Forty years of wrestling tradition will meet on the mats at Alberni District Secondary School Jan. 31-Feb. 1 for the 40th annual Alberni Invitational, one of the premier high school wrestling tournaments in western Canada.
The wrestling program at ADSS in Port Alberni has deep, multi-generational roots.
"We are incredibly proud of the legacy our wrestling program has built over the past 45 years," said tournament co-chair James Messenger.
"No other wrestling program in B.C. can claim to have hosted 45 major tournaments, and many would consider running even one a significant achievement....It's an honour to help lead an event with such a rich history."
John McDonald has coached the ADSS team and Alberni Wrestling program since he began teaching 34 years ago. He is slowly moving toward retirement from coaching, and said it's gratifying to see the legacy of the city's wrestling program in its new generation of coaches.
"This year's part of my retirement, I guess. But I certainly want to make sure that we continue with what we've established over the last 30 years," McDonald said. "We have a motto: 'Let the tradition continue,' and that's very entrenched in what we do, what we say and how we work things within our program."
Coaches Travis Cross and Maureen Miller are two examples of how that motto works. Both of them were youth wrestlers under McDonald's tutelage who became coaches, and now they both have children who wrestle within the program.
Miller's maiden name is Messenger, and she wrestled as a youth the same as her brother James Messenger. "I remember watching my brother wrestle when (the Invitational) was at ADSS one of the last years (on Burde Street). Then they moved it to Glenwood Centre, then the Multiplex and then back to ADSS.
"I came up through ADSS and wrestled at the Alberni Invitational for a number of years. We're happy to have our numbers back up. It's really exciting."
Miller graduated in 2004 and is now a teacher in the Pacific Rim School District. She coaches her son Grady Miller, a Grade 10 student on the ADSS wrestling team. A multi-sport athlete, Grady is out with a concussion for the Invitational but he will be able to referee some matches, Miller said.
"There's a number of kids on the team that are alumni kids and they definitely have sort of a deeper understanding of what the tournament means, and some of the values of history that we strive to impress upon them."
Cross took his wrestling career all the way to the 2008 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China, competing in the men's 84-kilogram freestyle wrestling category. He finished eighth at the World Wrestling Championships in 2007 to qualify for the Olympics, and he is also a three-time national wrestling champion.
Before that, though, he attended five B.C. High School Provincial Wrestling Championships, from 1993 to 1998.
Cross hung up his professional wrestling gear to become a firefighter, and still coaches wrestling. He has been able to coach all three of his children. Nickolas, the oldest, wrestled when he was younger but gravitated toward soccer and basketball instead. Nolan is 15, in Grade 10 and a two-time provincial placer. Daniella, the youngest, also wrestles in the elementary program.
"That makes it a little extra special that I'm able to coach and pass on whatever they'll listen to. Being their dad, it's sometimes harder to get the message across."
The wrestling program at ADSS "serves as a vehicle for our wrestlers to fulfill whatever their goals are in life," Cross said. It's not about pumping out the next Olympic wrestler or even winning the next medal. "It's about learning those life skills to be successful in whatever they choose to do.
"We're one of the top wrestling programs in the province, if not the nation, and we are very proud to have a lot of success both on the mat and off the mat," Cross said. "Our motto is to build the person and not just the wrestler.
"These wrestlers (attending the Alberni Invitational) will be part of our legacy and part of our 40-year history. I'm pretty proud of the group that we have here this year."
