In wrestling, as in life, your greatest success won’t come easy. You’ve got to battle through the disappointment, the losses, and the pain. But that’s why the success feels so good.

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For many young athletes in East Tennessee, football just makes sense.

Wrestling? Not so much.

Hunter Fortner, one of four local boys who won AAU Spring Youth Nationals on March 23 in Kingsport, said he’s learned they’re not so different — but not without a few surprises along the way.

“I got a flyer for it at school,” said Fortner, of his first exposure to wrestling as a second grader. “I thought it was WWE stuff at first. It was really weird. I didn’t really get it.”

Now an eighth grader at Holston Middle School and two-time AAU All-American, Fortner said it all makes sense.

“It’s like football,” he said, while crediting coaches Joe Reep and Tim Pittman as well as teammates for helping him along. “It’s a contact sport that keeps me in shape during the winter. “A takedown is kind of just like tackling, but there’s more technique,” he added.

It’s clicked with others in the area as well. Six-year-old Mason Shields (35-pound tot division), ten-year-old Colby Dalon (75-pound midget division), and sixth-grader Tyler Jay Holmes (112-pound junior division) each won nationals in their respective classifications. The event included competitors from more than a dozen states.

The Bahamas Amateur Wrestling Federation (BAWF) has joined with federations around the Americas in a campaign to reinstate wrestling as an Olympic Sport.

The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted in February to drop wrestling from the Olympic program as of 2020. The surprise decision was a significant point when the Pan American Council of Associated Wrestling (CPLA) met in congress April 4 in Panama City, Panama. The Bahamas joined 27 countries at the congress, where several actions to campaign for the sport’s reinstatement in the Games were discussed.

“Wrestlers around the world are initiating programs in their countries and joining with other countries to save our sport,” said Clarence Rolle, president of the BAWF after attending the CPLA Congress. “Wrestling is popular around the world. We have 177 countries with recognized federations and wrestling is an original sport of the Olympic Games. It is an important link between the ancient Games and modern times. It is not even possible for us to imagine the Olympics without wrestling.”

Every pro was once an amateur.
Every expert was once a beginner.
So dream big. And start now.

It may be a long hard journey, but it’ll be worth it in the end. Never give up.

Jordan Burroughs began his wrestling career as a five year old and by 24 he has won an NJSIAA state title, two NCAA championships, a world championship and a gold medal at the London Olympics. Burroughs spoke with The Star-Ledger this week to talk about the International Olympic Committee’s decision to drop wrestling from the Games beginning in 2020, his recent experience in Iran at the wrestling World Cup and a March weekend, in 2006, when he won his state title.

The Star-Ledger: Some have said the reason for the IOC’s decision to cut wrestling is that is too elemental a sport and it doesn’t appeal to the general public for that reason. As a participant and a fan of wrestling, what is it that you appreciate about the sport?

Jordan Burroughs: I definitely appreciate the individual aspect of it. It is one of the few sports that is hand-to-hand combat. Everything you do is based upon your own training. If you have weakness, it is exposed, and your strength is evident. Unlike, say, football or basketball, it’s you on your own. When you compete, the commitment you’ve made to sport will show.

ConU Olympian David Tremblay Says Goodbye to University Wrestling After Half-Decade in Maroon and Gold

Now in his fifth year with the Stingers, Tremblay is one of the most successful wrestlers in the team’s storied history.

Last summer, Tremblay represented Canada at the London Olympics, finishing 14th in his weight class after a difficult draw in the tournament.

Earlier this month, Tremblay won his fifth consecutive gold medal at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championships in London, ON—making him only the third wrestler ever to win gold in each year of eligibility for the CIS. Tremblay was also named Outstanding Male Wrestler of the tournament.

Now, as Tremblay is finishing up his last semester at Concordia and his sparkling Stingers career comes to an end, his teammates and coaches are contemplating life after David.

“We’ll have to find another David Tremblay—and that’s not easy,” said Rob Moore, assistant coach of the Concordia wrestling team.
“There’s always a rebuilding period,” Moore continued. “That’s the nature of university and high school sports.”

You may need those wrestling skills if a fight breaks out into the bar. Just don’t be the one starting it.

Northern Illinois wrestling coach Ryan Ludwig tried to find positives when he heard the International Olympic Committee recommended wrestling be removed from its list of core sports for the 2020 games.

“I can’t look at the decision negatively,” Ludwig said. “I’ve got to be positive about things. It’s a chance to battle hard and overcome adversity, that’s a lesson wrestling teaches. The decision to leave wrestling out of the Olympics was a flawed one. It’s a staple. It’s one of the original sports and is one in which anyone can participate.”

The decision would seem to represent a death knell for wrestling, a sport with participation numbers on an upward trajectory.

In the last 10 years 40,000 additional prep wrestlers have taken the mat. Since 1999 there are 95 new NCAA wrestling teams, and last year the Division I wrestling tournament drew 112,000 spectators.

But, without national support for wrestling, the potential for continued growth could slow. Without medals at stake, state funding for international training facilities and top tier programs could cease.

Amateur athletes would be stripped of their dream of one day rising to a medal stand as their national anthem fills an Olympic arena.