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NEW ULM - Jeff Hawkins, the lead instructor of The Granby System Wrestling Clinic, gets to see some of the finest wrestlers in the country.

On Tuesday, at the clinic's stop at The Armory, Hawkins and those with the clinic got to see some of New Ulm's wrestlers try to work on the highly successful system that has helped numerous wrestlers win state all over the country.

The Granby Clinic was helping out the 29 wrestlers at the Rolling Thunder Wrestling Camp. The wrestlers, who ranged from age 8 through high school, spent all day Monday and Tuesday working with Hawkins and some college wrestlers on the Granby System. The Camp is scheduled to continue today.

Rolling Thunder President Michael Howk said that it's the first year that the Granby System has come to town.

"We brought in the Granby System Wrestling to do a camp for local wrestlers," Howk said.

Hawkins explained the Granby System and how it works.

"The Granby is a bottom maneuver - it's a five-point maneuver off the bottom position," he said. "It's equivalent to an interception returned for a touchdown in football."

The system shows wrestlers the way to take individual holds and put them together in a series that allows the wrestler to move smoothly from one attack to another. At the Clinic, wrestlers are taught takedowns, topwork and bottomwork and how to use these moves to become a better wrestler.

The system has also been used by college athletes and was recently used in a NCAA tournament. In fact, one of the assistant coaches at the clinic was a National Champion at Division II Adams State in Colorado.

Hawkins, who has been working with the camp for 22 years, said that he and his crew is constantly studying the system and making improvements to it.

"Basically we show all of the wrestling styles and all of the positions and we like to think of ourselves as the innovators," Hawkins said. "We like to look at all of the wrestling and our specialty is to develop drills that can make the hold easier and safer all the way down to these guys."

This year there are camps in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Iowa, Louisiana, Illinois and New Jersey, so the summer by no means is slow for the clinic.

And while Hawkins will soon be departing for another camp in another state, he was impressed by the wrestlers in New Ulm.

"These boys know how to wrestle -The Rolling Thunder knows how to wrestle," he said.