While the Union Pines wrestling program is still fresh off what head coach Matt Ragsdale referred to as a “historic season,” the coaches have already moved on.

The Copperheads youth wrestling program held its season-opening clinic in the Vikings’ wrestling room Thursday. It’s a youth wrestling program which is open to kindergarten through eighth-grade students and is tied directly to the Union Pines High School wrestling program. It’s headed by Viking assistant coach Chris Vondruska and Ragsdale.

Thursday, Vondruska conducted an hour-long, hands-on instructional clinic and also fielded questions from parents and wrestlers. A two-year assistant coach to Ragsdale at the high school level, Vondruska has a decorated history in the sport.

He was a two-time state runner-up during his high school career in Ohio, then went on to wrestle at Ohio State, where he was a two-time academic all-American before serving as an assistant coach for the Buckeyes.

Ragsdale attributes a good deal of the Viking wrestling program’s recent and stark emergence as a truly elite program within the state to the Copperheads, which is tantamount to a feeder system for Union Pines.

“The Copperhead club is starting to steadily produce wrestlers that bring with them three to four years of invaluable experience into our program,” he said. “When you supplement that with our offseason schedule, it allows us to get wrestlers at the high school level quickly.”

The Copperheads’ spring session runs March 4 through April 29. All practices will be on Thursdays from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Union Pines’ wrestling room.

Cost for the program is $60. For additional information contact Chris Vondruska at cvondruska@ncmcs.org.