A Letter from the Newly Elected BC Wrestling President

Dear members,

Thank you for electing me as BC Wrestling President.   Thank you to all of the outgoing Board Members for the time and energy you have given to the sport.  Thank you to all of the new and returning Board Members who have stepped up to help make this organization better.

For those who don't know me, please allow me to introduce myself.  I am originally from the North Shore where I wrestled for Balmoral and Carson Graham.  After high school I went to SFU where I wrestled for 2 years.  My post-secondary career wasn't as illustrious as some others out there, but that has never affected my love for the sport.  For the past 6 years I have been coaching high school and started the Westsider Wrestling Club in Vancouver in 2017 for elementary, high school and now an adult recreational program.  This past season we had over 100 youth members and are hoping to continuing to grow once wrestling starts up again.

To those of you that I don't know yet, it is my goal to get to know many more people around the province in the coming months and years.  Please reach out to introduce yourself and share things that are going well in your program as well as challenges you may be facing.  I expect I didn't need to write this note in order to hear about the challenges, but please don't be shy about sharing what is working because we want to take what works and emulate that elsewhere.  It is important that we work as a unified body and compete only on the mat.

Please join me in welcoming new Board Members Raewyn Brewer, Tyler Keeling and Sukhan Chahal, as well as returning Board Members Kate Walker, Lyndsay Abdou, Gurjot Kooner, Mike Jones, Aso Palani, Gerry Badger and Ian McDonald.  I look forward to hearing from you and working with the Executive Director and the rest of the Board to make BC Wrestling a strong and growing organization.

Thank you,

Chris Thom

BCWA President

chris@westsiderwrestling.com

604-779-7472