An Okotoks wrestler is in Big Sky Country for a little R & R before taking off for the biggest tournament of his life.
“I’m heading down to Montana for a little break,” said 17-year-old Reid Watkins last week. “I will be running hills every morning to make sure my conditioning is up.”
Watkins is preparing for the FILA Cadet (ages 15-17) World Championships in Hungary Aug. 23-28. He’s coming off a successful Canada Cup earlier this month in which he won the tournament for 14-18 year-olds at 69 kg in Guelph, ON.
More importantly, he got plenty of practice time and instruction at the camp following the tournament.
“It’s tough to find training partners this time of year,” Watkins said. “Canada Cup was good for me. A lot of the world national team was there… I’m having trouble getting wrestling partners because everybody is doing their summer thing.”
He ended up having trouble finding an opponent for the gold medal match at Canada Cup. His opponent Jevon Balfour defaulted the final due to an injury.
“That was disappointing because I didn’t really have any stiff competition in the tournament,” Watkins said. “I was looking forward to wrestling him because it was going to be a better match.”
Watkins didn’t give up a point in his three matches at the Canada Cup. He beat Don Smith from the United States 4-0, Arvinder Bains from Ontario 9-0 and then Brent Davies from Ottawa 13-0 in the semifinal.
Watkins qualified for Team Canada at the national championships in Windsor, ON last April. He pinned Balfour en route to winning the championship.
He will head back to the mat after his break in Montana.
“Once I get back, I want to get on the mat to get some training for 20 days before going to the worlds,” Watkins said. “I have been going to the U of C, but I think I will head to Saskatchewan so I can train with different partners.”
Watkins has been busy in 2011. He’s been globetrotting more than a politician on a junket.
He played for the Team Canada U-17 rugby team in England in the spring and he is presently playing the odd game for the Foothills Lions rugby team.
He is going to have to grapple with which sport to choose in the future.
“That is going to be a tough one,” Watkins said. “It will break my heart but one of these days I am going to have to make a decision between rugby and wrestling.”
