At 34, wrestling coach and staunch supporter of the sport, Paul
Berthiaume, has witnessed a lot of changes over the years and
is excited about the future. Wrestling in Sudbury and across
the north is experiencing a strong period with many young
up-and-coming mat stars making their presence felt in the
provincial and national stages. He has been coaching wrestling
since he was 18.  Berthiaume, head coach of the Rayside
Wrestling Club and the Chelmsford High School team, recently
took time out of his busy schedule to share his thoughts on the
state of school and club wrestling.
SH: Overall, what is the state of wrestling in Sudbury right now?
PB: With two clubs in town, Rayside Wrestling Club and Sudbury
Golden Eagles, we get a chance to practice together and compete
against each other. Both teams have quality wrestlers and I
would consider the wrestling clubs like all-star teams in
hockey.  Both clubs pull the best wrestlers from the high
school teams and travel out of town with these high level
wrestlers.
SH: What stands out the most about boys' wrestling?
PB: The boys' wrestling in Sudbury is down in numbers but the
quality is still there. There are still many boys in Sudbury,
such as the Burton brother, who live and breathe wrestling. The
Lockerby team also has a huge number of boys that are NOSSA
champions in 2006.
SH: What stands out most about girls' wrestling?
PB: The girls' wrestling in Sudbury is awesome. We had two
OFSAA champions from Macdonald-Cartier last season and a few
other medal winners from the city. Most of the girls are back
this season and I suspect because they've practicing with the
boys, this will toughen them up and they should have a good
showing at OFSAA this season.
SH: In terms of quality and quantity, is the Sudbury
wrestling scene getting better?
PB: The quantity has never been there.  We're competing
consistently with teams from down south who have sometimes
50-60 wrestlers on their team. As far as team trophies go,
Sudbury won't be winning too many because we can't cover all
the weight categories like Toronto teams do.
As far as quality, we have some very high calibre athletes
coming out of the region such as Diana Ford, Celeste Rodrigues,
Dylan Byrnes and Jenna Howard. These four all placed at the
nationals last year or at OFSAA high school championships.
SH: I've heard this season has some of the best numbers in years? Is this true? Why is it?
PB: I think girls' wrestling is more accepted now because the
2004 Olympics finally let the girls compete for the first time.
Two Canadians placed Top 5 and Canada finished, I believe,
third overall as a country.
As for boys, we're seeing the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts
go through the roof.  Wrestling is a huge fundamental
skill in order to compete in such competitions.  Many
athletes are now starting to cross-train in wrestling in order
to become a better ultimate fighter.  One young guy from
Sudbury Secondary High School, Jean Marc Lalonde, has already
competed in Ultimate Cage Wars and won his first fight
basically using solely wrestling skills and takedowns.
SH: What has to be done to ensure wrestling continues to excel in Sudbury?
PB: We need more volunteer coaches, teachers preferably. 
Most schools are very happy to let volunteers help out and are
very welcoming but teacher coaches make things easier. There
are a lot of wrestlers who have gone off to teacher's college
from Sudbury but are not returning to Sudbury for some reason,
especially on the girls' side.
SH: How would you rate and compare local wrestlers to the rest of the province and country?
PB: We always do well as a city, whether as a club or school,
Sudbury in general is known across Canada as a force  to
be reckoned with. We had a few OFSAA champions, one national
champion and numerous Top 6 finishes last season and I expect
better results in 2007. Rayside finished second at the winter
games last year for the boys' team as well.
SH: Why is the sport good for kids to take up? What are the benefits?
PB: Self confidence. I can remember a kid, Matt Bushie, back in
Grade 5 who used to wrestle for my club. He was a big kid and
quite shy.  I don't think he even won a match for about
five years. But by the end of his high school career, he was
third in the province and all the heavyweights in Ontario knew
him by name.  It's a tough sport and very lonely sometimes
because you have to be self motivated and like any solo sport
there is only yourself to blame if you don't train hard enough.
Wrestling also creates strength, flexibility, endurance and
overall toughness.
SH: It seems the entire local wrestling community is tight, even competing schools? Why is it and why is it so good to have this relationship?
PB: It' s funny to think you would battle it out one minute on
the mat and the next day you'd be travelling on the bus to the
next tourney together. All the teams in Toronto think we are
crazy to train together and travel together. Most of the other
regions do not get along at all, much less train together. Most
of the coaches are friends in Sudbury and have competed against
or together with one another for many years. I think we all
like being so close. It makes a better and friendlier
atmosphere for the kids.
SH: What's the biggest challenge facing local wrestling and how does it get cleared?
PB: We are running short on refs. We need the refs to be able
to host tourneys in Sudbury. Like any sport, the refs usually
are never praised, only yelled at. We need some graduating
wrestlers to step up and fill in the referring jobs and
coaching jobs.
