The Wall Knights Wrestling Club’s team that competes in the Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League A Division known as Wall 1 will be competing this weekend in the Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League Playoffs to be held at Brick Memorial High School (2001 Lanes Mill Road in Brick Township). The playoffs will be held on Sunday February 11, 2024 with the Semi-final round for the A and B Divisions starting at 9:00 am, the consolation rounds for the A and B Divisions as well as the semi-final round for the C Division starting at 10:30 AM, and the Finals for the A, B, and C Divisions beginning at Noon.
The Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League is the area’s youth wrestling league for Monmouth and Ocean Counties as well as parts of Middlesex. The League which was started in 1991 with just 3 programs (Brick, Belmar, and Point Pleasant Beach) has expanded to 40 teams throughout the shore conference area from 27 different youth wrestling programs.
In recent years the Wall Knights Wrestling Club has been in ascension mode, and they have moved from being a middle of the pack program to presenting one of the elite teams within the Jersey Shore Junior Wrestling League. The Wall 1 team is seeded as the top dog in the A Division for the 2024 season after finishing the 2023-2024 regular season with a perfect 10-0 record.
This Sunday, Wall 1 has a chance to make Wall Wrestling History as it would be the first time in the history of the program that they win a JSJWL Championship if they can overcome the challenges that await. Wall 1 will be wrestling Howell Black in the Semi-Final Round and both teams match up very closely with the expectation that it will be an extremely competitive match. The winner of the Wall 1 Vs. Howell Black match will face the winner of the BYAA 1 Vs. Toms River Wrestling Club’s Toms River 1 team in the finals. Both Toms River and BYAA also present extremely talented squads.
The Wrestlers and the coaching staff for this Wall 1 team have been working together in many cases for several years for this opportunity and they are very excited. With the rich tradition of wrestling within Wall Township, The Wall Knights Wrestling Club has always been competitive however the program has yet to finish a season as JSJWL Champions. This team has been a special one and they have earned the number one seed within the most competitive division in the JSJWL.
From the coaches standpoint, this would be a tremendous win for the program. More importantly the coaches are excited for this team of young wrestlers who have worked their hearts out to achieve excellence in the sport. Youth Sports at their best teach athletes about teamwork, making everyone around them better, placing the team first, accountability, and achieving goals through hard work and discipline. This team has worked hard for many years and they have given themselves the opportunity to not only be the first team in Wall history to win a JSJWL championship, but also to prove many people wrong who had doubted the Wall Knights Wrestling Club’s ability to produce a JSJWL championship team.
The JSJWL A Division has historically been won by the biggest towns in the area with the largest populations. Although Wall is by no means a small town, it would be the smallest town with the lowest population of people to ever win a JSJWL championship if the team can overcome it’s competition on Sunday. Many followers of youth wrestling have traditionally put ceilings on township recreational programs that have not historically been a top tier program with a championship pedigree. Great wrestlers and coaches do not pay attention to limitations that anyone places on them or their teams. This team has proven to be selfless and all of the wrestlers and coaches have placed the team first focusing on the process of making themselves great rather than the outcome. The team is loaded with leadership in this 8th grade class and they know that they still have work to do before they achieve their goals.
This Wall 1 team consists of wrestlers from the Wall Intermediate School Wrestling Team that may arguably be the best middle school team in the state of New Jersey. The Wall Intermediate School finished another undefeated campaign this season finishing with 14
wins and 0 losses and the 8th graders on that team have only faced defeat as a team once in three seasons during their middle school wrestling careers. The Wall Intermediate School dominated in the White Division Tournament with 9 champions and 14 in the finals of the tournament. The Wall Intermediate School Wrestling team and the Wall Knights Wrestling Club have worked hand in hand to develop a culture of excellence in the sport of wrestling in Wall. This weekend Wall 1 can stick an exclamation point on their already impressive season.
The JSJWL is arguably the most competitive youth wrestling league within the state of New Jersey and daresay the entire country. Every year it is evident at the Shore Conference High School Tournament the impact that this league has had on wrestling in the area with most of the elite wrestlers having participated in the JSJWL. The amount of wrestlers from this league that have went on to beconme High School state placewinners and champions is unbelievably impressive. Usually when JSJWL wrestlers get to high school and the people who follow high school wrestling say that a wrestler who is a JSJWL alumni is really good, we who are familiar with this league nod as if to say "Oh yeah, I'm aware".
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The Wall Knights Wrestling Club’s opportunity is the result of an extremely dedicated group of young wrestlers as well as tremendous coaching that the wrestlers have received throughout the years within the program. The Wall Knights Wrestling Club prides itself on providing the best youth wrestling experience for all of its wrestlers regardless of their skill level or experience which has resulted in all three of the programs competitive travel teams being loaded with talent. This Sunday is as much about the Wall Wrestling Family and the commitment that the parents, coaches, and wrestlers have demonstrated. This Sunday is also a testament to the coaches that have helped these wrestlers in every step of the journey from the Wall Knights Wrestling Club beginner group all the way to where these wrestlers are today.
The coaches within the Wall Knights Wrestling Club have ultimately hoped to teach these wrestlers everything they could about both wrestling and how the lessons we learn through sport can be applied in life off of the field of competition. Coaches hope to give athletes a map and give them a compass but they know that ultimately they can't carry them across a finish line. A team has to do that for themselves.
This Sunday the wrestlers will be on a stage they are familiar with in a spotlight they are familiar with. Finishing this season with a JSJWL championship would be an amazing highlight in what has been a memorable season filled with great moments. The venue will be packed with wrestling families from Wall both current and past that will be their to support Wall 1 in their efforts to be champions. It is not going to be easy and it is not supposed to be, but one thing is for certain that this team will continue to give it everything they have and fight for every inch on the wrestling mat at Brick Memorial.