Nearly a dozen first and second graders hit the mat with Vale High School’s two-time state champion during a youth wrestling camp.
Vale grappler Ava Collins, with back-to-back state titles the last two years, held a wrestling camp on Friday, March 29, in the high school wrestling room as part of her senior project. She recently signed to wrestle for Treasure Valley Community College.
Collins said she had helped out at other wrestling camps and said Friday’s tutorial was the first she had hosted on her own. The day-long event was split into morning and afternoon sessions. She donated the earnings of $20 per student to the high school’s wrestling program.
She had some of her friends from the wrestling team come in and help, along with one of her coaches.
Collins said that as the deadline to complete her senior project approached, she was unsure of what she would do. She said she had thought about starting an agriculture business and then later becoming a horse chiropractor, but she was not sure what type of project could be connected to those fields.
Later, she said she learned that a senior project does not have to be connected to a career choice, so she figured something tied to wrestling would work. She said wrestling is more of a “hobby” and not her only purpose for attending college.
The group of nearly a dozen youngsters learned the fundamentals of the sport, from tumbles to forward and backward somersaults and basic takedown moves.
Middle school and high school wrestling – sometimes referred to as scholastic or folkstyle wrestling – is a form of grappling in which the object is to take down an opponent off their feet and score points. The first grappler to 15 points or a pin – holding an opponent’s shoulders to the mat – wins the match.
Collins said she has enjoyed teaching younger kids and helping them get better.
She has stayed busy since bringing home a state title earlier this year. A month after the state tourney, she was in Utah at a national high school rodeo competition, attempting to qualify for the junior championship in barrel racing and breakaway roping.
With all of her focus going to wrestling leading up to the rodeo, Collins said she did not “have the best of luck.”
Collins said she would be wrestling for TVCC while taking classes in the school’s horse training program. She said the school’s equine program is what sold her attending. Wade Black, who heads up the equine, is one of the best horse trainers around.
Collins said as she talked to schools interested in providing her a scholarship, it turned out they didn’t have the classes she was looking for. She also couldn’t bring her horses, Charla and Clementine, and compete in rodeos.
In the end, she said she got “super stressed” and talked to her parents.
“I was like, mom, dad, I don’t know what to do,” she said.
She also spoke to Luis Cisneros, the head coach of TVCC’s wrestling team. Collins said he is building a good program and is already coaching the club league she competes in.
By staying close to home, Collins said, she can wrestle for an up– and– coming program, attend classes equine classes and compete in rodeos.
In two years, with an associate’s degree, she will consider going on to a university.
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