A Truly Unique Experience

By:  Cody L. Goessl

2004 Wisconsin National Schoolboy Dual Team Coach

 

            One of the toughest parts of the sport of wrestling is when a wrestler must stand and compete alone against their opponent.  Add to that the opponent’s talent, strength, speed, power, and agility, and the challenge is intensified.  Along with that, a wrestler’s peers, family, and other important people in that wrestler’s life are watching also.  Confidence, encouragement, and the fun of the experience help drive an athlete through these challenges.  This year’s Wisconsin National Schoolboy (Ages 13 and 14) Dual Team defied those challenges for one of the best finishes our state has ever earned at the National Freestyle and Greco-Roman Schoolboy Duals in Indianapolis, IN on June 9th through June 13th.  This year’s Duals were held at Warren Central Township High School, a school of 3,400 students, which outnumbers any Wisconsin school greatly.  The facilities Wisconsin wrestled were first-class because it was state-of-the-art and held 14 mats with plenty of space in between each mat, team bench, scorer’s table, and bleachers.  Overall, the event was coordinated very well and there were very little to no complaints

            The 2004 team was assembled by Ed Chappa of Plainfield, WI and Scott Gille of Luxemburg, WI, and consisted of the best athletes of their respective weight classes in folkstyle, freestyle, and Greco-Roman wrestling in the state.  (Generally, the state champions and runner-ups earned those spots.)  After gathering for a one day mini-camp in Stevens Point, WI the Saturday before the event, the parents, participants, and coaches gathered in Appleton and Madison for the bus ride to Indianapolis in Appleton and Madison.  While the previous mini-camp was used as a quick review and team molding session, the bus ride provided the greatest opportunity for each teammate to introduce and get to know his fellow teammates.  Since this is the first opportunity for young wrestlers to compete on an all-star national team, it was crucial for them to know and understand each other for the next 5 days.  The coaches agreed team unity was a vital element in the team’s success

             The team was excited and anxious to hit the mats and show their talent on a national scene.  The only thing that held them back was the lack of a team name.  The team wanted to be unique and interesting by sporting an official nickname.  Ideas were tossed out, nominations were made, and a vote was taken by the team leaders and coaches.  At the final tally, the name “Custodians” won by an overwhelming margin.  A new team tradition started this year with team chants, and the name “Custodians” has many wrestling connotations to build on.  For example, the coaches would say “wet,” and the team would follow with “mops”, or “dirty…brooms,” “bald…Mr.Clean,” “Who are we?...WISCONSIN!” and many more.  The team enjoyed the chants because they were fun and created team spirit.

            After arriving at our hotel Wednesday evening, we had a brief workout and then hit the sacks for the long day ahead.  The next morning the wrestlers weighted-in, had a good breakfast, and started wrestling early in the afternoon.  The pool in Greco was tough and we ended up 2nd after a tough loss to Indiana Gold, but this year’s team’s never-say-die attitude motivated everyone to dominate their next opponent, as they did after the Indiana loss when the team came back to romp a good Florida team. 

            In the Greco championship pools, the “Custodians” lost to a powerful Minnesota contingent, but later came back strong to finish an awesome 3rd place.  A lot of “what if?” situations in that close Indiana match, and we might have been in the finals against our neighbor state, Minnesota.  However, a key lesson these young athletes learned from a higher level of competition like this is every point counts.  In USA wrestling, if a wrestler doesn’t get pinned, disqualified, or technical falled and scores at least one match point, their team earns one team point.  This is a crucial element because a wrestler must wrestle the whole 4:00 of the match.  Many times throughout the tournament one of  the wrestlers may have been shutout up until the closing seconds, then found a way to garnish one match point to help his team out.  The team had some matches won by less than 5 points and those single points made the difference in the team’s final results. 

            Behind the scenes, the parents played a huge part in the success of the Wisconsin team in Indiana.  Going above and beyond the role of supporter, our parents volunteered going to the grocery store and buying fresh food to provide the athletes much needed nourishment or scouting the teams we were going to wrestle.  Without the parents, the job of the coaches and team leaders would have been much more challenging and a huge thank you goes out to the parents for their efforts. 

            Wisconsin continued their success into the freestyle rounds where our only preliminary pool loss in the five duals was to Michigan Blue.  After rebounding with an extraordinary win over Illinois (who had challenged Michigan in every match), our championship pool was loaded with eventual national champ Pennsylvania Chicken Tenders, Ohio and Washington.  Wisconsin lost to Pennsylvania, came back to beat an always good Ohio, and then lost a heartbreaker to Washington.  A three way tie between Ohio (as Ohio beat Washington), Washington, and Wisconsin made for  anxious hearts all around.  In a conflict over criteria that had been sent to our team leaders, representatives from USA Wrestling declared national criteria, not Indiana’s, must be used, resulting in an eventual 7th place finish for Wisconsin.

            The team came together for a week and put their hearts into worthwhile cause---to prove they were the best on those days against tough, national competition, and never  forgot their other purpose, a purpose sometimes forgotten in the sport—to have fun.  These young men were creative, intelligent, open to new ideas and techniques, and not shy about telling others where they were from--Wisconsin. 

 

 

            One last note, I would like to extend my appreciation to Scott Gille and Ed Chappa, who volunteered their time unselfishly in the planning of Wisconsin’s participation in the National Freestyle and Greco-Roman Duals.  Organizing a trip like this takes countless hours and a good amount of time on the telephone and email communicating among event organizers, athletes and their parents.  Scott is moving on, as his son is going to be a Cadet next year, and Ed has decided to step down for personal reasons.  I would also like to thank the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation for their involvement in this valuable event.  Next year, I will be taking over the organizational part of this event.  If you are interested in helping out in any way, please feel free to contact me at (715) 748-3535 or by email at minijamarfletcher@hotmail.com.