For most high school athletes, particularly those competing in fall sports, what looms ahead mostly is a diversion at this stage of the school year.
What Matt Lackey and Wes Hand are offering high school and upper-level middle-school wrestlers at Bettendorf’s wrestling room, however, is anything but a diversion.
With five all-American awards between them “Lackey a national champion from Moline and Illinois, and Hand at Iowa “the pair has so much wrestling street cred that they can command a great deal of attention.
And they are, every Sunday evening, at Bettendorf’s wrestling room from 5:30 to 7 p.m. offering clinics. There is no cost for the clinics, and the Q-C residents, Lackey and Hand, like it that way.
“As long as I have two cents to throw in and somebody to listen, I’ll do it,” said Lackey, who like Hand, doesn’t have future coaching aspirations. “I’m always going to be a part of wrestling. I’ll always be a coach. Obviously, Wes and I are not affiliated with anybody, so we’re able to teach and help kids out when coaching staffs can’t.”
The clinic idea came from officers within the Bettendorf Wrestling Club, and though Bulldogs coach Dan Knight is offering his room and many of his team members are taking part, he’s otherwise hands-off.
“Coaches can’t have control of their kids (now),” Knight said. “Kids get tired of working out alone, and this is a chance to get different workout partners, and these are two guys that love the sport and love to come out and help kids learn it.”
The clinic runs through Nov. 8.
“I didn’t do a lot with the sport since I’ve been out of coaching, and this was a good opportunity to be a part of it,” Hand said.
“The hay is made in these few months and in the spring. These are the months where you get that wrestling shape, develop your technique, and I like to do whatever I can to teach them.”
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