A Spotlight on RAW Success

As a student athlete from Heart Lake Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, Jevon Balfour won a Cadet and Juvenile National Championship, a Juvenile Provincial Championship, plus two Ropssaa and Ofsaa Championship titles while wrestling for the Real Amateur Wrestling (RAW) Club.  

Balfour entered Brock University and was undefeated during five years of interscholastic competitions winning five OUA and CIS championship titles.  He placed second at the 2016 Canadian Olympic Trials then four years later, Balfour won the 2020 Canadian Olympic Trials.  Balfour was also a 5 time Canadian Senior National Champion. Jevon represented Team Canada for several years winning multiple international medals including bronze medals at the Junior and Senior Pan American Games, plus a Commonwealth bronze and silver medal. 

After helping out with wrestling at Brock University and the Niagara Top Team MMA Academy for many years, in 2024, Balfour was offered an assistant coaching position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario where he's currently utilizing his knowledge and experience to take athletes to the next level.

One summer afternoon, at the age of 10, Gagandeep Toor, and his older brother, Arshdip, were both spotted training for Kubaadi on the soccer field behind Heart Lake Secondary School.  Coach Kelman approached them and gave them a brochure to attend the Real Amateur Wrestling (RAW) Club summer camp.  They both enrolled and later joined RAW.  The rest is history. 

Both boys were already naturally athletically gifted.  Gagandeep took quickly to the sport and excelled winning several elementary age group championships. Gagandeep exhibited exceptional raw talent and set the stage for becoming one of the best high school wrestlers in Canada by the time he entered Heart Lake Secondary School.

By grade 10, Gagandeep was a Junior Ropssaa champion and rallied on to win two consecutive Senior Ropssaa titles and an Ofsaa Championship in dominant fashion before graduating high school.  While wrestling for RAW in his grade 12 year at high school, Toor won a silver medal at the Provincial Juvenile Championship then bounced back at the 2011 Juvenile Nationals in Windsor, Ontario to win both the Freestyle and Greco-Roman 72 kg divisions.  

Gagandeep's power, speed, superior mat IQ, and technical wizardry made him feared by opponents and also a fan favourite to watch wrestle. 

One of the most dynamic wrestlers in Canadian high school and University wrestling is RAW's very own, Dustin Helwig.  Hailing from the Heart Lake Huricane wrestling program, Helwig wrestled for the Real Amateur Wrestling (RAW) Club and quickly became a house hold name. 

Before graduating high school, Dustin won multiple high school events including three regional Ropssaa high school titles and two Ofsaa championships becoming  the first Ofsaa wrestling champion for the Heart Lake Hurricanes.  While wrestling with RAW, he placed top 3 at many tournaments and won a silver at the Juvenile Championships and a bronze at the Juvenile Nationals. 

Helwig's success on the mats continued when he attended Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, where he won multiple university tournaments and was a two time CIS silver medalist and an OUA Champion before graduating teacher's college. 

RAW's Cassius Kelman competed for Heart Lake Secondary School and wrestled with the Real Amateur Wrestling (RAW) Club.  As a former gymnastics Provincial Champion with good conditioning, flexibility, and excellent work ethics, Kelman was also an upcoming wrestler winning high school tournaments as an 8th grader.

Upon entering grade nine, not only did he maintain honour roll status each year, Kelman took to the mats with a high winning percentage and went undefeated throughout high school at the regional championships winning a Junior title and capturing three Senior Ropssaa crowns, the first being in his junior year.  Kelman also claimed an Ofsaa title and won a bronze medal at the Queens University Open before graduating high school.  

At the club level, Kelman was a Provincial Bantam Champion, a Canada East Bantam Champion, Cadet National Champion and Provincial Juvenile Champion with RAW.  Before earning a degree in Kinesiology at Brock University, Kelman wrestled for the Badgers wining silver medals in many tournaments including the McMaster Invitational, and the Brock and Montreal Open.