Tribal youth Matt Hofenbredl continues pinning away

By Peter Nelson

Summer Youth Employment reporter

Tribal member Matthew Hofenbredl, 14, wrestled kids from all over the West Coast at the 2011 West Regional Wrestling Tournament held in Pocatello, Idaho.

The tournament began Sunday, June 19, and Hofenbredl wrestled about 25 matches within the next five days, placing first in folk style, sixth in Greco-Roman and sixth in freestyle.

"I started wrestling when I was like 4 or 5," Hofenbredl says," I just kind of signed up and got into it." He was an eighth-grader at LaCreole Middle School last year and will be attending Dallas High School this fall.

He has a pretty full schedule, from frequently practicing at the high school during the season to going out of state for tournaments.

"Pretty much from November to April, there's a tournament every weekend," says Matt's father, Tribal member Lee Hofenbredl. "If you're still wrestling this late in the season, you have to be pretty tough and dedicated."

Both Matt and Lee say that most of the out-of-state tournaments have some very tough competition and that Matt can sometimes tell, by looking at the roster of who's wrestling that day, how he will fare in his matches.

Matt plays other sports, such as baseball and football, but says that if he had to pick one sport to play, wrestling would be the one.

Matt plans to wrestle next year and continue wrestling for the duration of his high-school career.