Belleville Wrestling Club hosts 58 teams for Top Hat Tournament

If you saw heavier-than-normal traffic on Sunday, Dec. 15, it was because the Belleville Wrestling Club hosted the annual Top Hat Tournament at Belleville High School.
This is the first tournament ever hosted by the BWC, now in its fourth year as a club serving the youth of Belleville and surrounding areas.
Fifty-eight teams braved the weather and came from as far away as Davison, East Lansing, Edwardsburg (near Niles), Yale and Kalamazoo, in addition to the local talent from the surrounding communities.
Five hundred and fifty wrestlers — boys and girls, ranging from 5 to 13 years of age — packed the high school gym starting at 10 a.m. and by 5:30 p.m. they were all on their way home after a full day of competition.
The BWC entered 38 of its own wrestlers in the tournament: 22 of them taking home medals for placing in the top four of their age group and weight class, five of which took top honors as champions.
All competitors went home with a medal for participation and to show how hard they worked to learn this sport.
The tournament was a great success, due in no small part to the countless number of parents, family members and friends of the BWC who pitched in to ensure the day ran as smoothly as possible.
President Jim Majewski said the BWC would like to thank the Belleville High School Wrestling Tigers who helped set up mats on Saturday evening after they wrestled a full day in Wyandotte.
Several came out on Sunday to help during the event and stayed to help with clean up.
Majewski said thanks also goes to the local businesses — Meijer, Tim Horton’s and Mr. Pizza — for their generous donations and support for this event, and the BHS staff for allowing BWC to hold the event in a wonderful facility, which drew great compliments from several visitors in attendance.
Coming up, the BWC is planning to host a regional tournament on March 16, which is the qualifier for the state tournament that takes place in Battle Creek.
BWC is affiliated with the Michigan Youth Wrestling Association and wrestles in Michigan’s East Region (one of eight regions statewide).
BWC’s motto for the 2013-14 season is “Tearin’ it up!” It mascot is the tiger. The club is on Facebook and its website is: http://www.eteamz.com/bellevillewrestling .
Besides President Majewski, the BWC board is made up of Barb Koehler, vice-president; Dawn Majewski, secretary; Kelly Williams, treasurer; and Jeff Koehler, head coach.