When she became a high school teacher in 2021, former Lakehead Thunderwolves wrestler Kate Beaulieu’s long-term goal was to start a wrestling team at some point over the next five to 10 years.
That timeline changed slightly last spring when she saw that there was a wrestling mat at École Secondaire Chateau-Jeunesse in Longlac.
“That would have been our biggest hurdle because those mats are expensive,” Beaulieu said. “Knowing that those mats were close by I was like, well, I guess it’s time and here we go.”
With that, Beaulieu put together the first high school in Greenstone in over three decades.
She’s the coach for the Greenstone Wilds, which is a twinned team that consists of students from Geraldton Composited High School and Chateau-Jeunesse.
“It’s been pretty exciting for me to be able to offer this opportunity to our kids,” Beaulieu said. “Wrestling was such a big part of my life growing up and it taught me a lot about perseverance and working hard.
“If you want to do well, you can’t just show up and get it handed to you. You have to put in the effort.”
There are currently 14 students from Grades 10-12 on the team, each of whom have different athletic backgrounds.
“We have kids like Sam Larouche who are very athletic and do every sport that they get their hands on,” Beaulieu said. “Then we have other kids who have not done any sports for a few years or where this is their pathway into athletics, which was the case for me when I was in high school.
“Wrestling is really applicable to not just the super athletes. It’s also great for those that are just starting out and I think it has an interesting appeal that way, which we’ve seen here.”
The Wilds got their first taste of competition earlier this month at a takedown-only tournament at Hammarskjold High School and the Lake of the Woods Open in Kenora, which also served as a qualifier for February’s Ontario Winter Games in Thunder Bay.
Larouche brought home the team’s first tournament win at Hammarskjold, while Tyrel Russell captured a gold medal in Kenora in the 125-kilogram open boy's weight class.
The most impressive showing, though came from Emmah Arsenault. She reached the top of the podium in the 44kg open girls division and qualified for the Winter Games in the process.
“I remember telling Emmah, ‘You’re the first girl to ever win a gold medal for Greenstone. You’ve literally made history in this moment,’” Beaulieu said.
“I keep trying to mention to the kids that everything is brand new for us and to be off to such a strong start like this is really awesome.”
The Wilds will have a busy February as they’ll travel to Thunder Bay for a Valentine’s Day tournament and NWOSSA, in addition to the Ontario Winter Games.
The program is also looking for additional help with practice drivers, an assistant coach to help Beaulieu and overall financial aid so that competitors can travel to events.
“My goal eventually is to one day have mats in Geraldton and Longlac so that we can have established practice spaces in both places and offer these kids a competitive program,” Beaulieu said.
“We can have a really strong team here and I kind of want to show everybody what we’re made of. There’s a lot of tough kids here and I’d like to see them be able to flourish and shine.”
Anyone who is interested in helping out the Wilds can contact Beaulieu at 807-621-6232 or via email.
