Wrestling: conditioning key to victory
Kristie Powell, Charger Staff
Unfortunately for the wrestlers, their 2002 season is underway.
Unfortunately because of the amount of conditioning they have to
endure.
On their first practice, they ran for approximately twenty minutes,
and five of those minutes were on the stairs. In addition to running,
they also did 250 push-ups in addition to slow, pain-inducing drills.
Assistant Coach David Frazier stated, “I laugh out loud if
anyone even compares their conditioning with ours.”
“What we lack in experience, we make up for in conditioning,”
the other assistant coach Gregg Dennison added.
What Dennison meant when mentioning the lack of experience is that
most upcoming wrestlers have not even seen a wrestling match before.
To discourage this lack of experience, the coaches encourage going
to camps over the summer and youth programs. Which has proven to
be successful.
Although lacking in experience last year, ten wrestlers out of the
fourteen weight classes made it to the state level. They include
BJ Sullivan, Daniel Boyce, Darnell Gammon, Charles Taylor, Justin
Proctor, Joe Hill, Kevin McCaleb, Paco Martinez, and Matt Bates.
“All of our seniors are going to be leaders and concentrate
on a unified team,” says senior Joe Hill.
Wrestling is a sport in which you could lose all of your district
matches and still be state champions. Although the team does care
about the outcome of season play, they are mainly focusing on preparing
for state . They will be developing their technique and endurance
through the regular season matches and the slightly less intense
practices. Senior David Hobbs confidently adds, “We will definitely
be ranked in the top eight in the state.”
A Tullahoma Jamboree kicks off regular season play on Nov. 16. Their
first season game is Nov. 21 against McMinn Central.
The team definitely has the talent, leadership, and training. Like
Coach Cook says, “They need to make sure to put the ribbon
on the package.”
Article Prepared for web by. Japheth Bohannon
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