At the camp were University of Minnesota assistant wrestling coach Zach Sanders and four-time NCAA national qualifier and fifth-year University of Minnesota wrestler Andrew Sparks.

“It’s pretty cool to see some of these same kids, because I see them each year,” Sanders, who has helped with the camp all four years, said. “And I see how they’ve developed over the past four years. Just coming back to the same place each year. Other than that, just trying to expose them to some high-quality wrestling skills and things that hopefully they master, basic skills, but also put in some fun things for them to do to, some new techniques and stuff they probably haven’t seen before. We try to balance that out.”

Sanders and Sparks helped both the morning session students first through sixth grade and the afternoon for students seventh through 12th grade with fundamentals and positioning strategies.

“What we worked on a lot is just stance positioning,” Sanders said. “How to stay loaded in your stance to attack and defend at the same time. Along with that is a lot of head position drills, and then using our hands to create angles for our own attacks. A lot of stuff like that.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Gophers assistant wrestling coach Zach Sanders gives some pointers to participants of the Gophers Wrestling Camp on the Rolling Thunder Facility Wednesday.

Sparks also was able to introduce some hand-fighting skills that he specialized in as a Gopher.

“Trying to instill in these high school kids what works at each level,” Sanders said. “People think that it’s got to be drastically different from high school to college, but the skills that you’ve got to get good at are the same, its just guys are better at doing them. There’s not too many secrets, you’ve just got to do the things a little bit better at the next level.”

Sanders said that he especially saw improvement in the younger wrestlers from four years ago, as they had improved drastically on their positioning.

“It’s been cool to see,” he said. “I always start off the camp with the same positioning drills, and this year I was amazed at how much better they were at the positioning drills to start out the camp then they were a couple years ago even. A couple years ago, they were kind of lost on their positioning. Everyone knows how to do certain moves, but you’ve got to be in good position do to those moves. That’s what we’ve been working on, and I’ve definitely seen growth in the little kids.”

Sanders was impressed with the Rolling Thunder facility, saying not many youth wrestling programs have something like it that young athletes can train in all year long.

Submitted photo The first- through sixth-grade camp members of the Gopher Wrestling Camp pose for a photo on Thursday at the Rolling Thunder wrestling facility.

“I feel like the city of New Ulm has put a lot of resources into giving kids opportunities,” he said. “They have this facility for their wrestling program, and this is amazing, to be honest. I haven’t seen this for a youth club anywhere.”

Rolling Thunder also hosted a girls-only camp on Tuesday, where two-time Olympian and New Ulm native Ali Sprenger taught 10 girls wrestling techniques. The Gopher Wrestling Camp continues on Thursday.

Rolling Thunder is a youth wrestling program in New Ulm and constructed its current facility in 2021. The program looks to increase interest in wrestling in New Ulm and garnered 106 members last season. The facility has undergone some renovations since it was first constructed and will be building an addition for a weight room and storage this fall. Rolling Thunder also has set up both paid and free programs for area youth, including a tumbling class for 1-, 2- and 3-year olds. For more information about Rolling Thunder, visit the program’s Facebook page or email rollingthunderwrestling@gmail.com.

Submitted photo Andrew Sparks (left) and Zach Sanders (right) sign shirts for members of the first- through sixth-grade session of the Gopher Wrestling Camp on Thursday at the Rolling Thunder wrestling facility.

Submitted photo New Ulm native and two-time Olympian Ali Sprenger (second from left) poses with students of the Rolling Thunder Wrestling camp after a session on Tuesday at the Rolling Thunder Facility in New Ulm.