West Rand Stoei Gimnasium capped off 2022 with a fine display at the junior national championships
Finding a new home at Clearview Academy for this year, multiple national champion Juan Nel’s wrestlers were as impressive as always on the mat. The three days of competition in Stellenbosch featured two sections, a Youth section where wrestlers were divided by age and the Presidents section where wrestlers fought opponents of the same weight regardless of age.
West Rand Wrestling Gymnasium sent 13 athletes to compete in the two Olympic disciplines on show, greco-roman and freestyle. When the time came to climb the podium, Nel’s boys were able boast eight bronze medals, four silver and were able to stand on the highest step eight golden times.
On day one, Liam Steynberg and Adriaan van Tonder earned bronze in the Youth freestyle with Adriaan going one better in the greco-roman division. Ruan Nel would also earn silver in greco-roman and would join his brother Juanro in celebrating gold in the freestyle. Day two would be exclusively for freestyle with Conrad Smith, Logan Barnard, Arno Viviers and Dewald Engelbrecht earning bronze. Ruan Nel would claim silver while Reghardt Roos and Gideon van Rensburg would be new South African freestyle champions.
The boys saved the best for last as they brought in four gold medals on day three. Reinhardt Roos and Adriaan van Tonder earned a bronze greco-roman medal each while Dewald Engelbrecht bagged silver, also in greco-roman. The gold medals went to Juanro Nel, Jac-Hendri Engelbrecht and Liam Steynberg in freestyle with Ruan Nel completing the haul in greco-roman.
Part of the coaching staff for the past five years, Willa Steynberg states why when things get tough you want a wrestler in your corner.
“Life is uncomfortable and with wrestling you are placed in uncomfortable positions constantly. Here you are taught to fight out of those situations. It is all about discipline and respect. All successful people have got to where they have because of discipline. We have a tough approach but here we make men.”
