Blaise Butler Leads 1st Informal

The First “Informal” of the 2019-2020 year, hosted by Beat the Streets Chicago, was a success! Taking place in Chicago Hope Academy from 10-1pm, Blaise Butler (pictured above) showed our wrestlers some high level technique and finished the event with a story about his journey and career in wrestling. Blaise was a Division I wrestler at the University of Virginia and Missouri. He went on to be a 3x NCAA qualifier and MAC champion. Blaise was also ranked #1 in the country during the regular season. 

An “Informal” is an event that combines the technique structure of a wrestling clinic, life enrichment lessons from that of a classroom setting, and live match-making that you would get in a tournament, all in one sitting. Bypassing the structure of a traditional tournament where a wrestler would be in a hot gym all day only to get a handful of matches in, Informals ensure that a wrestler has at least three matches and is taught high level technique by world class clinicians within a three hour window. 

Over 40 kids attended the event with opportunities to buy wrestling shoes and to show their parents the product of their hard work in practice. For some families, this is the parent’s first look into the sport as they may not be able to attend their child’s practice. For other children, this is an opportunity to socialize and make friends with people from other parts of Chicago. At the end of the day, we are all one community and one family. 

Our next Informal will be held on October 5 at De Las Salle.  Guest clinician is our own Mike Powell.  Watch our calendar and social media feeds for more information.

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