Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Fifteen South African wrestlers were among the approximately 200 young grapplers who gathered last week for the fifth annual Santiam Wrestling Camp held at Sweet Home High School.
The team of cadet wrestlers, coached by Christo Lottering Sr., arrived in Oregon on a flight from South Africa July 8 and spent two days at the camp before leaving for Oregon State University to participate in another camp for wrestlers preparing for the U.S. Nationals to be held July 19-27 in Fargo, N.D. When they are done in Oregon, the visitors will head for Colorado for some dual meets there, Lottering said.
Sweet Home Coach Steve Thorpe said that the South Africans were the first cultural-exchange team that have participated in any of the camps he’s run at Sweet Home.
Sweet Home wrestlers Kris Newport and Kyle Hummer are planning to compete in the nationals and, along with Brock Crocker, were among the wrestlers working out in the elite section, one of three in the camp.
The South Africans went head-to-head with wrestlers from around the state and they fit right in.
“It’s been chipper,” said Lottering, a large, quiet man who was busy videotaping the workouts run by Roseburg Coach Steve Lander.
Lottering’s son, Christo Lottering Jr., 16, is planning to wrestle at the end of the year in an international cadet meet in India, so the trip to the U.S. was a chance for him to get more international experience, he said. He wrestled two years ago in Germany and last year in Russia.
Lottering Jr. said the Oregon wrestlers were “good.”
“They move around a lot,” he said. “I move around, but not as fast. These guys are a lot faster.”
Still, Lottering and his teammates were showing plenty of speed, particularly in counters and reversals, in workouts with the U.S. wrestlers. Though they spoke Afrikaans primarily to each other, they also spoke good English so the Oregon wrestlers could communicate with them.
Neil Russo, coach at Newburg, coordinator for the camp sessions, said that the camp went well.
“This is a really good group of kids,” he said. “We don’t have returning All-Americans like we’ve had in the past. I think Bubba Owens (of Tillamook) is the only one.
“But we have some really good kids here. I think they’ll be some more (All-Americans). It’s fun to train the team for Fargo.”
Thorpe said the camp, with three levels of ability and instruction, “was absolutely the best we have had.
“How the kids behaved, how hard we worked, the level of discipline and dedication, the support of our school, the talent of the coaches – it was a very, very good camp,” he said.
He said there were more than 50 national-caliber wrestlers at the camp, as well as some of the top teams in the state.
With that mix, Thorpe said, “you have a good stew of competitive, highly motivated athletes. It absolutely couldn’t have worked out any better.”