Youth wrestlers welcome ‘Return of Wilder Wichman’

Smiles.

Not the first thing one would expect to notice as youth grapplers pour out sweat in intense lessons for over two hours.

Yet most of the athletes inside the Juneau Wrestling Center attending the three-day clinic taught by Askren Wrestling Academy coach Wilder Wichman from Saturday through Monday wore grins as large as their dreams.

“I want to be a state champ,” Hoonah freshman Harlee Brown, 14, said. She won the Region V 145-pound title last season, but did not place at state. “I’ve wrestled a few people under my weight here and I have wrestled a lot of people over my weight here to help me get better at movement and stuff. I like doing Head-And-Arm and Half and this camp is showing me I can be a state champion if I work hard enough.”

And hard work was the order of every day. Hard work in drills, against rotations of different opponents, in balance games and in teamwork.

“Okay, you have it now or do I need to show it again?” Wichman said. He demonstrated a technique with a local wrestler, then the counter if the technique was blocked and then another counter. “No? Okay. Let’s partner up. On two!”

Wichman is a manager and coach for the Askren Wrestling Academy (AWA), one of the most successful in the country. Founder Ben Askren has published “Extreme Balance” and “Funky,” two books that discuss the emotional growth of young athletes and whose teachings are being incorporated into the Juneau Youth Wrestling Club community.

“I definitely wanted to win state in high school,” Wichman, 26, said. “Probably about fifth or sixth grade it was like, ‘Alright, I definitely want to win state and try to wrestle in high school and that kind of stuff.’”

Wichman graduated from Wisconsin’s Johnson Creek High School and attended Thomas More College where he wrestled at 157 pounds, earning All-American honors for three seasons and finishing fifth at the NAIA National Championships in 2022-23.

“The biggest thing in wrestling is, obviously, it is tough and all that, but drilling is the biggest aspect that is overlooked,” Wichman said. “Everyone really enjoys wrestling live, but where you really get your skills, you really start to build in drilling it over and over and over. Muscle memory. That is where the big part of the discipline comes in. If you are someone goofing off in drilling, it is hard to get good, whereas if you consistently drill really hard and get all your reps in that is really going to help you level up faster.”

The AWA is known for their fresh look to the sport, especially their leg attack defense. That unconventional approach is often referred to as “funk wrestling” after Ben “Funky” Askren.

“My dream is to win state and wrestle at college,” Thunder Mountain Middle School seventh grader Andrew Erickson, 13, said. “I like that we are learning new moves and I really want to try them when we go on our trip to Wrangell this week. I like the Crack Down, it is like a defense from the High Crotch. And then when we travel to state at Tanana, the competition will have lots of competition and fun so I’m really excited.”

Erickson and his middle school teammates start their season on the road at Wrangell this weekend.

“I just really like learning the new moves,” TMMS eighth grader Jack Pegues, 13, said. “I don’t have a favorite. I just like them all. My dream this year is to win state and then, overall, I just want to be a better wrestler.”

Wilder’s teachings including wrestling from a “crackdown” position as opposed to the traditional sprawl with a legs back position. The wrestler’s leg passes overhead. It is about creating, controlling and winning a scramble situation, seemingly adding a controllable rhythm and purpose to an often chaotic situation.

JDHS 119-pound sophomore Region V champion and state fourth-place finisher Camden Messmer (25-3) has a dream to wrestle in college.

“Just do the best I can in college,” Messmer, 15, said. “And after college wrestling I would like to coach somewhere. This camp, and most camps, is sort of like being with a family. We are all doing the same thing so we are all together somehow. I have been to a lot of camps and they depend on the coach. I think Wilder goes for more of a fun sort of camp, because some camps are really strict, but this camp is mellow and he likes to keep the atmosphere up. I like that. This isn’t his first time here and I would like to see his face come back again. Everyone is working hard and having fun.”

Wichman teaches the funky wrestling in a series as opposed to static moves. Meaning, if X happens then do Y. Or if A then B.

“Wrestle to win a position, winning the match will follow,” Wichman said. “There is always an answer to each position.”

“I see it as steps,” JDHS sophomore Landyn Dunn, 15, said. “My overall dream is, like, win state first and after winning state I want to go wrestle DI and see where I am from there.”

During this high school year, Dunn was defeating Ketchikan senior Titan Linne in Ketchikan during a mid-season tournament. Ahead on points Dunn suffered a severe broken arm and had to withdraw, ending a season in which he was projected to be a top state placer. Linne would go on to win a state title at 125 pounds and be voted the state tournament’s outstanding wrestler.

“I’m just using it as momentum, like, seeing him win state is huge,” Dunn said. “Like, I could have won state. I am just using all of that as momentum and trying to come back better than I was before. This camp has added to my steps. There is no rest, there are no breaks. I am pretty much wrestling 24/7. There is really no time for breaks.”

The camp lessons are now engrained in Dunn’s future.

“A lot of different positional stuff,” Dunn said. “A lot more technique. Definitely the stuff I am going to use. I have been in a lot of these positions before so the stuff is going to be really, really useful.”

JDHS sophomore Jed Davis, 16, won the 145-pound Region V championship this year, pinned his first opponent at state and then lost twice, finishing his season with a 24-5 record.

“The dream would be to go Division I in college, that is everyone’s dream I guess,” Davis said. “Yeah, Division I, hopefully go to college for free…That takes a lot of work. Just got to be in here every day and I am here seven days a week. Yeah, just keep working every day, hopefully make some things happen on the mat.”

The three-day camp was aimed at helping to achieve that.

“The coach, the stuff he is showing, we just don’t see it much around here,” Davis said. “So it is good to get exposed to some new things that we usually wouldn’t see around these parts. Most of the work from the crackdown I haven’t been exposed to a lot of it so that is nice. I like the slow pace of shimmying around them, it doesn’t need to be super fast it is more meticulous.”

JDHS sophomore William Dapcevich, 15, said, “There is no rest at all for my goal. It’s all go, go, go to really get what I want…It would be pretty cool to go wrestle at Oklahoma State, even if I could just walk on. But my goals for this next year is I want to have the most take-downs in the state and I want to be the best offensively in the state.”

Dapcevich was one of the many who stayed longer after camp sessions and grappled with Wichman.

“It is really just putting your head down and working hard,” Dapcevich said. “This one kid on the team, Josh Beedle, said it best: ‘You’ve just got to put your head down, trust in God and keep pushing no matter what.’ The camp is showing me that it is good to be creative. I know all of our coaches preach fundamentals, which is good, but being creative is kind of like the baseline part of wrestling. You can’t really win a lot of matches unless you are creative and can think outside of the box. The Askren Academy is really famous for being creative and thinking outside of the box.”

JDHS freshman Ivan Shockley, 15, said, “My dream is to place first at state in high school like I did in middle school. My season went pretty good this year. I had a few ups and downs. More ups than I was expecting. I wrestled pretty well against this teammate named Hayden (senior Hayden Aube, 160-pound region runner-up, state qualifier), it was a good match…To get to my dream I need to step up my pace a little bit. Don’t let anything distract me from my goal. The camp is helping with conditioning and strength. I’m learning how to condition myself going live and figuring out what muscles I can use in matches.”

TMMS student Minali Reid, 12, is planning to use camp lessons in her next middle school match.

“I just want to get really good,” Reid said. “It will take a lot of practice and hard work. We are learning new skills that we wouldn’t learn at school practice. I will probably use the defense of the High Crotch. I am having a good time here.”

The AWA recognized funky technique is a fresh perspective on the mental and emotional development of young wrestlers.

“Having fun is the most critical aspect to youth sports,” Wichman noted. “When kids are having fun, they are more apt to stay in the ‘learners mindset’ and focus on not over-competing.”

JDHS freshman Toriana Johnson spent her 15th birthday on the camp wrestling mats Sunday.

“I’m not sure of my dream yet,” Johnson said. She had continued grappling after the camp day ended. “At the very least my goal is to wrestle into college. I enjoy learning something every day and the amount of progress you can make in a short time with hard work. We are learning Tilts and types of locks like Chest Wraps and Crotch Locks.”

JDHS sophomore Tristan Ridgeway, 16, said he wants to be known as a good wrestler. Ridgeway was the Region V 119-pound runner-up to fourth-place state finisher and classmate Camden Messmer (25-3).

“Obviously have a name in Alaska,” Ridgeway said. “And just achieve the most I can do, at least try. It takes a lot of your mindset, a big mindset, and you really have to put your mind to it to get what you want. You obviously can’t get what you want with the wrong mentality. Honestly, I just like doing the moves and stuff and Scrambling, and just the hard work and throwing people around pretty much. The camp has impressed me mostly by the Tilts we have been doing and the Crotch Locks, and all the sparring we have been doing with the new moves.”

The JWC mats remained active even after the day’s lessons ended as grapplers challenged Wichman and he casually acknowledged their attempts to take him down — and keep him there. It arguably would have taken all 56 middle and high schoolers who attended to do that, but Wichman let any individual get glory for brief moments before using his teachings to reverse whatever move they attempted.

TMMS eighth grader Koltin Vick, 14, said, “My dream is just to make myself stronger, get more discipline and stuff. I am learning new moves here that I will probably would not have known otherwise. It takes a lot of just working hard, that is how I am going to reach my dream, my goals, working hard and doing what the coach says.”

Some of that work involves drills against his cousin, JDHS junior Alex Marx-Beierly, 16, the defending 160-pound Region V champion.

Marx-Beierly finished his season with a 16-7 record, but finished off the podium at state.

“I remember last year I was really hoping to be a state placer and that is still going to be my goal. I am trying to get to finals next year,” Marx-Beierly said. “I just know that all competition is completely different than what I thought it was. I thought it would be a lot easier, but it’s not, so this year I am going in there with better expectations. I know how hard the competition is and I am working extra hard to reach that level.”

Marx-Beierly arrived each day for the 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. camps at 10 a.m.

“I’m working hard with my little cousin, Koltin, and a whole lot of other wrestlers who are doing really well,” he said. “I wrestle the coach all the time. I have more camps going on this summer to go to in Iowa. I am training extra hard to get as good as possible. This camp is showing me a lot of new stuff that I never knew before and I felt like I already knew a whole bunch! Now, things I have never heard of, it’s crazy, really eye-opening to see what there is really left to learn about wrestling.”

Jason Hass, 45, a Juneau Youth Wrestling, TMMS and JDHS wrestling coach remembers being in the camp attendees’ place.

“I wish we had camps like this and this big of a team,” Hass, a Michigan high school graduate, said. “I remember wanting to wrestle in college and I think every young wrestler has the idea of going to the state tournament is kind of huge. That is the cliche dream of any youth athlete to make it to the state tournament. In my time it was a completely different style and that is what is so awesome having Wilder (Wichman) up here. The technique that these guys are learning right now is really different than the technique we were learning. It is cool he is coaching the younger generation in series like, we kind of learned it one move at a time, the Cradle, the Half, the Crossface, the Arm Bar…whereas he is teaching it more like, ‘if this, than this. If not this, then this.’ It is a whole series of combo moves that go together.”

The three-day camp ended Monday, but the dreams noted will keep growing, even Wichman’s.

“I run an academy back in Wisconsin,” Wichman said. “Honestly, when I am gone I miss practice. So really just helping everyone accomplish their goals and to keep coaching, yeah, I really love what I do. I am kind of living my dream, I guess…It is awesome when someone reaches their goal. I tell people all the time, ‘Coaching is way more rewarding than, like, competing ever was.’ I really loved competing, obviously I really liked to win, but even helping a kid get a small insignificant win and they are all jacked up is way cooler than any win I ever had. I really enjoy that part.”

The schedule for JYWC and local wrestlers includes Stikine MS Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Wrangell, the Feb. 1 Sitka MS Invitational, the Feb. 14-15 Southeast MS Regional Tourney at TMMS in Juneau, the Feb. 22- Southeast Clash at the JYWC youth up to sixth grader, and the Feb. 27-March 1 Tanana Invitational at Fairbanks (the unofficial middle school state tournament).

Askren will be holding a camp in Juneau Aug.15-17. According to JYWC coach Hass they are inviting Wilder Wichman and his brother Weston also.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.