North Carolina Wrestling Scout Report

On a fall evening in 2004, Coach Chuck Smith handed me the reins of the Rhino Wrestling Club. Among the myriad of things my mentor imparted on me that night was a clear concise statement. “You have to get belts, Marty. The kids love them and they deserve to get them. They wrestle their butts off and deserve the best we can get them.”

Coach Smith’s philosophy always kept the kids’ interests foremost in our minds. Running tournaments never made us a lot of money. We focused on getting the most mat time for the wrestlers, increasing the level of competition and handing out as many awards as we could. I don’t think there is a time where we did not medal down to fourth place and am sure that over the last ten years or so we have generally given awards out to sixth place finishers. We continue that tradition today and end each year with enough money to start the next and not much extra.

After two years of having tournaments weathered out and absorbing the resulting financial loss, we found ourselves in a position to host a tournament that awarded a championship belt to its victors. Those Rhino eXtreme belts now hold special spots on the walls of wrestler’s rooms from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. This year may see them on the walls of wrestlers from Ohio and Florida and every state in between.