Okotoks’ King of the Mat found out his kingdom isn’t of Olympic proportions.
Reid Watkins, a Grade 12 student at Holy Trinity Academy, went undefeated at Stu Hart’s King of the Mat tournament in Burnaby, B.C. on Jan. 6-7. However, it was the workouts in which the two-time provincial high school and national champion got worked.
Watkins wrestled against 2012 Canadian Olympic team members Haislan Garcia and John Pineda during practice camps at King of the Mat.
“I felt like I was back in junior high school when I wrestled against those guys,” Watkins said. “They are just so fast… I realized that I have a lot of territory to cover if I want to reach that level.”
Garcia finished 16th at the 2008 Summer Olympics at 66kg in Beijing for Canada. He was fifth at the Worlds last year.
The 74kg Watkins had a weight advantage over Garcia and Pineda at 60kg, but he wasn’t able to take advantage of it.
“I was able to put a high crotch move on Pineda, but those guys are such good counter (moves) wrestlers that I was on my back right away,” Watkins said.
The 17-year-old Watkins was able to hold his own against wrestlers his own age however, during the tournament. He won all four of his matches against wrestlers his own age from British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Watkins has typically been going through high-school aged matches in a cakewalk. However, the cake proved to be a lot tougher to cut at the King of the Mat.
Two of the four wrestlers were able to score points on Watkins — including one who put him on his back.
“We had decided to try a new move on this guy and Reid ended up getting his toe stuck on a seam in the mat and lost his balance,” said Okotoks Wrestling Club coach Doug Watkins said with a laugh. “You could have blown him over then and the other guy was able to get him on his back.”
Watkins was able to get back on his feet and go on to win the match.
The wrestling club was in Kamloops, B.C. for the B.C. age-group championships on Jan. 13-15. Watkins won gold in the Juvenile division and Cody Thompson picked up a silver in Cadet.
Cassidy Barnert also won a silver medal at the girls’ juvenile level.
