Several schools from around New Hampshire will be hitting the mats this weekend as Mascoma High is set to host the First Annual Mascoma Holiday Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.
Hosting a tournament has been on the radar of Royals’ Athletic Director Stephen Stebbins for a couple of years, and circumstances made this the right time to give a go.
“Lebanon had recently been doing a tournament in the same time slot over Christmas vacation, and they decided not to do theirs this year … and so I thought, hey, perfect opportunity,” he said.
Lebanon High Athletic Director Ben Davis said coaching turnover for the Raiders wrestling program was a factor in deciding not to put on a tournament this season.
Lebanon also hosting a boys’ basketball tournament around the same time.
“When Steve offered that Mascoma could host the wrestling tournament, we agreed that would be a good option to keep the tournament in place this year,” Davis wrote.
Stebbins said the tournament will focus on the smaller wrestling schools in the state.
Among the participants in Saturday’s events are Conant, ConVal, Franklin, Kearsarge, Kingswood, Lebanon, Littleton, Mascenic, Monadnock, Newport, Prospect Mountain, Raymond, Stevens, and White Mountains.
“We go as a small school to a number of tournaments every year, and these kids are going up against D-I and D-II athletes on the regular,” Stebbins said. “So they don’t have that opportunity to challenge themselves at a tournament that’s more geared to them.”
With a large turnout expected, Stebbins said the biggest challenge facing the three-mat tournament could be finding enough seating space for spectators.
Mascoma will have two mats in the gymnasium and one in the cafeteria, where portable bleachers will be used.
Additionally, each mat will be live-streamed by the school’s AV Club for those unable to attend in person. Mascoma High alumnia who wrestled will help run clocks and keep books.
“It’s been a really nice community-wrestling community collaboration,” Stebbins said.
Royals wrestling Head Coach Allan Kreuzburg said hosting a tournament is exciting moment for the program.
“We usually have to travel all the time, and to be able to have something at home is really nice,” he said.
The tournament begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday and is expected to run until around 4 p.m. To access the livestreams, visit mascomaav.com/wrestling.
Stebbins also mentioned the possibility of a separate girls’ division at the tournament, though that has not yet been confirmed.
“I’m very excited,” Stebbins said. “A number of people who are involved in it — everybody seems to be really excited about just putting on the best activity that we can.”
Stebbins acknowledged that, if all goes well, the hope is to make this an annual event.
Kreuzburg was said exposure the holiday tournament could help grow the sport at Mascoma: “Now that it’s here, that could help us maybe draw a few more kids to our program because they can come and see that it’s actually kind of fun to wrestle.”