
   ³I see the US Camps as a way to help pass the torch onto the next generation. This is a great honor and privilege.²
   For the third consecutive year, Fraser, Gardner and Russell will be back as part of the qualified coaching staff of Olympians, world champions and national champions.
   Gable joins the team this year to bring that much more to the clinic.
   Did you know Gable has coached 15 national championship teams while leading the Iowa Hawkeyes? Or that Russell came away from college as a four-time NCAA Division II champion at Portland State?
   There is only one place to find this many Olympic wrestlers, world champions and national heroes at one location, at one time, unless it's something as big as the Olympic games themselves.
   The clinic coaches don't just want the cream of the crop; they want everyone from first-year starters to young ladies, who may want to someday be apart of the Olympic women's wrestling program.
   At the 2004 Olympics in Greece, women's grappling was introduced to the world with an American - Patricia Miranda - finishing with a bronze medal in Athens for the first-ever medal won by an American woman in wrestling.
   ³Very few wrestlers will ever be the best in the world,² said Russell. ³But we believe that all of the young wrestler will be better men and women by the end of the camp both in the sport as well as in life.²
   Suenaga is also looking for area wrestlers to take advantage of the opportunity.
   The director of the clinic said that about 20 of the 300 wrestlers came from Eastern Idaho.
   ³All skill levels are welcomed for those who truly wish to become champions for life,² Suenaga said. ³For those who have never won a major championship, now would be the time to step up and close the distance between you and the competition.²
   For more information, contact Suenaga at (208) 406-3200 or by E-mail: hughsuenaga@cableone.net.
   Editor's note:  Registration (applications are available for download) on the Internet is at www.uscamps.net or by calling (719) 531-6540.