WRESTLING MY OWN DEMONS...AND EVERYONE ELSE. Women’s grappler Jennifer Nguyen has a firm half-nelson on this week’s Purple Pipe after her standout performance on the mat
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Purple Pipe: wrestler Jennifer Nguyen
Junior national gold locks up this week’s honours
Stephanie Ramsay
Friday, March 23, 2007
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WRESTLING MY OWN DEMONS...AND EVERYONE ELSE. Women’s grappler Jennifer Nguyen has a firm half-nelson on this week’s Purple Pipe after her standout performance on the mat |
Though most teams’ seasons have wrapped up, Mustangs wrestler Jennifer Nguyen is still bringing home the hardware, making her a natural choice for this week’s coveted Purple Pipe.
While everyone else was drinking green beer on St. Patty’s day, Nguyen was busy defeating Meghan King of Regina’s Cattown Wrestling Club to win the individual 55-kilogram gold medal at the Junior National Wrestling Championships in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
The Gazette sat down with the second-year health science major to chat about the Olympics and bar fights.
How long have you been wrestling and why did you start?
I’ve been wrestling since I was 14, so six years. I started because it was a big sport at my school and all of my friends’ older siblings did it and they told me to come out.
Was this your first time competing at the national level? What was it like?
I’ve competed a few times at the national level in the past, but there was more pressure on me this year because it was my last year competing at this age group. Everything went how I wanted it to go, though. Last year, I had gold and silver medals in my weight [division].
How has being on the wrestling team shaped your experience at Western?
Wrestling...has really shaped my entire life, because there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it or experience it. Since I was 14, it’s defined who I am.
Have your wrestling skills ever come in handy outside of competition?
Generally, wrestlers get stereotyped as being kind of rough and tough. I guess sometimes out at the bars when my guy friends get into fights they’re like, “You should join in,” but I don’t really do that kind of stuff. I try to keep it on the mats and take my aggression out there.
Do you plan to continue wrestling after university?
That would be the goal — to complete university and do more international and Olympic-level wrestling. That’s pretty much the goal of every wrestler.
What’s been your favourite course so far at Western?
I’d say anatomy. The prof is great and, being an athlete, it’s kind of cool to learn about how your body works.
How do you deal with the bumps and bruises from wrestling?
It’s gotten to a point where it doesn’t really affect me anymore. Being a wrestler, you’ve got to learn to be tough and deal with it.
Who is your favourite professional athlete?
I’d probably say Tonya Verbeek, just because she is a wrestler and she is actually at the weight that I wrestle at. She’s the first Canadian woman to medal at the Olympics for wrestling
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London wrestler shoots for senior national title
Ross McDermott, LondonTopic.ca
03/20/2007
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She's been in the sport for 10 years, and while competing as a freestyle wrestler can be rewarding in its individual competition, it can also be "the longest six minutes of your life."
Those were the words of Katie Patroch, who at the age of 24 will be taking a shot at a becoming the best women's freestyle wrestler in Canada in the 59 kg weight class during the Senior National Wrestling Championships in Calgary March 30.
Patroch, a science teacher at Westminster secondary school in London, is a member of the London-Western Wrestling Club and trains under the tutelage of head coach Ray Takahashi.
Her shot at a National Championship is not something the talented wrestler takes lightly, as she knows the competition among women at the tournament will be tough.
She said the national tournament is a small tournament, "probably the smallest I'll go to all year, but everyone that goes thinks they can win. It's going to be a fight for every point."
Presently, Patroch is a member of the Canadian National B-team, but is looking to finish number one in the country and earn a spot on the A-team. She's also looking to compete at the World Championships later this year.
In 2002 Patroch was the junior national champion and stepped it up a notch the following year when she became the 2003 Commonwealth wrestling champion.
She's was a three-time bronze medalist in Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling with Lakehead University, and last year at the senior nationals she took the silver medal.
This year Patroch won the Guelph Open and the Ontario Senior Championships, and exploded onto the international wrestling scene winning the Sunkist International Tournament as well as the NYAC Holiday Open International Wrestling Championships.
Though she does plan to compete at Canada's Olympic trials this year, if that highly-coveted competition is in her wrestling future, she thinks it will be in 2012 as opposed to next year.
"It's the ultimate goal for any athlete. The older I get the more my goals kind of change. I want to wrestle well and if that means making the national team – great. If it means going to the Olympics – great. I think the Olympics are within reach for me – in four years, not next year," she said.
Patroch said she's stopped putting too much pressure on herself, as she did when she was younger, and is focusing more on things she can control, "my fitness and my technique. I think that's one of the reasons I've had such a good year. I've been able to get rid of all that pressure."
Takahashi, head coach at the London-Western Wrestling Club, said though he's known Patroch for several years this is the first year he's had the opportunity to coach the talented athlete.
Himself a former Olympian, Takahashi said Patroch has the potential to be an Olympic champion.
"She's got the work ethic and she's got the talent. She has natural ability. But the other really important thing is she has some really good attacks and diversity in her technique. I look at her and what she can do – she can score points from a lot of places – good leg attacks, good ground work, she has throws – she's there," he said.
He said it's very difficult to be a complete wrestler and often if an athlete is lacking in one area they compensate in other areas.
"Katie has a lot of good qualities. She's pretty much really well rounded," Takahashi said.
Looking to the upcoming national tournament, he said Patroch's chances of grabbing the gold are very good.
"She's had a good year. She's won some international meets this year. It's not going to be easy. This sport is uncertain so… she's got a chance for sure."