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April - June, 2008

• Summer, 2008 News

Thoroughbred Camp

Join us soon for a future edition of our Thoroughbred Camp, which runs from noon - 3:00 PM. Camp fee is $20 at the door or $15 PRE-REGISTERED. Details / Flyer, June Camp...

End of Season Dinner / Simbas Benefit

Dear Parents,

I apologize for the late notice, but RAW 241 has decided to host an end of the season dinner to celebrate the accomplishments of our RAW members from this past season, and also to send off our next crop of collegiate champions. It is our hope that they will encounter the same or reach a similar level of success as several RAW alums of the past.

The dinner will be held on June 1st from 6PM - 9PM at Uno Chicago Grill on Route 73 in Maple Shade. We have to provide the restaurant with the details about how many people we will have in attendance, so please email me as soon as possible to let us know if you and your family will be joining us. We will be ordering from the regular menu where individuals are responsible for their own meals. We are planning on everyone attending - and remember, all family members are welcome.

Instead of the regular practice at 3PM on June 1st, RAW 241 will be hosting a clinic that will be open to the general public as well as those wrestlers that have taken off for the spring/summer. The cost for this camp will be $15 (if payment is made in advance) and will run for 12PM - 3PM. Several of our RAW alums will be attending this camp to help as guest clinicians and also to showcase any wrestling moves they have learned while in college. I will be sending out more information in a future attachment. Payment of $15 can be submitted at any point prior to the date of the clinic; on June 1st, the cost will be $20. Because this is an event that is open to any and everyone, please feel free to inform your son's teammates of this great opportunity.

I also wanted to inform you all that RAW 241 will be campaigning for the Centerville Simbas, located in Camden, NJ. Their regular practices, during the off-season, include approximately twenty wrestlers; their projected number for the fall (after football season) is set to double. Unfortunately, they don't have all of the appropriate resources to accommodate these numbers. The Simbas are currently practicing on a 10 X 10 wrestling mat - for reference, their mat is slightly larger than the inner circle of a full size mat. Out of the twenty wrestlers who attended a regular practice last week, only one of the kids had on wrestling shoes; the others were wearing sneakers. The entire team was practicing in plain green singlets that were given to the Simbas by their coach who is also the coach at Camden High. Aside from the one athlete who had wrestling shoes, the rest of the team was without knee-pads and head gear, as well as shoes. As is true in many "typical" wrestling practices, the Simbas engaged in an inordinate amount of live wrestling; while this might normally be a concern of ours, more troubling is the fact that they are doing this live wrestling without the traditional wrestling essentials. Consequently, only two guys were able to "go live" at a time because of the limited mat space ... imagine for yourselves, what the other 18 young boys were doing during this time.

This is not to say the parents of the Simbas are sitting idly by as their sons continue to practice with limited resources. They are advocating for themselves; they have attempted to institute various fundraisers - car washes, etc to help their cause. RAW 241 is looking to initiate this campaign because we would like to sponsor the Centerville Simbas. Rather than letting your son's old and unused wrestling gear collect dust, we would like to put it to good use. It is our hope to collect from our members, items that are in decent condition, of course, and that we can ultimately donate to their team. Donations may include, anything related to wrestling: knee-pads, headgear, wrestling shoes, singlets, a mat if you have access...anything.

At some point during the summer, RAW 241 is planning to institute a fundraising initiative to further support the Simbas in order to provide them with their first team t-shirts. Thus, we are also accepting cash donations as well. Our ultimate goal is to help instill a sense of team unity and pride within the Simbas' organization. They have already gotten off on the right foot - the organizers have this program going in the right direction and are doing a great thing with these kids.

Feel free to bring any of your donations (cash, clothing, equipment, or otherwise) to any RAW practice and we will make sure these items make it to the Centerville Simbas. If you have any other suggestions or ideas about ways you individually, or RAW 241 collectively, can help, please let us know and we will get that going.

This is not an easy process and we understand that it will take time, but the hope is that we can get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Their first competition is May 24th and they have five others scheduled for the remainder of the summer.

Thank you for your cooperation and support.

 

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