Bulls Compete in South Korea

I was recently the head wrestling coach for the 2009 National Wrestling Coaches’ Association All-American Tour to South Korea. I took several collegiate student athletes to South Korea for nine days of training and competition. The University at Buffalo was represented by four student athletes (Brian Hittle, Andrew Stella, Jimmy Hamel, and Jason Weber). The team trained at both the Korean National Sport University and the Korean National Training Center. The Korean National Sport University (KNSU) has the best university wrestling team in the country. Our team trained for three days at the KNSU. At the KNSU, we participated in their practice sessions. There were also wrestlers from a handful of other university teams training with us at the KNSU. The coaching staff, comprised of former Korean National Champions, World and Olympic medalists, worked with our guys extensively. Then, our team wrestled some matches against KNSU team members and a few other Korean national place finishers. Some of the highlights included Brian Hittle and Jimmy Hamel’s outstanding performances. Brian Hittle had a nice win highlighted by a five-point throw over Korean University National place-winner Park Nam Chun. Jimmy Hamel won matches against Korean University National Bronze Medalist, Bak Seok Won, and another Korean national place-winner.

Following our stint at the Korean National Sport University, we trained and wrestled at the Korean National Training Center for the remained of the trip. The National Training Center is the equivalent of the Olympic Training Center here in the United States. At the National Training Center, we spent a lot of time with Korean National Team Coaches, including Korean National Head Coach and three time Olympic finalist, Park Jang-Soon. Our experience at the National Training Center was outstanding. The team wrestled the top two wrestlers in the South Korea in each weight class. Jimmy Hamel was definitely the highlight of the competition with a huge win against a Korean Senior National Champion, Byung-Kwan Cho. In fact, Cho was the 2008 Asian Games Champion (45 counties and regions are represented in the Asian Games) and a 2008 South Korean Olympian (he had a 1-2 record at the 2008 Olympics).

It was a great experience for all four of these guys to compete against the best in South Korea. They learned a lot and trained very hard. This experience will carry over into next season and beyond.

Thanks for following us,

Coach Beasley