BILLINGS — As Team Montana gathered in the backyard of a residence in west Billings for a get-together before heading for disco bowling and a wrestling session later, boys coach Mike Etchemendy of Miles City reflected.
On a bright and sunny Saturday, Etchemendy recalled his days as a youth wrestler in Miles City as 18 wrestlers, six females and 12 males, visited and got to know each other while waiting for individual and team photos. This group of wrestlers, along with three coaches and a team leader, will be departing Billings Tuesday and coming home Aug. 11 for a cultural-exchange visit to Germany.
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“I went on this same trip 41 years ago, but it was West Germany then,” Etchemendy said. “I was 16.”
Etchemendy smiled as he recalled his overseas trip all those years ago when the now Miles City head wrestling coach was a youth wrestler himself.
“It was a blast. That is probably the reason when (Team Montana leader) Angelo (Rivera) approached me, and that we had hosted the Germans last year in Miles City,” Etchemendy said of why he decided to be a part of this summer’s cultural-exchange. “That had an influence on it, too.”
Wrestlers and coaches making up the roster of Team Montana come from all over the state. For many of the wrestlers, this will be their first time traveling abroad.
“The chance to go to another country across the big pond,” said Ronan 2024 graduate Fortino Silva, who plans to join the Eastern Oregon wrestling team as a walk-on in the fall. “It’s a first for me and a first for my family to go over to Europe.”
Lily McMahon, a 2023 graduate of Kalispell Flathead who wrestles for Simpson College in Iowa, said it would also be her first time traveling to another country.
“I’m super excited for it and it will be a super fun experience and so cool to learn,” she said. “I’m excited to go overseas and see everything and how it’s different than the U.S.”
Team Montana head female wrestling coach Jayda Fox of Miles City, a 2021 Custer County District High School graduate who helps coach the middle school and high school teams in Miles City, also said it will be her first time venturing outside the United States.
“I’ve never left the country and I’m really excited to do that,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to travel since I was a little girl and when this opportunity came about, it was all of my favorite things in one trip.”
Of course, while the Montanans are in Germany there will be wrestling duals. However, the real highlight of the trip is getting to experience a new culture.
The team will visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, castles, cathedrals, the Mercedes-Benz Museum, the Black Forest, and Europa-Park and other sites in Germany.
Rivera said he’s been looking forward to this trip and counting down the days.
“Oh yes, getting back to see our old friends and taking this group to experience international competition,” said Rivera, a 1984 Laurel graduate who now resides in Billings and who is in his second year as the state’s AAU and USAW cultural-exchange wrestling director. “It’s a lifetime experience for some of these young people.”
Rivera said he hoped the young wrestlers would have “a new outlook on the world and to see something other than the United States. We are very fortunate in the United States, but there are other good ways, too.”
Fortino is eagerly awaiting the chance to see the buildings and taste the cuisine in Germany.
“The castles and the culture. To see all the food, the art and architecture,” Fortino said of what he is most looking forward to. “I’m a construction worker, so I like seeing things that are really cool to build, and show the fine detail and scale of it all.”
Fox said she is taking online courses in design drafting. She also works at an architecture firm in Miles City, so she, too, is anticipating viewing the historic buildings.
“I am excited to see all the architecture there,” she said. “It will be super exciting to see that. It will be phenomenal. I’m really excited.”
Fox is also hoping to build relationships through wrestling and getting to know Team Montana and the host Germans better.
“I am excited to get to know them as people instead of just wrestlers,” she said. “I’m excited to see those personalities and create those bonds throughout the state.”
McMahon said it will be interesting to see how the wrestlers from Montana matchup with their German counterparts. While in high school in Montana, wrestlers compete at the folkstyle level. In Germany the females will wrestle freestyle and the males will wrestle freestyle and Greco-Roman.
“I love freestyle wrestling and am excited to see how it matches to our girls over there,” McMahon said.
While in Billings, the wrestlers will partake in a freestyle and Greco-Roman camp led by Mike Stokes.
“To make sure these kids know the rules and scoring is different than folkstyle and a little strategy,” said Etchemendy of the reasons for the camp. “I don’t know if we’ll get into moves, but we will get into a little more defense than offense.”
And while as competitors winning the matches will be important, the main focus of the trip is to enjoy a new experience and learn about another country and culture. Lifetime friendships have been made through the cultural-exchange wrestling program. Etchemendy, remembering his experience as a 16-year-old, wants these young wrestlers to also create lasting memories and friendships.
“We will wrestle five or six times, but it will be bonding with the German people and each other,” he said. “Wrestling gets us prepared for life and in this combination, seeing the world, it makes it this much more.”
Email Gazette Sports Editor John Letasky at john.letasky@406mtsports.com or follow him on X/Twitter at @GazSportsJohnL
