Jun. 21—Sam Smith recognized many of the youth campers who were taking part in the Oklahoma State wrestling camps at Gallagher-Iba Arena this week.

Just 12 months ago, Smith was a camper with many of them. Now, he — along with the bulk of incoming freshmen and underclassmen — is a camp counselor. Instead of looking to college wrestlers for advice, he’s now one of the college wrestlers being asked if they’re doing a technique properly.

“It’s cool because I’ve been at this camp my whole life, and now to be teaching it is pretty cool,” Smith said. “It brings back a lot of memories and it’s pretty fun.”

Many of the counselors on hand were similar to Smith, having taken part in the camps as youth — including incoming freshman Brayden Thompson, who moved from Illinois to Stillwater in the middle of his senior year of high school.

Some of that is based on a large contingent of young Cowboys who are Oklahoma products, such as fellow Stillwater High graduate Carter Young, Pawnee’s Blake Skidgel, Stilwell’s Cutter Sheets and Bixby’s Jersey Robb.

This camp is perhaps most important for aspiring wrestlers such as Skidgel and Sheets who come from smaller communities and perhaps don’t face the type of talent or get the type of coaching as the talent coming from Class 6A.

“You kind of connect with those kids a little bit more,” said Skidgel, who was a twotime high school champion for the Black Bears. “You get a few kids come in from a smalltown school like me, and I think I kind of prove to them and show them it doesn’t matter where you’re from or how big a school you go to, if you put in the work and have the skills to go out there and let it fly and put your name out there, then you can make it.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about how good you are and doesn’t matter where you’re from.”

Tyler Caldwell, Oklahoma State’s recruiting coordinator and a four-time All-American, was leading several of the techniques to show the campers — with Thompson as his sparring partner who typically had to get roughed up one extra time at the conclusion of showcasing a technique just for the laughs of the campers.

Like those current Cowboys helping among the eight mats spread across the GIA floor, Caldwell also came to the OSU camp in the early 2000s. And he recalls just how impactful those moments can be for the young wrestlers, because he has his own memory from 20 years ago that still lingers.

“I came to this camp back in around 2004 ... I had Chris Pendleton as my counselor and I think he was just coming off a redshirt so I wasn’t sure who he was,” Caldwell said. “Then the next year, I’m seeing him win a national title. It’s kind of cool seeing that, and I still remember it from when I was 8 or 9 years old.”

While the camp can be eyeopening for the campers, the same can be said for the current Cowboys.

For some of the OSU wrestlers, the camp can serve as their first taste of what coaching could be like — for potential future endeavors following their college careers. But it also gives them a different vantage point for their own training.

“It gives you a whole new perspective, helping kids that were in the same spot as you were — just trying to learn a couple of things, more techniques,” Skidgel said. “Some of that you can apply into your set of moves and your skill set. So it’s awesome just going out there and helping kids — maybe showing them a couple of things that help.”

It may be beneficial for the current Cowboys, but they also realize that the camp as a whole is beneficial for the Oklahoma State wrestling program.

They know that among the group of kids — aging from 5 years old up to high school — is the next crop of Oklahoma State wrestlers.

“There’s a bunch of kids here that have the chance to come through the camps and be an all-area kid and have a spot at making the OSU team in the future,” Skidgel said. “There’s a lot of talent here, and there’s a lot of kids that will continue to put the time in and put the work in to be able to make it one day.

“Makes this all pretty awesome.”