Athletics, values a winning match for SCN Youth Wrestling Club
The SCN (St. Charles North) Youth Wrestling Club's accomplishments on the mat this past season are - to put it simply - impressive.
SCN, made up of wrestlers ages 4-14, placed third out of 184 teams at the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation state meet in Rockford thanks to 11 wrestlers placing and seven making it to the state finals (four SCN wrestlers won state titles).
But SCN hardly hangs the success of its club solely on wins and losses and how much hardware it carts out of each tournament.
Instead, SCN presents a culture where academics and preparing young men for their futures are the primary objectives.
"SCN gets you ready for high school and beyond," says former SCN wrestler and current Marmion Academy senior Pat Greco, who finished third in the IHSA Class 2A state finals at 145 pounds earlier this year and has earned a partial wrestling scholarship to Northwestern.
"It gets you ready especially for the struggles of high school," Greco said. "At a school like Marmion there is a high demand on academics. And there is the high demand on the sport of high school wrestling."
Scott Jaffe, the club chairman, notes the organization's philosophy revolves around four key values.
"It's based on family, school, athletics and friendship," Jaffe says. "You take those core values and then you combine it with a passionate leadership group that makes sure everybody understands that. This is about dealing with adversity and understanding discipline and commitment. Wrestling is just a tool here to help these kids succeed in life.
"The bottom line here is developing fine young men in the community. Someday they are going to have the opportunity to be lawyers, doctors or run the family business and they are going to need this set of tools that includes working hard, discipline and dealing with adversity. This sport teaches that. The skills they develop here will spill into everyday life."
SCN, which has developed several individual youth USA Wrestling national champions and national place-winners, is now in its seventh season and has more than 80 wrestlers in the program.
Haines Middle School (St. Charles) eighth-grader John Jimenez has been with the club since its inception. He recently became the club's first two-time state champion after winning the senior 101-pound state championship.
"The club has helped me with everything," says the 14-year-old Jimenez, who will attend Marmion this coming fall. "It's helped me with my mental toughness. I'm more respectful now. I'm a better young man. They work you hard every day and they give you the mental attitude to push and give your best all the time. I think it's the best club out there. It's the reason I'm where I am today."
Jimenez's brother, Nico, also a senior at Marmion, will continue his wrestling career at the University of Illinois later this year. Nico Jimenez won the 171-pound Class 2A state championship earlier this year.
The club has been training out of "The Barn" at the northwest corner of Route 47 and McDonald Road in unincorporated Elgin for the last five years.
"It was an old, abandoned barn that we turned into a state-of-the-art wrestling training center," explains Jaffe. "It's privately funded and we've raised sponsorship money as well."
Jaffe is emphatic about how much the training facility has helped in the club's progression.
"Absolutely it helps," he says. "You have freedom once you have your own facility. You have the freedom of going in and out and controlling your own practice schedule. You're not training at a local school, so you can be flexible on practice times. It opens up the ability to train and to take that training to the next level."
The nonprofit organization is also a stickler when it comes to the academic part of its core values. The club has its SCN Academic Excellence Program for wrestlers in grades five and higher who receive letter marks. Student-athletes must have a "B" or higher average in order to be recognized in the academic program.
"They are required to turn in report cards," says Jaffe, whose club had 10 former wrestlers who were in the Marmion Academy starting lineup this past high school season. "Eighty-five percent of our wrestlers are on the honor roll in school. We expect that. This is not just about winning matches. Our kids are dominant kids in the classroom and in other sports."
SCN head coach Aaron Gilson, who wrestled at the former St. Charles High School and later at North Carolina, feels the club's success has been because of a two-way street over the years.
"The club has been successful because of all of the hard work the kids and the coaches put together and the community has really supported us," says Gilson, who has coached in the club since its inception. "This club has come a long way since it started. We've developed avenues for these kids to be successful."
Jaffe recites a saying to his wrestlers that sums up his feelings on what he would like his wrestlers to do with their craft.
"We tell the kids, you use wrestling. Don't let wrestling use you," Jaffe says. "You use wrestling to win in life."
And in less than a decade, SCN has produced many winners both on and off the mat.
For details on the club, visit scnyouthwrestling.com.
Winning is contagiousSCN Youth Wrestling took third at the recent IKWF state tournament in Rockford. A total of 11 SCN wrestlers placed in the meet and four won state titles. Senior Division Weight Name Grade Place 79 Anthony Bosco 8 1st 101 John Jimenez 8 1st 101 Nicholas Ferraro 8 7th 122 Anthony Scaccia 8 2nd 115 Thomas O'Brien 8 3rd Novice Division Weight Name Grade Place 66 Dylan Duncan 6 1st 66 Anthony Cheloni 5 3rd 79 AJ Jaffe 6 2nd 84 Matt Rowland 6 2nd 89 Michael Callahan 6 1st 115 Nathan Traxler 6 8thFalse605365Wrestlers on the SCN team work out to keep in shape.Courtesy Scott JaffeFalse