In the fourth year of existence, Team Hammer Academy – a youth wrestling team from Park Hill South – has a chance to repeat as Class 2A USA Wrestling AA State Champions.
Team Hammer is coached by Tony Mena, who created the team in 2019 after a decade of coaching other wrestling clubs, Team Wrestling will be sending 10 wrestlers to Cape Girardeau to compete at state next weekend. The wrestling club has kids from the eight and under to the 14 and under age groups from all over the area - Lee’s Summit, Excelsior Springs, Kearney, Lake of the Ozarks, Park Hill and Park Hill South – and has been in season for four months.
Robby Hanna White, above, poses with his grandpa after the eighth grader punches a ticket to state fort the first time in his career at Regionals at Staley High School on March 5.
“Most wrestling clubs around here start the folk style season in November and March is when it ends. Then the freestyle season starts, and it runs from March until May and then technically we wrestle all year round; the kids that aren’t in other sports come in once or twice a week and keep going, and a lot of clubs do that,” Mena said.
Most recently, Team Hammer competed in Regionals at Staley High School on March 6 when it had 10 of its 13 total wrestlers move on to state. Robby Hanna-White, who has never been past Regionals in the four years of competing in club wrestling, is one of the state qualifiers in his last year of eligibility as he will be in high school next year.
Drake Coots and Cole Sackett both finished in first place at Regionals, while Kemper Thomas, Ross Davis, Chase Wilson and Landen McDowell all ended in second place. Maxwell Young, Magnus Hoenshell and Austin Cornett all made it to state for Team Hammer as well.
“We’re still doing the same things, focusing on their developments and making sure they’re having fun. Winning still isn’t our primary focus; if it happens, it happens, if not, we’re still doing the right things and we still love these kids, so it isn’t going to make us or break us,” Mena said.
There are three classes that compete based on size and Park Hill High School has produced a team, Greater Heights, that won the Class 3 Championship in 2021. Team Hammer is the reigning Class 2A Champs – which is the middle sized class – after unexpectedly finishing in first place last season.
“Last year, they were announcing the winners and we were packing our stuff up getting ready to go because there are a lot of good St. Louis teams that win it every year. Then they called our names as we were leaving and we weren’t expecting it, but it was an awesome experience,” Mena said.
Team Hammer practices at Park Hill South High School in the Panthers’ wrestling room where the high school players practice during the season. Depending on the time of year, and if the kids are playing other sports at the time, there are one to four practices a week in the evenings for Team Hammer.
“We have high schoolers who help us out – some are the ones that I coached when they were younger – and it’s at that point where they are giving back to the younger kids, so it’s good to see. Right now, my advanced kids come in four times a week, especially with state coming up,” Mena said.
Team Hammer competes about once a week in the folk season, with its tournaments usually being on the weekends. The team traveled out of state this year occasionally for national tournaments, which included trips to Oklahoma, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
While the postseason tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, Team Hammer has had qualifiers every year since becoming a team. Out of the 11 Team Hammer state qualifiers in 2020, five were state finalists and three became champions.
“We have gone every year, but it’s an individual basis, the wrestlers compete individually. Last year we were the 2A state champions, which is the medium sized team, and this year we might win it again, it’ll be close and it’s exciting,” Mena said.
Team Hammer also has four players who will be competing at state in Kansas. Team Hammer has a website - teamhammeracademy.com – where there is more information about the team.