GIRLS ONLY

Youth wrestling camp led by former state champ geared toward teaching girls fundamentals and discipline

Ieditor

n years past, this was the time of year that Devin Carter made a name for himself locally.

The former Panther wrestler earned multiple trips to St. Paul to compete in the Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament, winning an individual title as a junior in 2023. But don’t think that because his days of competition are behind him that his involvement with the sport is gone as well.

Today, Carter, along with another former wrestler, Justin Stoks, are directors of a youth girls’ wrestling camp at Tracy Area High School. The former grapplers are now the ones instructing youth — in this case, female youth.

“Girls’ wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the world right now,” Carter said. “It’s cool to be a part of that. Obviously, I still want to be involved, and this is one way to do it. My niece, Annie Bruder, is a wrestler, too, and that gave

ROBYN STOKS gets in her stance as part of a drill at a recent girls’ wrestling camp in Tracy. INSET: Former Panther wrestler and 2023 Class A state high school wrestling champ Devin Carter, along with Stoks’ father, Justin, lead the weekly camp. Photos / Per Peterson me more motivation to help. Whatever I can do to help girls in the area, I’ll do it.”

Carter went onto wrestle for a time at Southwest Minnesota State University, but has given that up to focus on his studies — he is majoring in business management and plans on going for a minor in marketing — and his professional career. He has also recently accepted a job as a recruiter for the National Guard.

He said stepping away from a sport he has enjoyed and excelled in since he was a little kid wasn’t as difficult as many would think. Although he does miss his days on the mat and especially competing, he cherishes everything being a wrestler taught him.

“Just going through wrestling, you kind of learn that wrestling isn’t everything,” he said. “It does help you building everything for the rest of your life; it puts that confidence in you, teachers you how to work. I knew I wasn’t going to be the best college wrestler … I knew that there were other things that needed my time more than that.”

Carter’s camp, which is held on Sundays in the high school wrestling room, isn’t just about what happens physically on the mat. While he and Stoks conduct wrestling-specific drills and teach fundamentals and technique, the sport — as any wrestler will tell you — is also about what goes on between the ears.

“It’s more important right now to focus on increasing their confidence,” Carter said. “Being so new, it’s more important for them to know that they’re not going to be as skilled as the boys who have been wrestling since they were 4 years old like I did. It’s about confidence, instilling discipline, and obviously we want to help them get their hand raised at the end of the match.”

Like Carter, Stoks was motivated by family, as his 8-year-old daughter, Robyn, is one of the members of the camp. Her interest was piqued before the girls’ program at Tracy Area High School started, so any experience she had going into this year was against boys.

“She wanted to go out for it and I didn’t realize how big it was,” Stoks said. “I talked to Devin about getting something together and we kind of reached out to other places.”

The camp is open to young girls from around the area, and skill level is not an issue. Stoks said he works with girls entirely new to the sport, while Carter helps the more experienced girls improve.

“Our goal is to just build this area up with young girls, so by the time they get to high school, they know the commitment it takes,” said Stoks, who wrestled at Yellow Medicine East. “This year, a lot of the local tournaments did have girls’ brackets, but it was still tough because there wasn’t that many that came out. It would by great to have an all-girls NYWA tournament in a couple years.”