It is that time of year where we need to talk about skin disease. Like it or not, this is a part of wrestling. At some point, your child will get skin some sort of infection from wrestling.

We clean and sanitize the mats between each practice session, but the reality is that skin disease prevention is the responsibility of each wrestler and their parents. 

Every wrestler and parent should be doing the following daily:

• Checking your wrestler's skin every day for any signs of abnormal spots, lesions, sores, etc. 

• If you notice anything, call your primary care physician or dermatologist and get an appointment asap.

• Do not come to practice until you have been cleared by a doctor and assured that your wrestler does not have a skin disease or they have started treatment and are no longer contagious.

• Showering/bathing daily with soap and water - the best way to prevent skin disease is to lightly rinse, lather with anti-bacterial soap head to toe for 3-5 minutes, and then rinse off. Let the soap sit on the skin for 3-5 minutes before washing it off. 

• Wash wrestling and workout clothes daily (this includes knee sleeves)

• Wash/sanitize headgear and wrestling shoes weekly

• During competition, you should have defense soap or wipes on hand and your wrestler should use these between matches since they cannot immediately shower.

This is the not so fun part of wrestling. But we all have to do our part to prevent the spread of various skin diseases. It hurts to tell your wrestler he/she can't come in the room and do what they love because they have a "spot" on their head, face, arm, leg, etc. But we have to error on the side of caution, as taking chances may cost someone else a chance at competing and doing what they love. As a coach, it is an easy call. As a parent, it hurts and I get it. But I ask everyone to think of the team first and help prevent the unnecessary spread of any disease or illness, not just skin diseases. 

Practice attire should be a t-shirt, shorts, socks, and wrestling shoes. Please have your wrestler bring a water bottle as well.

Yes! Wrestling Shoes are a mandatory requirement for all participants.

No. Headgear is not required. Headgear may be required to compete in some of the higher level tournaments such as RMN, WOW, and USAW National Events, but headgear is not needed for practice and we discourage the wearing of headgear at practice.

All club members and participants MUST have a USAW athlete membership before participating in any Sunnyvale Wrestling Club activity. This includes but is not limited to practices, scrimmages, dual meets, tournaments, camp attendance, and off-season workouts. In addition to being a mandatory club requirement, a USAW athlete membership is required by Peak2Peak & WSWL to participate in their events and tournaments.

Please arrive at least 10–15 minutes before the start of practice. Wrestling is a sport of discipline. We expect the discipline to start by arriving to practice on time and being ready to go at the start of practice.

Coaches are very strict about kids not wearing their wrestling shoes outside of the wrestling room. Anything that that a wrestler steps on while wearing their wrestling shoes will end up on the mat. Whatever is on the mat will end up on your child's skin, face, and in their mouth. To prevent the spread of common skin and communicable diseases like ringworm and impetigo, we ask that you please ensure that your wrestler put their shoes and take them off only in the wrestling room.

Competition gear is not required, but it is strongly encouraged. If your wrestler plans on competing at tournaments they should have a team singlet to wear at tournaments. Black Fox branded shirts, shorts, hoodies, joggers, etc. is not required, but again, we do encourage all our kids to wear Black Fox Wrestling Academy gear and look the part, if possible.

Yes, parents can watch practice. In fact we encourage our Beginner parents to remain at practice to assist with any emotional issues that sometimes occur with younger athletes.

As kids mature and advance, we encourage parents to stay out of the room during practice and allow their wrestler to focus on what is being taught and communicated by their coaches and not how mom and dad are responding to every move, drill, and live-go.

As kids enter our Elite Youth and HS rooms, we strongly discourage parents from watching practice. It is time to let your kids grow, mature, learn how to fail, and overcome adversity. Parents coaching and videotaping from the sideline will be asked to leave the room. Repeat violations will result in removal of the parent and athlete from the club.

Sunnyvale Wrestling Club is built on volunteer coaches. We need more coaches with high-level wrestling experience to continue to develop the kids and hep coach at practice and tournaments.

In order to coach at Sunnyvale Wrestling Club you must be USAW Wrestling Leader certified. The certification process is done through USA Wrestling. The process to become Wrestling Leader certified is outlined below:

1. Go to usawmembership.com

2. Create a Profile and ensure you affiliate yourself with Sunnyvale Wrestling Club

3. Go to Purchase/Renew Memberships

4. Choose the Wrestling Leader Membership

5. Follow the instructions to complete the mandatory background check and take the mandatory Safe Sport Training Modules

6. Upon passing the background check and passing all the Safe Sport Modules, you will be allowed to purchase your Wrestling Leader Membership.

Once you have your USAW Wrestling Leader membership, reach out to Coach Daniel McCune or another Sunnyvale Wrestling Club coach to talk about how you can help and get involved with the kids!