March 28, 2000 — Wrestling is perhaps the most basic and intrinsic of sports. One on one. Man against man. Strength, cunning and endurance your only weapons.
There are not many sports as physically and emotionally draining. Last six minutes on a wrestling mat and you can barely muster the strength it takes to raise to your lips the cup of water your body so desperately needs.
It’s a tough sport. Really tough. And that may explain why local participation in wrestling has waned in recent years. Maybe kids just aren’t as tough as they used to be.
Based on the kids I sweated beside last week at the Johnson High wrestling room, I doubt that is true. The tough kids are out there. They just need to be given the chance to show it.
And thanks to a group of local wrestling people — including all of the Hall County high school wrestling coaches — that chance now exists in the form of a new youth freestyle wrestling program affiliated with USA Wrestling. Coaches and fans are hoping to pin down prospective athletes at a young age and begin the rebuilding process with a solid foundation.
“Competition between schools in Hall County is intense in everything,” said Shawn Fields, president of the West Hall Takedown Club and an organizer of the new program. “Well, all of the coaches put their school affiliations aside and they came together to get the level of wrestling in Hall County raised. They were instrumental in putting this together.”
The program runs three evenings a week and is open to wrestlers ages 4 and higher. For some it serves as an introduction to the sport, for others it provides an opportunity to compete outside the traditional wrestling months. The freestyle tournament season begins in April.
“The good wrestlers in the state compete year round,” explained Fields, 40, who wrestled at Lumpkin County High and in the Marine Corps. “You can do really good in the local dual meets, but when you start getting on the mat with those kids from Atlanta who wrestle year round, who have got seven or eight years of experience by the time they’re freshmen, you just can’t compete with them.”
You’ve likely seen freestyle wrestling in the Olympics. It’s different than the folkstyle performed in high schools. It’s more aggressive, I was told. It involves more throws.
“It’s harder to grasp than folkstyle right off the bat,” 17-year-old West Hall wrestler Drew Couch told me. “It’s a whole lot rougher. It’s real fun. I love it. But you’ve got to wrestle both styles to be good.”
Couch’s stepfather is Fields, who is definitely doing his part to keep wrestling alive in Hall. In all, he has five sons. Four of them wrestle. The family has a regulation wrestling mat in their basement. It complements their sauna and weight room.
“I’ve got so many brothers and I’ve taught so many people,” Couch said with a chuckle, “I’m a better coach than I am a wrestler.”
Which is good, because after Fields directed the 40 of us through a dizzying array of stretches and calisthenics — backward rolls, cartwheels and supposed front handsprings included — Couch was my training partner for the “low-level takedown.”
Over and over, we took turns being the faller and the fallee. Drop to the knees. Shoot the leg. Fall and finish. Takedowns are easy when the desired result — a takedown — is agreed upon in advance.
Things would get rougher.
“Hey, Dan,” a voice behind me called out. “Why don’t you come over here and wrestle with the big boys.”
The voice belonged to 29-year-old Alton Lee, a former wrestler at Johnson High and current assistant coach at North Hall. He was joined by Kevin Contardi, 26, who wrestled for West Hall; Jason Blalock, 21, who wrestled for Jackson County; and Kyle Hamman, 25, head wrestling coach at Gainesville High.
They were more than willing to show me a few moves, and they did so by demonstrating them on me. One after the other. Again and again.
They had names like the “snap down,” the “double-leg takedown,” the “fireman’s carry” and the “front headlock.” The methods behind moves were different , but the result was always the same — my back landing heavily on the mat.
I was actually pretty good at the falling. The falling I could do pretty well. But when it came time for me to make the others fall, it didn’t go so smoothly.
They must not be that good at falling.
“Rough, ain’t it?” Lee said as he sat down beside me. I was drenched with sweat. I was catching my breath.
I nodded.
Then Lee looked around at the large group of kids that filled the Johnson wrestling room.
“This is really what we need,” he said. “This is a good place to start it all back up.”
I nodded again.