by Steve Bradley
On Saturday and Sunday, July 27 and 28, a major wrestling event was held in Hoosick Falls, the fourth year of what is now called “Riot at the Rink.” According to organizer Mike LaPorte and his assistant Walter Sass, 14 teams, consisting of more than 245 wrestlers, came to wrestle at the wrestling tournament. [private]The tournament was held in the Town of Hoosick Skating Rink on Barton Avenue. Fourteen states were represented, with Georgia being the most distant and with two teams from Virginia. The New Jersey Elite of Apex, NJ, returned this year to defend their title. With competitors and their families, the tournament drew more than 500 people to the town. In wrestling circles, this tournament is a very big deal. The winner’s trophy was over 6 feet tall.
The wrestling action was non-stop. Matches started at 9:30 am both days, finishing around 5 pm on Saturday. Sunday competition ended at 3 pm, and the awards ceremony followed. Almost the entire rink was covered in mats and eight matches were held simultaneously. It all went off like a well oiled machine. Everyone was very pleased.
The winning team was Weaver Elite from Pennsylvania. New York Elite was second. The teams ended the competition tied at 34 points each. Since a criteria infraction due to misconduct had been called against the New York Elite, the Weaver Elite were declared the winners.
There were wrestlers weighing in at just over 39 pounds. Wrestlers are matched by weight, not age or grade. Even though some of the competitors weighed less than 50 pounds, they all knew how to wrestle. There was not a wrestler at this tournament who didn’t know how to handle himself on a mat. There were several nationally ranked competitors at this event. Two of them were defeated.
These competitors wrestle twelve months, traveling the entire country. All competitors at this event were age 14 or younger. Soon, Mike and son, Matthew LaPorte, age 12, will be traveling to California for Matthew to compete. Matthew competes with the Hoosick Falls team,
which consists of wrestlers from Schuylerville, Salem and other nearby areas and includes one teammate from Delaware.
The Hoosick Falls team singlet, the wrestler’s uniform, is very interesting. Imprinted on the stretchy singlet material are pictures from all of the team’s sponsors.
The visitors to the area filled motels in Bennington, and some had to travel back to Latham to find accommodations. Hoosac School once again allowed use of their dorm rooms, a nice gesture on their part. The two Virginia teams came up a week early and made a vacation of it.
Keeping It In Hoosick Falls
Although LaPorte has already fielded calls from other regional community officials offering their facilities if he would move the event, he would like to keep it in Hoosick Falls. The tournament was initially held at the Hoosick Falls Central School. LaPorte quickly realized that venue was too small. For the second year, he held the event in the skating rink and has been happy with the results ever since. The participants and their families love coming here. They love having the pool right next to the event. He believes this is an
event the community should take advantage of to the benefit of all involved. LaPorte would like to see an organization offer a Saturday chicken barbecue and a breakfast each of the competition days. Next year LaPorte has the event penciled in for the third weekend in July, a week earlier than this year. This change was requested by a team from California. They’ve heard great things about the event and they want to participate.
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