Andy Close
WARREN, Pa. – At Sunday’s camp, young wrestlers at the Kinzua Wrestling Club got to learn from some of the very best.
That included Penn State’s two-time national champion Carter Starocci, a Cathedral Prep graduate, as well as other members of the Penn State national championship wrestling team.
The camp was put on in conjunction with Mark Steen and Bad Karma Wrestling based in Greenville. Steen’s son, Gary, also wrestles at Penn State.
“Basically, we’re a youth development outfit,” said Denny Johnson of the KWC. “We’re trying to teach personal and social responsibility using wrestling as a vehicle to deliver the goods.”
Johnson said that the club looks to collaborate with others similar to it, including Bad Karma.
“Bad Karma is a well established club and they offered to come up and help out,” Johnson said. “The director (Mark Steen), his son wrestles for Penn State, so that’s the connection there. So they agree to come up , bring their kids up and we work out together.”
Starocci and others from Penn State, including Steen’s son, Gary, and former Harbor Creek standout Connor Pierce, worked with the young wrestlers on a number of different things, from technique to different types of moves.
Staorcci was there for the morning session and the other Penn State grapplers were there for the afternoon session.
The camp was just another example of how the KWC is looking to reach the goals that Johnson talked about.
“We’re trying to partner with people who already have stuff,” Johnson said. “That’s kind of how it all came about. “You see, we’ve worked with the Warren volleyball team and done some stuff, we’re getting ready to do something with female athletes in cross country. We’re just really trying to be community based.”
