John Brooks, the wrestling coach at Lowry High School, held wrestling sessions July 9-11 in the upstairs wrestling room in the new gym at LHS.
Brooks was the assistant wrestling coach for seven years before he became the head coach 13 years ago.
"I like being the wrestling coach because I like what it does to kids, discipline wise,” Brooks said. “Wrestling proves to them how mentally tough they can be. Wrestling can do that like no other sport.”
LHS senior wrestler Caleb Sanchez explained why he came to these sessions.
“I thought it would be good to get a little extra in during the summer and learn some techniques from former state champions,” Sanchez said. “I’ve learned some extra tricks to pin people and how to get off the bottom,” Sanchez added.
“I want the kids to see Michael and Beau (Billingsley). They came through the Lowry program,” said Brooks. “It’s always enjoyable for me when my old wrestlers come back.”
Michael graduated from LHS in 2013 and recently graduated from the Air Force Academy in May.
Beau graduated from LHS in 2015 and is currently attending the Air Force Academy. The brothers also wrestled at the Academy.
“I’ve learned so much in this wrestling room, since I was 5 years old,” Michael said. “If I can come back and help out a little bit, I always like to do that.”
“I wanted to get better and work on my moves during the summer,” quipped eighth-grader Coda Nichols. “I’ve learned how to shoot ‘high crotches’ different ways and different set ups. “I’ve also learned how to do different things on top, like ‘tilts’.”
“Kids that attend these sessions will get better, they are doing something that their competition probably isn’t doing." concluded Brooks.
