DELPHOS — The Delphos Tri-County Wrestling Club held its 17th annual Miami Valley Kids Wrestling Association home meet Sunday in the Robert A. Arnzen Gymnasium at St. John’s.

Over 200 grapplers participated in the meet.

The first tournament for the club was held in 1996 as a fundraiser and to get the word out about youth wrestling. The initial season of Tri-County had less than 20 wrestlers and four coaches, including Tom Merschman, Dave Swick, Mike Metcalfe and Mike Maag. Practices were held on the second floor of the Reliable Plumbing and Heating building, which was later destroyed by fire.

This year, the club has grown to 47 wrestlers with 16 coaches. Practices are held twice a week and draws kids from Delphos, Fort Jennings, Spencerville and Van Wert.

The program’s intent is to teach the kids the basics of the sport of wrestling, while also focusing on sportsmanship — how to compete well. It’s a nice introduction for future competition. The referees at these events do a good job of reinforcing that: they explain to the kids what they did wrong and emphasize good sportsmanship.