Dozens of Youth Attend Annual Courtney Wrestling Camp; U.S. Olympian Bisek among those Assisting
By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on July 14, 2017 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
SUBMITTED TO CONNECT-BRIDGEPORT
At a gym in Bridgeport more than 60 wrestlers are drilled and trained under the supervision of Dr. Chris Courtney, and several other coaches including 2016 Olympic wrestler Andy Bisek. The wrestlers come from several schools in Harrison County as well as all over the state.
Dr. Courtney who is the high school coach at Bridgeport High School just completed the 3rd Annual Courtney Wrestling Camp. The 4-day 
camp started Monday and ended Thursday. The camp ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day with lunch and a camp t-shirt included all at no cost to the wrestlers. His hope is to “see the sport of wrestling grow while improving the quality in the area for all athletes but at no cost to them”. All of the instructors attending the camp respect the goal of offering the camp at no cost and donated their time and expertise to the camp.
camp started Monday and ended Thursday. The camp ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day with lunch and a camp t-shirt included all at no cost to the wrestlers. His hope is to “see the sport of wrestling grow while improving the quality in the area for all athletes but at no cost to them”. All of the instructors attending the camp respect the goal of offering the camp at no cost and donated their time and expertise to the camp.
The objective of the camp is to teach fundamentals of wrestling and conditioning. Wrestling is a sport that requires significant dedication due to the level of conditioning necessary to be successful along with the repetitive drilling to become highly proficient at the techniques involved. The wrestlers are learning how to train and push themselves beyond their normal limits, then spending time working on offensive and defensive techniques.
The camp which is sponsored by Training Traditions, LLC, a non profit organization started by the Courtney family, considered West Virginia’s first family of wrestling. Chris a High School all American, his brothers Jeff and Ryan and their father Don all won state titles and have 6 high school state titles among them. In addition to the state titles, Ryan was a college all American at West Liberty University, and Jeff finished 5th at the Junior World Competition in Istanbul Turkey, won Gold medals in the Pan Am Games in Greco Roman and Freestyle competitions, Gold medals in Greco and Freestyle Deaf World Championships.
The coaches at the camp include Doug Curnes, 2x college All American, Mitch Smith 2x college all American and head coach at West Liberty University, Mike Mason 2X college all American at WVU and Andy Bisek 2016 US Olympian and 2x World Bronze Medalist.
Editor's Note: Photos below and photo above courtesy of Jason Wojciechowicz.
