Kids’ club keeps rolling

More than a dozen red-faced young boys with untied shoes strategically position themselves on the green and gold matted floor of the Rock Bridge wrestling room. Waiting intently on all fours for their coach’s signal, a few of the boys grin knowingly in anticipation of the ensuing mayhem. On cue, the boys rumble toward each other, ultimately engaging in desperate attempts to remove their opponents’ footwear.

Along one wall, a handful of parents, mostly mothers, watch intently, some decrying the perceived injustices against their children, wondering aloud whether this or that is allowed.

As the shoe conquest continues, 19-year-old assistant coach Cam Purcell chats with a prospective wrestler and his mother, making the boy feel welcome and the mother more comfortable. Nearby, and everything is essentially nearby in the small room, 22-year-old assistant coach Matt Hina addresses the rest of the parental contingent, reminding the parents that the club needs the wrestlers’ birth certificates to register them.

Behind them, the game culminates in the last shoe-wearing wrestler being attacked by everyone else, with the mob hastily separating the victor from his shoe via the ultra-strategic dog-pile tactic. It’s an odd reward for the winner, but the practice is over, and no one seems to mind. Purcell and Hina quickly address the group, lead a breakdown and send the boys on their way.

With head coach Kerry Lewis and his wife, Laura Lewis, the club’s coordinator, gone to watch their son Kyle wrestle for the Bruins, Tuesday’s practice for the Rock Bridge Wrestling Club was a glimpse into the future of the organization. Purcell and Hina won’t just be filling in for the Lewises next year. They’ll be taking over.

“They’ve made us their apprentices, and they’re teaching us everything the right way,” Purcell, who will be taking over as head coach, said. “It definitely helps having a transition year for both of us so we can learn our new positions and make sure next year runs smoothly.”

After serving more than six years in the club that they co-founded as a feeder program for Rock Bridge’s high school team in 1999, the Lewises are in the process of giving up their roles to Purcell and Hina. Hina will be taking over from Laura Lewis, 45, as coordinator.

“Last year, the club was going to die,” Laura Lewis said, in reference to the fact that many of the club’s wrestlers chose to follow former club coach Mike Eierman to his new club in Millersburg. “There was no one really left who was going to keep the program going, so my husband and I stepped up and said we want to try to keep it going.”

In its first year, the club, created for wrestlers age 7 through 14, had 35 members. Since then, the club has ballooned to 77 members and 17 coaches, requiring the club to roll out mats in the school’s cafeteria. The club only had 12 members last year, but the club traveled and practiced as it usually would. This year, the program is on the rebound with about 20 members and seven volunteer coaches, Laura Lewis said.

Kerry Lewis, 48, who never wrestled in high school, learned the sport from other coaches, by going to clinics and from his oldest son, Jason Lewis, who is now an assistant wrestling coach at Kickapoo High School in Springfield.

“I started out last year as the head coach and just stayed the head coach, so we could keep the club solid,” Kerry Lewis said. “This year, I’m going to start delegating this out to Cam (Purcell), and I’m going to just be a facilitator. If I need to step in and critique the guys that are actually instructing, then I’ll do that, but I want to see myself more as a buffer.”

When explaining why they are stepping back from the organization, it’s apparent that the Lewises wouldn’t be doing so without knowing that they’ve got the right people assuming power. They believe they’ve found the perfect match in Purcell and Hina.

“I think the advantage is that they’re full of energy, and they don’t have any allegiances to any kids on the team. We don’t have dads in there coaching. We’re getting totally away from that,” Kerry Lewis said. “Having them in this position is ideal because I have no parents involved, whatsoever, and that’s the way I want it.”

Their familiarity with Purcell and Hina doesn’t hurt, either. The Lewises watched both of their protégés wrestle through high school.

“He was always very mature and conscientious,” Laura Lewis said of Purcell, who wrestled his eighth-grade year in the club and went on to be a two-time state qualifier for the Bruins. A student at MU, Purcell relishes the opportunity.

“It’s as fun for us as the kids,” Purcell said, adding that the lack of pay and the time commitment doesn’t bother him. “The biggest thing for us is that we’re coming in here as 19- and 20- and 22-year-olds. Building a rapport with the parents is huge. If we didn’t have this year and they (the Lewis’) just dumped it (the club), how many parents are going to trust a 19-year-old with their kid? That’s why this year is so vital to us, and I think it’s going pretty well so far.”

Hina, also an MU student and an Army ROTC cadet, will be taking care of the administrative duties as well as coaching. Formerly an assistant coach at the Liberty Kids Club in Liberty, Hina was a state qualifier for the Bruins as well, and he looks forward to passing his knowledge on.

“The enjoyment of the sport that I had, I want to share that with other kids,” he said. “I just want to teach them skills that they can carry through life.”

For the Lewises, leaving the club won’t be easy. Kerry Lewis plans to hang around again next year as a facilitator to help out the new regime, while Laura Lewis says she’ll never be too far away.

“I’ll still be in the background. If either one of the boys (Cam or Matt) need any help, they’ve got our numbers,” Laura Lewis said. “We won’t totally be out of the picture. We’ll just be making sure they’re taking care of the club, which I know they’ll do a fine job.”