The Cleanest Wrestling Room in the State

At Bear Cave Wrestling Academy, we take pride in developing tough, disciplined wrestlers—but there’s another standard we take just as seriously: keeping our wrestling room clean.

Wrestling is a high-contact sport. Athletes spend every practice drilling, competing, sweating, and making constant contact with both their training partners and the mat. That makes proper mat sanitation and personal hygiene extremely important.

That’s why we’ve made it our goal to maintain the cleanest wrestling room in Colorado.

UV-C Mat Disinfection Before and After Every Class

One of the biggest differences between Bear Cave and a typical wrestling room is our use of a STERILASER™ UV-C Floor Unit.

STERILASER was originally developed specifically to address skin-infection concerns associated with wrestling mats. The system uses powerful germicidal UV-C light to disinfect large athletic surfaces.

According to the manufacturer, the floor unit produces 53,000 microwatts of germicidal UV-C light at a wavelength of 254 nm and is designed to neutralize more than 99% of pathogens such as ringworm, impetigo, and MRSA when properly operated.

At Bear Cave, we don't just use it once at the end of the night.

We run our UV-C sanitation system over the wrestling mats before and after every class.

With multiple groups of wrestlers training throughout the day, this gives us an additional layer of sanitation between groups instead of waiting until the entire day is finished.

We Still Mop Our Mats Every Day

Technology doesn't replace good old-fashioned cleaning.

At the end of every practice day, our entire wrestling surface is thoroughly mopped and cleaned.

In fact, STERILASER itself recommends that UV-C disinfection be used in addition to normal cleaning procedures because UV-C doesn't physically remove sweat, dirt, debris, or stains.

That's why our approach uses multiple layers:

• UV-C mat disinfection before and after classes

• Daily mopping and cleaning of the wrestling mats

• Shoe-cleaning stations at entrances

• Strict rules about outside shoes

• Athlete education about personal hygiene

There isn't one magic solution to keeping a wrestling room clean. It's the combination of good habits and consistent cleaning that matters.

No Outside Shoes on the Wrestling Mats

One of the easiest ways to make a wrestling room dirty is also one of the easiest to prevent.

Wrestling shoes should never be worn outside.

Athletes walking through parking lots, bathrooms, sidewalks, hallways, or other outdoor areas can pick up dirt and contaminants on the bottoms of their shoes and bring them directly onto the wrestling mat.

We enforce a strict policy at Bear Cave: wrestling shoes are for the wrestling room.

We also take that policy one step further.

At entrances to our wrestling room, athletes have access to scrubbing mats filled with cleaning solution. Wrestlers scrub the bottoms of their shoes before stepping onto the wrestling surface.

It takes only a few seconds, but when dozens or even hundreds of athletes use the facility each week, those little habits make a major difference.

Clean Wrestlers Help Create a Clean Wrestling Room

A clean mat is only part of the equation.

We regularly talk to our athletes about personal hygiene and their responsibility to protect themselves and their teammates.

That includes simple habits such as showering after practice, wearing clean workout clothes every day, washing knee pads regularly, cleaning headgear, keeping wrestling shoes clean, covering cuts and scrapes, and never reusing sweaty practice gear without washing it.

Throwing yesterday's sweaty shirt back into the wrestling bag and wearing it again isn't just gross—it works against everything we're trying to accomplish as a wrestling room.

Good hygiene is part of being a good teammate.

Creating Better Habits Through Wrestling

At Bear Cave, we're trying to teach more than takedowns.

Wrestling teaches discipline, responsibility, toughness, and respect for the people around you. Taking care of your body, your equipment, and your training environment is part of that responsibility.

Our coaches can clean the mats, run the STERILASER, and enforce rules—but our athletes also learn that keeping the wrestling room clean is everyone's job.

Those habits extend beyond wrestling.

A Higher Standard for Wrestling in Northern Colorado

Families looking for a wrestling club in Greeley, Colorado, or anywhere in Northern Colorado, should be able to feel confident about where their children train.

No wrestling room can promise that an athlete will never encounter a skin infection. Wrestling is a contact sport, and some risks will always exist.

What we can promise is that Bear Cave Wrestling Academy takes sanitation seriously.

From UV-C disinfection before and after classes to daily mat cleaning, shoe sanitation, and athlete hygiene education, we've built cleanliness into the everyday operation of our wrestling academy.

We put a tremendous amount of effort into providing our wrestlers with great coaching and a great training environment.

We believe that environment should also be one of the cleanest wrestling rooms in the state.

Train Hard. Stay Clean. Take Care of Your Teammates.

If you're looking for youth wrestling in Greeley, Colorado, or a wrestling academy serving athletes throughout Northern Colorado, come experience Bear Cave Wrestling Academy.

We'd love to have you come see the room, meet our coaches, and experience the Bear Cave difference.