Deb Cleveland and the Youth Wrestling Program

By: Austin

The most important part of our community is the youth, and we are lucky to have many programs for our youth to participate in.  One of the largest athletic clubs that Ogallala currently has began in 1997.   Bart Voycheske, with the help of Deb Cleveland and Dom Larocca, thought of a great way to get the youth in and around the community involved in exercise while making it fun.  And that is how the youth wrestling program got its start.

Bart Voycheske wanted to break away from freestyle wrestling and start a folkstyle club, Deb had a son that wrestled at the time and decided to help him out. Dom Larocca was a volunteer coach.  Deb says, “When I first became involved in wrestling, I noticed it developed character, confidence, endurance, and prepares kids for life.”   Bart also wanted to see some consistency between the youth program and the high school team, so a folkstyle club was a great way to achieve that.    

Starting a new club is not as easy as it sounds.  Some of the problems that they encountered were:

• What rules they had to follow  
• A place to hold practices
• What association to join
• Getting volunteers to coach
• The conflicts that they met trying to break away from the existing club

The youth wrestling program has evolved since 1997.  It is now the only youth wrestling club in town.  Internet has been a major change in communication with parents making it easier to contact them regarding practices and competitions.  “We have to compete with the youth basketball program, which is stronger than it used to be.  We started with around 18 kids the first year and the program has grown to around 60 members” says Deb.  Along with the positive points, with the evolving club there are difficulties that they have to deal with, such as insurance expenses, space to hold practices and scheduling conflicts.  It is more expensive and there is way more paperwork than they had in the beginning.   Deb said, “Drawing kids to come compete in our local tournament (which is our only fundraiser) gets harder and harder every year because it is so far to travel from eastern to western Nebraska.  It is also hard to find a date for the tournament that does not conflict with other activities.”

The Ogallala youth wrestling club is just a goo program and involves the whole family.  It is a sport that a child as young as five can start and can continue through their high school years.  Wrestling is great exercise and helps to develop coordination, balance flexibility, mental toughness and cardio endurance.  But one of the most important aspects is the ability to meet other kids from all over the country.

When asked if she could make any changes to the program she said that she wishes more people would get involved.  It is hard to get enough volunteers to coach and because it is a one on one sport it takes more coaches.  “I love to see the big smiles on the faces of the little kids and even the big kids when they win the big trophy,” says Deb.

Deb Cleveland has been a big part of the youth programs in our community, along with the wrestling club she helped start the youth football program, she helps coach volleyball, and she has also helped with youth rodeo.