Malta Summer Slam Hosts Over 50

Malta AAU Wrestling held their 2024 Malta Summer Slam Wrestling Camp at Malta High School under the Direction of Great Falls CMR Coach Aaron Jensen and Malta Coach Kris LaBrie.

The free camp for wrestlers from 1st grade to 12th grade was held on Sunday, July 21 through Tuesday, July 23, at the Malta High School Gymnasium.

The group hosted just under 60 wrestlers, which is the most in its' history. This is coming off of a record year in which Malta's AAU hosted 90 wrestlers, not including high school students.

"This group worked extremely hard and was very attentive," Coach Jensen said. "And I think they got a lot out of it. I think the growth from the start of camp to the end of the camp for all these kids was enormous. On top of it, they worked really hard, but I think they had fun, they enjoyed themselves, and I think that's a big part of the process is enjoying the hard work that you're doing, and it really looked like they were doing that."

Malta AAU Wrestling Head Coach Dustin Squires was asked about the benefit of hosting the annual camp.

"I'd say, a benefit we have here is that the majority of these kids would not even be at a wrestling camp this summer if we didn't put this on," Coach Squires said. "We really appreciate Kris LaBrie and Coach Jensen from CMR, and Jason Roden who is also from CMR. They've been coming up here for years to put this on. It's great. The club makes this a free camp for any Malta wrestler that wants to come."

He said that the biggest benefit is getting the kids on the wrestling mat.

The younger wrestlers, third grade and younger, participated in one session of wrestling from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., with the wrestlers from fourth grade and up participated in the morning session and then another session from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

"Those older kids, they really went at it, and it was a great camp," Coach Squires said. "A lot of tears, a lot of blood, a lot of sweat, but everybody who came left this camp as a better wrestler."

LaBrie and Coach Jensen (brothers through marriage) have been hosting Malta Summer Slam for the past eight years. The camp mirrors a camp held in Great Falls.

"It's been a good way for kids from our program in Great Falls to mix in and get different training partners with kids from Malta," Coach Jensen said. "It's been a very beneficial thing for both programs over the years. And then Malta brings a bunch of kids down to our camp in Great Falls, and we continue that process, so it's been really good having the two programs working together."

Both camps welcomed wrestlers of different skill levels.

All ages and ability levels are welcome," Coach Jensen said. "So we just make sure that we split them up in the right age and ability level, so they can get the most out of their camp experience."

Coach Jensen said that fundamentals and repetition were key for this year's camp.

"A lot of fundamentals. A lot of repetition, drilling a lot of live wrestling, and then just pushing mental barriers," Coach Jensen said. "Right now in the summertime, there's probably not that many kids that are willing to put in a lot of work, so we want to make sure if we are here, we are gaining on kids that we've either beaten or beaten us to try to close that gap."

A 2001 graduate of Havre High School, Coach Jensen was a state runner up for the Havre Wrestling team. He went on to become a four-time National Qualifier and NAIA All-American for Montana State University Northern. He graduated from MSU-Northern in 2006. He has been coaching wrestling for the past 18 years.