Canton Wrestling Club

Club shirts can be ordered below! Check comments for a photo. 😃

FuzzyBee Fuzzy Bee/ Queen Bee Fundraiser Apparel $5 from every item goes to Fuzzy Bees Wrestling

PORTA Bluejay Wrestling Open info for tomorrow. Caravan will leave IMS at 7:00 am. All other info can be found on the flyer below.

Sherrard Open Wrestling Tournament info for tomorrow. Caravan will leave CHS at 6:30 am. All other info can be found on the flyer below.

Bear Country Wrestling Tournament info for tomorrow. Caravan will leave CHS at 6:00 am. All other info can be found on the flyer below.

Our 44th Annual Canton Wrestling Club Open Tournament will be held on April 27th. Please share with anyone you think might be interested!

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!! 🤼‍♀️

The Canton Wrestling Club is an organization of volunteers focused on teaching our kids the skills necessary to be competitive in the sport of wrestling. We traditionally have between 80-100 kids practicing and competing with us & NO prior experience is required.

CANTON WRESTLING CLUB SIGN-UP - TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2024

Come join the Canton Wrestling Club

WHERE: Sign-Ups will be @ Ingersoll Middle School Cafeteria

WHEN: 6-6:45pm Tuesday, March 5th
- At 6:15 the coaches will cover the details and answer any questions.

WHO: Ages 5 & up (if you have a wrestler younger than 5 please contact Coach Kees prior to the sign-up meeting – contact information is below)

WHAT TO BRING: please bring a copy (not the original) of the wrestler(s) birth certificate to sign-ups – if you wrestled for us in the past, then there is no need to bring a copy.

COST: the cost to participate in the club is free as long as each participating family sells the minimum # of items in our fundraiser. If a parent would prefer a “buyout” option instead of participating in the fundraiser then one can be calculated.

PRACTICES: every Tuesday & Thursday 6-7:00p for pre-K thru 4th grade & 7:00-8:15p for MS and HS wrestlers – starting March 12th.

COMPETITIONS: we will wrestle in tournaments every Saturday from mid-March through the end of April. All tournament, uniform, and insurance costs will be covered by the fundraiser. The tournaments are optional for each wrestler.

A schedule of practices and competitions will be distributed at the sign-up meeting.

Please come join us for our 45th year of wrestling in Canton – help us keep building on our strong tradition!

If you have any questions prior to the sign-up meeting, please contact: Matt Kees at 309-338-1327

Mark your calendars for pizza night…next Tuesday, January 23rd! Thank you Papa John’s for your generosity to give back to our community!

Man, people need to start taking more notice on this kid… Joseph Norton of Canton HS In Illinois! Canton’s AAU team, “ A Fuzzy and Queen Bees” did a great job at Disney Duals a couple weekends ago! The Girls got 4th place and the boys took 3rd. Joseph Norton took OW wrestler of the tournament and this is out of 56 team divisions! 😳. Joseph was an Illinois HS State Champion this past season and finished his Senior campaign with a 51-1 season record! And he just keeps consistently improving! Unbelievable.

Here is an excerpt I posted on Joseph a few months ago after he became a state champ:

* Shout-out to Joseph Norton out of Canton '23 (IL)/DC Elite WC for winning the 2023 Illinois HS State Wrestling Title at 1A 170 and finishing the season with a 51-1 season record!

HSA Boys Individual State Finals (02/16 - 02/18/2023)

1A 170 (1st)
Champ. Round 1 - Joseph Norton (Canton) 51-1 won by fall over Michael Kopecky (Niles (Northridge Prep)) 24-6 (Fall 2:26)

Quarterfinal - Joseph Norton (Canton) 51-1 won by decision over Alex Watson (Port Byron (Riverdale)) 50-8 (Dec 9-2)

Semifinal - Joseph Norton (Canton) 51-1 won by major decision over Nick Deloach Jr. (Cahokia (H.S.)) 42-10 (MD 12-2)

1st Place Match - Joseph Norton (Canton) 51-1 won by decision over Jackson Gillen (Yorkville (Christian)) 42-7 (Dec 10-6)

2023 Illinois HS State 1A 170
1st Place - Joseph Norton of Canton
2nd Place - Jackson Gillen of Yorkville (Christian)
3rd Place - Zane Pannell of Fulton (H.S.)
4th Place - Kyus Root of Tolono (Unity)
5th Place - Nick Deloach Jr. of Cahokia (H.S.)
6th Place - Alex Watson of Port Byron (Riverdale)
7th Place - Rex Pfeifer of Braidwood (Reed-Custer)
8th Place - Derek Carlson of Coal City

🔨!

Congrats to Joseph Norton for being awarded Outstanding Wrestler for Community 2!

Now let’s see what’s the boys do!!

2023 AAU National Scholastic Duals 4th Place in Girls Progressive Gold Division! Check out all that hardware!

Time for Day 2!
AAU Scholastic Duals!

All shirt and hat orders are ready for pick-up at Mel's.

Rumble info is posted below.

*If your wrestler didn't weigh in at practice, have them at Ingersoll at 8:15 for weigh-ins. See everyone tomorrow!

Fundraiser pick up is tonight from 5-6 in the IMS parking lot.

Just a reminder - if your children are participating in the OPTIONAL practice tomorrow - 1st-4th grades are 8-9:45. 5th grade and up is 10-12. No practice for K and under.

The Canton Wrestling Club Open will be held on Saturday, May 7. Please share with anyone who may be interested! 🤼‍♀️

As the boil order has been lifted, we WILL have practice tonight, Thursday, April 14. See you there! 🤼‍♀️

Wrestling practice is cancelled for tonight, Tuesday, April 12, due to city water issues. We will resume practice on Thursday.

Just a reminder there is NO PRACTICE on Thursday, March 17. We will see you on Tuesday, the 22nd - 4th grade and under 6-7pm, 5th grade and up 7-8:15pm.

WE ARE BACK!!

The Canton Wrestling Club is an organization of volunteers focused on teaching our kids the skills necessary to be competitive in the sport of wrestling. We traditionally have between 80-100 kids practicing and competing with us & NO prior experience is required.

CANTON WRESTLING CLUB SIGN-UP - TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

Come join the Canton Wrestling Club

WHERE: Sign-Ups will be @ Ingersoll Middle School Cafeteria

WHEN: 6-6:45pm Tuesday, March 8th

WHO: Ages 5 & up (if you have a wrestler younger than 5 please contact Coach Kees prior to the sign-up meeting – contact information is below)

WHAT TO BRING: please bring a copy of the wrestler(s) birth certificate to sign-ups – if you wrestled for us in the past, then there is no need to bring a copy.

COST: the cost to participate in the club is free as long as each participating family sells the minimum # of items in our fundraiser. If a parent would prefer a “buyout” option instead of participating in the fundraiser then one can be calculated.

PRACTICES: every Tuesday & Thursday 6-7:00p for pre-K thru 4th grade & 7:00-8:15p for MS and HS wrestlers – starting March 15th.

COMPETITIONS: we will wrestle in tournaments every Saturday from mid-March through the end of April. All tournament, uniform, and insurance costs will be covered by the fundraiser. The tournaments are optional for each wrestler.

A schedule of practices and competitions will be distributed at the sign-up meeting.

Please come join us for our 43rd year of wrestling in Canton – help us keep building on our strong tradition!

If you have any questions prior to the sign-up meeting, please contact: Matt Kees at 338-1327

Wrestling season update -

We would like to provide an update about our ability to start practices during our normal schedule. Unfortunately, we are unable to resume the Canton Wrestling Club practices this spring. As many of you know, the school has always been kind enough to allow us to use their facilities & mats to conduct practices and competitions. However, at this time, the school is not able to allow 3rd party organizations to use their facilities. Therefore, our normal practice calendar in March and April will not be able to occur. We know this is extremely disappointing news but we are hopeful that we will be able to conduct a free wrestling camp this summer for students K-11th grades.

We did receive positive news recently about the school wrestling programs for our wrestlers from 5th - 12th grade. The state athletic governing bodies (IHSA & IESA) will be conducting wrestling seasons starting in early April. We are glad to see some return to normalcy for the sport we love. If you have a student in grades 5th-12th please have them be on the lookout for wrestling sign-ups for the High School and Middle School teams.

We ask that you please continue to check back to our page for more updates on the potential summer wrestling camp.

Canton Wrestling Family

Unfortunately, as many of you have already heard, our champion that we have all been praying for passed away on Monday. I ask that all of you continue to pray for Hunters family and friends as they manage through this extremely difficult time. Hunter was an unbelievable talent on the wrestling mat, he was fearless, fun and his smile and laugh lit up the room. But most importantly he was a great teammate that quite honestly found more joy in seeing his teammates achieve their goals than in celebrating his own successes. We will all miss his tenacity and fun loving approach but more importantly we will miss his presence on our bench & in our wrestling room - cheering on his friends and teammates. Though we will miss his physical presence, we will never forget the positive impact he made on all of our lives. And we will honor him by coaching, wrestling and cheering with the same fearless - fun loving passion he brought everyday!

Rest In Peace Hunter - we will never forget you and we will always love you!

Hunter L. Brawdy Obituary, March 18, 2006 - September 28, 2020 Hunter L. Brawdy Canton-Hunter L. Brawdy, 14, passed away on Monday, September 28, 2020 at OSF St Francis Medical Center in Peoria. He was born on March

It’s been a strange and tough year, but today we got news that makes the rest of 2020 seem like nothing. One of our very own wrestlers, Hunter Brawdy, has been diagnosed with a terrible disease and he is in the fight of his young life. If you know Hunter you know he is a fighter and he doesn’t back down from any challenge. But just to remind Hunter about the wrestling family he is part of - let’s not let him fight alone! We ask that everyone from this wonderful group that we call the Canton Wrestling Family say a prayer for Hunter and his family and please continue to pray for them. They need us all now more than ever.

We know to most people wrestling is an individual sport, but this family knows that no wrestler battles alone. His wrestling family is always with him, cheering from the bench and from the stands. Let’s make sure Hunter hears and feels our prayers.

God Bless all of you and God Bless Hunter & his family.

-The Coaches

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of the founder of the Canton Wrestling Club, Dick Reffett. He was a great supporter of our local wrestling community, including the wrestling club throughout his life. He will be greatly missed. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Richard Dick Reffett Obituary, July 20, 1937 - July 15, 2020 Richard "Dick Reffett Canton-Richard "Dick" Reffett, 82, passed away on Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at Graham Hospital Emergency room. He was

To the entire Canton Wrestling Club Family:

I hate that I have to write this but with school closures being extended through the end of the school year that means that our ability to safely conduct any practices is non-existent. As a result, this also means we will be canceling the 2020 Canton Open and the 2020 Lil’ Giant Rumble. These are very difficult decisions and they were not made lightly, but they are necessary. The entire coaching staff is very disappointed how the 2020 wrestling season has ended. The first, and now only practice, was attended by a record number of students. As you witnessed, the mats were completely full during both practices and we saw great excitement in the wrestling room from all age groups. We were no doubt poised to have a fantastic & fun Club season.

To the wrestlers:

First let me say thanks for your interest and excitement about wrestling – your energy & effort makes the sport fun. I’ve even read some journals that have been posted online about how much you enjoyed the first practice and how you were looking forward to the season. Please remember that excitement and keep it stored in your heart for next season. WE WILL BE BACK and we want to see every one of you back on the mats next season.

For our seniors:

Thanks for all that you have done for the program over the years and thanks for the great memories. Remember, once a wrestler you are always a wrestler – Always a Little Giant! Last but most importantly, please stay in touch, your wrestling family is always here for you.

To our Adults (Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Guardians, anyone):

Thanks for your interest in the club and thanks for trusting us with your students care during practice. Please remember us when next February/March rolls around. Our plan will be to have the same schedule: sign-ups in Early March 2021, practices March & April, competitions on Saturdays throughout March/April, with the Canton Open and Lil’ Giant Rumble at the end of our season. We truly believe the sport of wrestling can transform the lives of everyone and we absolutely believe there is a place in our sport for anyone that is willing to be humble, work hard, and have fun!

To my fellow coaches:

Your selfless efforts to teach our students the sport of wrestling is the engine that makes this program go! All of you put in countless untold hours, whether it’s the coaches in Club practices, the gentlemen that train our elite students in the Stinger program, or the Coaches in our Middle School and High School programs that spend 6 days a week for months on end training our kids – ALL OF YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE. But let this be a lesson to each of us - our time with our wrestlers is precious and we should always take time to reflect on our responsibility and to make sure we make every moment about helping them grow as wrestlers but more importantly as individuals. I know you each take this responsibility seriously and boy did we just learn how precious the time with them really is. In my humble, but completely biased opinion, you are the best there is!

Everyone please be safe, take care of your family and do what you can to support others.


Thank you and Best Regards,

Coach Kees

Wrestling practice update -

We wanted to provide you a quick update of the status of practices. Obviously, it's impossible for us to conduct practices and adhere to social distancing requirements. Practices are suspended until students are physically able to return to schools. Until that time, Coach Kees would like you to please keep working on your push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and stretching. Practice your stance and step of champions. Hopefully we'll return to the mat soon. Until then, be good to your family at home, be safe, and work hard on your school work.

The Canton Wrestling Club will follow the same guidelines as the Illinois schools. Therefore, we will be unable to conduct practice until Tuesday March 31st. Please follow for updates.

Reminder - there is NO Wrestling Club practice tonight. Practice will resume on Tuesday (Pre-K-4th 6-7pm and 5th-High School 7-8:15pm) unless there is a need to avoid close contact as a result of the daily COVID-19 updates.
*We will err on the side of health and safety. As an example, you may be aware that the IESA State Wrestling Tournament has been cancelled due to these concerns. Please monitor our page for practice updates.*