Sunkist Kids was an

amateur wrestling Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic Games, Olympic, Collegiate wrestling, collegiate, Scholastic wrestling, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games, fr ...

club and nonprofit organization based in

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

. The club announced that it would be closing following the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

History

Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club was founded in 1976 by Arthur Martori, an

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

farmer who started the

collegiate wrestling Collegiate wrestling, commonly referred to as folkstyle wrestling, is the form of wrestling practiced at the post-secondary level in the United States. This style of wrestling is also practiced at the high school, middle school, and elementary ...

program at Phoenix Community College, the Wrist Lock Club of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

along with coach Tom Dubin, and the collegiate wrestling program at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. Arthur went on to win multiple different championships and barely missed making the 1964 Olympic team. Following college, Matori joined his family's business and eventually became manager of the citrus operation. Once he had the means to give back, the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club was born. Martori helped in creating an International tournament, the Sunkist Kids International Open, providing housing and training, offering stipends and

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

opportunities. He also helped play a significant role in the development of women's wrestling. Martori's vision helped give birth to Regional Training Centers (RTCs), award money, stipends, women's wrestling in the Olympics, world-class teams and youth programs. In 1999, Martori was inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stil ...

as a Distinguished Member. From 1976 to 2024, the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club produced more

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

, and U.S. national champions than any other elite wrestling club in the United States. During its time as a wrestling club, a member of the Sunkist Kids was on every USA Olympic or World Team.

References

External links

*{{Official website Wrestling Amateur wrestling Scholastic wrestling Freestyle wrestling Wrestling clubs