For the first time in nearly a decade, Memorial University once again has a wrestling team. Newfoundland’s wrestling community came together for Canada Games, and as a result the Sea-Hawks have returned to the mat.
It all started when head coach Peter Petipas reached out to Mason Drover, a Memorial student and president of the men’s wrestling team. Petipas has been coaching wrestling for over two decades, including the previous Sea-Hawks team and the provincial team.
Many of his athletes who participated in the Canada Games were Memorial Students or soon-to-be Memorial students, which gave a perfect opportunity to form the Sea-Hawks wrestling teams once again.
According to Drover, he has always loved wrestling, and it’s been part of his life since high school. This changed with the workload of university and the other stresses of life, but he found his way back to the sport.
Unlike many of the Memorial Seahawks teams, wrestling is an open mat: everyone is welcome, regardless of experience, athleticism, or body type.
Practices are free and take place from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Wednesdays and Sundays.
According to Abbigayle Lee, the president of the women’s team, they aim to make the club “welcoming and beginner-friendly, making it an outlet for those looking to make friends or drop in for exercise.”
The team is working towards competing across the country at the university level. Such a return would continue Memorials’ over 50-year legacy of national competition.
Wrestler and Canada Games athlete, Luke Macpherson, says that he loves wrestling for its “resilience…to go to the next level takes work, and you get out exactly what you put in—you earn everything on your own.”
Wrestling is one of those sports that can be as serious as you want it to be, and everyone can get something out of it.
For athletes, it will test you. Few sports are more intense, and it will improve your athleticism.
From my experience at the practice, wrestling will have you out of breath and fighting for your life, far beyond what you thought your body was capable of. It can also be slow and technical, like a game of physical chess—practices are all based on what you want to get out of it.