Inaugural Wrestling Clinic at New St. Luke’s Fitness & Sports Performance Center

St. Luke’s University Health Network and Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club have announced a new partnership that will reach and help inspire the next generation of national and Olympic caliber wrestlers.

On Saturday, October 19, they will hold the first St. Luke’s Wrestling Clinic at the new St. Luke’s Fitness & Sports Performance Center - Union Boulevard in Allentown, geared toward male and female wrestlers from youth levels through high school.

To register, click here: https://go.activecalendar.com/sluhn/event/st-lukes-elite-wrestling-clinic---in-partnership-with-the-lehigh-valley-wrestling-club/

The freestyle wrestling clinic will run 9 a.m. to 12 noon and feature three world medalists and U.S. Women’s National Team members, along with four male resident athletes form the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club (LVWC) who have international wrestling experience.

World champion Adeline Gray, who last month became the first U.S. wrestler – male or female – to win five world championships, 2018 world silver medalist Sarah Hildebrandt and 2018 world bronze medalist  Mallory Velte headline the women’s clinicians.

Former Lehigh wrestlers and NCAA champions Zack Rey and Darian Cruz (both three-time All-Americans), along with two-time All-American Chance Marsteller and Mario Mason, resident athletes with LVWC, will be the male clinicians.

“Part of our mission at LVWC is to promote wrestling at all levels,” said LVWC head coach Jeff Buxton, who served as a coach for the U.S. Men’s Freestyle World Championship Team last month. “As a Regional Training Center for USA Wrestling, we are happy and excited to partner with St. Luke’s as they spread the message of good health and athletic performance, as well as helping our young athletes with the sport of wrestling.

“Obviously we have our elite athletes who compete trying to make World and Olympic teams, but we’re also trying to educate all ages and levels of kids in freestyle wrestling,” Buxton added.

“LVWC and St. Luke’s share the same values of excellence and high character when it comes to athletes and performance,” John Hauth, EdD, LAT, ATC, Senior Director for Sports Medicine Relationships at SLUHN, said. “For us to come alongside them and support their efforts was a natural fit.”

“We’re trying to make a difference with the kids who want to be wrestlers and be physically active,” Dr. Hauth said. “We look to build upon that and help these young athletes reach their goals.”

Shelby Hoppis, lead Athletic Trainer at St. Luke’s, who served as an athletic trainer for the U.S. Women’s World Team, helped facilitate the relationship and clinic.

“We’re not only looking at what we can do for LVWC in the community,” Hoppis said, “but what we can do to help support their vision for young, active individuals. We’re excited about this event and the impact it will have on our local community It’s going to be at our new Sports & Performance Center on Union Boulevard as a pre-event before it opens officially. ”

Check-in for the clinic begins at 8 a.m. An autograph session will take place at the end of the clinic. 

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 34 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 263 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals.  St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.