HELENA — For the first time in roughly ten years, members of the Helena Wrestling Club have the opportunity to travel outside of the United States for competition.
Wrestlers and a coach from the Helena Wrestling Club (HWC) are joining Team Montana, a group of wrestlers across the Treasure State competing in Germany this summer.
"I was actually part of this club when I was younger," said Chet O'Shea, the president and coach for the HWC.
He is going to Germany with three of his wrestlers, the most that have ever been selected from Helena.
O'Shea said, "When you get selected to go, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
The selection process looks at the placements of high school wrestlers from Montana over the years.
Capital High's Taylor Lay, Mariska Harris, and Helena High's Brady Gehring earned the opportunity.
Gehring is a sophomore who has been wrestling since he was four years old.
He said, "I felt like if I didn't go, I'd be missing out on something."
This year is the first that girls have been allowed to travel to Germany with Team Montana.
"I'm excited to see how different Germany is," said Lay.
She brought home Helena's first girls' wrestling state championshipin 2023.
Lay said, "I think it's a pretty cool opportunity to travel a lot of the country to wrestle."
Team Montana will be in Germany from July 23rd to August 11th and will wrestle against three different German clubs.
"A lot of the coaches over there are great Olympic coaches. Hopefully, the kids will be able to learn something and take some different styles and moves away from it," said O'Shea.
In addition to wrestling against international teams, wrestlers will stay with German host families.
They will visit the Black Forest, Europa Park, the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, cathedrals, castles, and the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
O'Shea said, "We get to go and explore things normal tourists would not also be able to do."
Each attendee will pay $2,600 for airfare, a training camp before the trip, and team gear.
Wrestlers will also need roughly 400 dollars in spending money.
HWC hopes to raise $12,000 in donations and sponsorships to help fund the trip.
HWC will be holding a fundraiser at Safeway on May 18th. There will be a grill out, and the proceeds will go to fund the trip.
You can find additional ways to support HWC here.
