Grizzlies Go To Camp

Over the past couple of weeks several of the Grace Grizzly athletes have taken part in summer sports camps.  The camps offered the athletes the opportunity to brush up on some basic skills while learning new ones and improving in their sport.  In addition to taking part in physical tasks several of the kids got to learn and hear from some world class athletes.  The coaches and players took advantage of all of these opportunities and will go into their upcoming seasons better prepared.

WRESTLING

The Idaho high school wrestling season won't start until November however for Coach James Newby and his family wrestling isn't seasonal.  It's a lifestyle.  Since his arrival at Grace High School in 2018 coach Newby has worked diligently to establish a positive wrestling culture within Grace High and the results speak for themselves.  The Grace wrestling program has won the top scoring team at the state tournament more than once while producing several individual state champions.  One of the things coach Newby has pushed is offseason work.  Coach Newby along with his wife Misty, who coaches the Grizzly girls wrestling team, have looked for and found several opportunities for the kids to gain some of that offseason experience.  The Newby’s took one of those opportunities earlier this month.  They along with nine of their wrestlers traveled to the University of Providence in Great Falls Montana to take part in a wrestling camp.  In this case the Grizzlies literally went camping as the Newbys pulled their camp trailer and the team stayed at a KOA campground.  The trip got off to a rocky start as the camper had a tire blowout on the trip up.  The advantage to having a team of wrestlers along on the trip was that there were many hands to help get the tire changed and back on the road.  From there the trip was filled with lots of fun and hard work.  Over the five day camp the Grizzly wrestlers, that consisted of five boys and four girls, would take part in two hour sessions with breaks in between.  The camp was put on by brothers Bill and Mike Zadick.  Mike Zadick was a three time All American winning the Big 10 title in 2002.  Bill Zadick won the NCAA championship while at Iowa and followed that with a gold medal at the 2006 World Wrestling Championships.  The brothers shared their knowledge and insight on a variety of subjects from technique to what it takes to wrestle in college and beyond.  For many of the wrestlers the highlight of the camp came on day four when Vito Arujau came to camp to share some of his experiences and advice.  Arujau is a back to back NCAA champion, a two time US National champion and a world champion.  The Grizzlies were fortunate enough to have Arujau spend some time with just their team talking about just life in general.  Coach Newby talked about that experience saying, “Our kids came away saying he’s really just a cool down to earth guy.  A kid like Carter Kimball walked away from that thinking I could be one of these guys.”  Carter Kimball is a reigning state champion for the Grizzlies and finished in the top three for outstanding wrestler at this camp.  Mack Jorgensen will be a sophomore for the Grizzlies this year.  When asked what his favorite part of camp was he replied, “Getting to talk to really impressive people like Vito, Mike and Bill.”  Incoming Freshman Kade Kimball added, “My favorite part was getting to know all of the cool people and getting their autographs while talking about how they have become what they have.”  The Grizzlies only graduated one wrestler this past year while winning the state's top scoring 1A team.  Look for them to continue to cement their spot as the top small school in the state this upcoming year.    

VOLLEYBALL

Over the past several years former head coach Hedi Stoddard has resurrected the Grace High School volleyball program back to relevance.  With Stoddard stepping down after last season to spend more time with family combined with the graduation of a very strong senior class many Grizzly fans are left wondering where the program goes from here?  Enter new head coach Kaycie Christensen.  Coach Christensen is taking over what has been a very successful program in recent years including a second place finish at state last season.  However whenever there is change there can be new challenges.  Coach Christensen is a first time varsity head coach and she will only have a couple of returning players with varsity experience.  Many people would see those challenges as overwhelming or even intimidating.  Christensen however welcomes the challenge and is excited about the upcoming season.  Speaking about the loss of last year's seniors and the current inexperience Christensen stated, “These girls work hard and there is still a ton of potential in there.  I think people will be surprised by what these girls have to show.”  Even though this is her first job as a head coach in high school she is not without experience.  Christensen is an alumni of Grace High School and actually played and coached under the aforementioned Coach Stoddard.  Additionally she has coached club volleyball for girls moving from the 8th to 9th grades as well as being the head Jr. High girls basketball coach.  It was while under the tutelage of Coach Stoddard that Christensen first heard of the organization Gold Medal Squared.  Being new to head coaching Christensen knew she would need help to get started and run the program.  She remembered Stoddard talking about going to a Gold Medal Squared coaching clinic.  “Hedi had all good things to say about them so I thought let's give it a shot and they were willing to come here to put on a camp.”  Gold Medal Squared sent the two man crew of Mike Rogers and Shane Holiday.  Rogers and Holiday spent four days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  teaching the girls a variety of lessons that they should be able to implement in their play this upcoming season.  Christensen also stated, “Volleyball has been evolving.  Even just simple fundamentals that change the way we pass.  It's been cool to see the girls adapt to that and pick up on it.”  I caught up with the team at the city park where they were roasting hot dogs and unwinding from a long day of work.  Josie Newby being one of the few girls with any varsity experience when asked about her camp experience responded, “I have loved it.  I've learned how to work with these girls, because I haven't played with most of them.  And I have learned basic skills and refining my mistakes and bad habits.”  With lots of youth and depth Coach Christensen will have plenty to work with this upcoming season as the Lady Grizzlies will look to continue their presence on the volleyball stage statewide.

FOOTBALL

The Grizzly football team will return a mix of familiar faces along with some first time varsity players this upcoming season.  In addition to his wrestling coaching duties coach James Newby returns for his fourth season at the helm for the Grizzlies.  In his previous three seasons he has qualified for the state tournament each year placing second in 2022 and third in 2023.  Wrestling may be his favorite sport but he is no slouch on the gridiron.  Coach Newby is tireless when it comes to preparation for his football team.  Some of that preparation comes in the form of a team camp which took place last week.  Even though weather in Idaho can be unpredictable few expected the chilly conditions that the Grizzlies faced on day one of camp.  There were even very brief sightings of snow in the middle of June.  The football team didn't have any outside coaching or famous athletes show up but that didn't prevent them from having a productive and enjoyable camp.  The boys worked on fundamentals of the game while getting their first taste of the year's playbook and terminology.  Like the volleyball team the football team did lose some key players to graduation this past year.  When Coach Newby was asked how he felt about the team's prospects this year he responded,”I really like this group.  We've got a pretty intelligent group.  They're smart and they're fast.  I think thats going to benefit us for sure.”  When we talked about specific personnel Newby started with the guys upfront.  “It's nice to have some experience on the line with the Carson’s.  (Carson Welch and Carson Reeves)  Then the Moss boy stepping up and being a new center, that's going to be vital to our success.  Those three on the line will have a strong backfield with Smith, Kimball and Mathews.”  Newby also mentioned how excited he is about the JV team.  “That freshman group is fun to watch.  With them joining the JV it's gonna be a fun year.”  I spoke briefly with Junior quarterback Gavin Draper about the upcoming season.  “We have a good group of upperclassmen and we get along great.  We've been working hard in the weightroom pushing each other and getting that chemistry.”  The Grizzlies wrapped up their four day camp with a five on five tournament open to the public to watch.  Team Newby came out on top with Carson Reeves (sr), Cooper Anderson (jr) CJ Newby (so) Kade Kimball (fr) Dillon Wood (fr) Gage Brower (fr).  The Grizzlies will start their season at home against the team that has ended their season the past two years the Oakley Hornets.  With the power rankings having playoff implications now every game will be important this season and with Coach Newby’s guidance you can bet the Grizzlies will be prepared for every one of them.