Yes, it is true there is another USA Junior Wrestling chartered club starting in Derby. Any questions or concerns about whether or not a charter or insurance is in place can be directed to Kathy Juby at 1-620-663-1312. Practice will be Monday - Thursday from 6 to 8 pm at the Derby Middle School. The club is chartered under the name Panther Elite. The Head coach is Jeff Harrington with the help of several other experienced coaches. Please feel free to contact Jeff at 209-1214 or email to pantherelite@cox.net. There are no club fees, you must have or purchase a USA Wrestling card. Anyone is welcome to come and practice with our club, we have an open door policy. If interested we will be doing Sub-District paperwork Monday from 6-8 pm. We have and always will support the development of quality wrestlers within the Derby community and the State of Kansas.

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Congrats Panther Elite!!!

Thank you for your support.

Just curious, had some of you guys been with the other club and split off or just starting a new club from scratch?

Will Panther Elite be attending the Classic? I hope they do! There are wrestlers from Derby that add a whole different level of competition in every event that they are at!

The Panther Elite will be attending the Classic.

The Panther Elite are offering an alternative to the Derby Wrestling Club, we still believe that the Derby Wrestling Club is a good program.

Who are you "pantherelite"?

Jeff as a coach their aren't many tougher and as the former head coach of the DWC I really believe you have had a huge hand in the success of the Derby High School wrestling program. I'll admit the practices you will be running will be tough and the kids of the Elite will be phenominal at Kids Club. However, 'Anyone is welcome to come and practice with our club, we have an open door policy. ' is not what we heard. Instead you called up every High schooler/middle school kid you thought was a winner from the DWC and personally invited them to join. Making it clear to these wrestlers somehow they are better than their teammates. So while perhaps making them better you are putting a wedge between teammates that I fear will overflow back to the high school wrestling room next year. If you were really interested in making Derby wrestling better and not just in it for a few kids you could have handled the split with the club a bit better.

I appreciate the constructive criticism, in reality there were very few phone calls made, and we did not contact every member of the High School and Middle School Teams, the word spread mostly by word of mouth and the kids talking with one another. The post was made to let other members know that it was available to them if they were interested and EVERY kid who wants to wrestle truely is welcome and the door is open. The Derby Wrestling Community is large and can support more than one team. Many of the kids who wrestle also participate in other sports, such as football, or baseball. There are limited number of kids on these teams, and classmates and friends may play on other teams and yet they still remain friends. The perception that only the "winners" were called is not what transpired.

Welcome back Jeff Harrington and thank you for stepping up to fill the void for the Derby wrestlers who wish to participate at the Classic.

Many "oldtimers" remember the Derby Club as co-founders of the Classic and are happy to see there will be Derby representation at this tournament.

Richard, is the confession above that you are an "oldtimer?" Sorry couldn't help it.

Just where have you been Jeff Harrington????? I have heard a lot about you and what you have done for the sport of Wrestling in the State of Kansas and I commend you on everything you have done. But my question is where have you been over the last 3 to 4 months and why have you all of a sudden surface now?

This would be better for a private discussion you can give me a call and I would be happy to visit with you.

I admit no program is easy to start up but it seems that in the last couple years new programs have started up like Jaguars and Boos with only ELITE wrestlers. Much like wrestling in the Classic horse barn I am smelling some funny stuff here about what the actual intentions are and who is really wanted on the team. There is nothing wrong with teams wanting to have a more competitive lineup as long as that is the clear intention. We will see over the next year how OPEN the door policy is.

Good Luck to starting a new program. I just hope your intentions are genuine. We have not decided which program to join at this point.

I agree with you TFuller and that is why I asked the question Where has Jeff Harrington been. If all intentions are postive then why now, why not start this club up at the begining of the seasons. I really smell something fishy going on with this Panther Elite club.

I have known the Harrington family for a very long time Skip, Cindy, Eddie, and Jeff. They have a strong history in the wrestling community. Skip was one of the founding members of the Derby Wrestling Club, Cindy was held various positions on the board for over a 11 year span, Jeff was the Head Coach for ten years. There has always been a tremendous amount of pride that they have taken in the success of the Derby Wrestling club. Jeff has coached kids from other competing clubs when asked and has never turned any kid away. I feel confident that if this wrestling family has made a decision to start another club it is only for love of the sport and kids involved. I beleive that you will continue to see over the next few years that the open door policy that Jeff had in the past will be the same with this new club.

hpechic...that is awesome news about Jeff and his commitment to kids wrestling. Good Luck in your new Program

One more note..I did not in any way try and bash the Boos and Jaguars teams. They are both highly respected teams with great talent and coaching. I simply wanted to make a point that some teams are for more competitive kids then others.

Post it out there for the people! The Derby Wrestling Club has nothing to hide why should you?