On the Mat

          The song Thunderstruck by AC/DC is continuously being blasted through the speakers in the room. In the background you can hear the huffing and puffing of athletes as they repeatedly run in place then sprawl to the ground, doing a set of push-ups, sit-ups or mountain climbers before they pop back up to their feet and get set for another round. As practice progresses all of the athletes show signs of fatigue. By the end the look upon each of the athletes’ faces shows their exhaustion; yet they continue to push themselves beyond their limits until the final whistle is blown and the practice comes to and end. These athletes are part of the Bloomsburg Wrestling Team. Usually, when people hear about Bloomsburg Wrestling they immediately think about Bloomsburg's D1 wrestling team. This year though that is not the only wrestling team on campus. Jake Dabashinsky is the current president and one of the founders of the Bloomsburg Club Wrestling Team. In the past when wrestlers came to Bloomsburg Univsity they either had to be good enough to wrestle D1 or quit the sport entirely. Jake did not want this to be the case so him and his buddies came together and formed the Bloomsburg Club Wrestling Team .

When you first step into the wrestling room you are immediately hit by a wave of heat. The room is normally set at a temperature of about 60-70 degrees but when practice gets going that temperature rises pretty quickly. The smell of sweat fills the air. By the end of practice the wrestlers' clothes are drenched in so much sweat that if you saw them you would think they had just dumped a bucket of water over their head. There is music being played in the room non-stop to keep up the high intensity of the practice. The genres of music played consist of hard rock and rap. Slow paced and calming music is intentionally avoided. The music is always turned all the way up to the point where you need to yell to be heard. There is a wrestling mat on the floor which takes up almost the entire room. The mat is a thick, soft cushion, to reduce the risk of injury and to make it comfortable enough to wrestle on. The mat has circles evenly spread out on it so when the wrestlers pair up they each have their own area to practice in which alleviates them from constantly bumping into each other. The room also holds numerous work out equipment. As you look around the room you will notice a number of pull-up bars bolted onto the walls. you will also see a section of the room that does not have a mat. This is where a wrestler's most hated workout equipment is kept....the fan bike. There are six fan bikes set up in a straight line. The bikes are frequently used by wrestlers at an intense pace to cut weight. At first glance, the bikes look like they are from the 1980's and out of date compared to exercise equipment you see today; but they are actually one of the hardest and most beneficial workout machines you can find. Especially when you have someone yelling in your ear driving you to push yourself  further then you ever thought you could on your own. Behind the bikes you will find a box filled with jump ropes, another very common piece of workout equipment used by wrestlers. In an area next to the bikes you will find the wrestlers' gear tossed and piled up around a small desk that is barely big enough to hold 5 gallon water jug placed on top of it. 

             The team consists of all guys and one girl and everyone in the room is there to have fun but at the same time get better. The President, Jake runs almost all of the practices. He likes to start by playing a game to warm up and get everyone loose and in a good mood. After the warm up the drilling begins. Drills are a technique used to repetitively practice a wrestling move with the focus on perfecting the move until it is second nature to the wrestler. A lot of wrestlers will have a signature move which it typically a basic move that they make their own. Some of the basic moves include a double leg, single leg or ankle pick. Though the list of moves can go on and on, these are the three most common and effective moves you will see used by wrestlers. Jake focuses on and performs drills for these three moves at practice. A double leg take down is the first move every wrestler is taught when they start the sport, it is executed by the offensive wrestler taking a penetration step and dropping one knee in between the opposing wrestlers legs; at the same time reaching out and grabbing the back of their legs, then while driving through the opponent you want to pull their legs in so they have no defense which will cause them to fall to the mat giving you a take down. A single leg is just slightly different, on your first penetration step instead of putting your knee to the inside of your opponents legs you place it to the outside next to their foot, then in a sweeping motion you swing your outside arm around the leg and while driving through you lift the leg up under your armpit and from that position the offensive wrestler just needs to do a simple trip to get their opponent to the mat and complete the take down. The third move and probably the fastest take down out of the three is the ankle pick. To complete the ankle pick the offensive wrestler, all in one motion, will drop to the mat putting their forearm flat on the mat with their hand behind the opponents ankle then they will take their head and place it on the inside of the knee and push their head to the outside of whatever leg they are attacking and by doing this the opponent will be put to the ground and the offensive wrestler will only have to cover over the opponent to secure the take down. These moves are practiced continuously every practice and some wrestlers will perfect them to the point that the move is near impossible to stop even when your opponent knows it is coming. When drilling comes to an end wrestlers will pair up for live wrestling.  Live wrestling is when wrestlers try their skills against another member of the team in short one-minute sessions. After live wrestling there is conditioning which consists of running suicides, which are short –fast sprints run continuously for a period of time or a mile run through campus.  Practice is typically ended the same way it is started with some type of game to enable the team to cool down and have fun. In case you are confused about what a penetration step looks like or would like to see it being performed, view this video:

                                   

             "Jake knows what he’s doing in the room and really connects with the team as a leader." says Chris who is a returning member of the club team. Jake has wrestled most his life and loves the sport but when he came to bloom he wasn't quite good enough for the D1 level so he was forced to quit the sport he loved. After 2 years here he and some of his friends got together and decided that they wanted to start a club wrestling team. “I didn't want other wrestlers who loved the sport as much as I did to be forced to quit just because they came to a D1 school” says Jake. Last year was the first year club wrestling was up and running. The club started small with only 20-25 guys showing up. Since last year was the first year the club was established the team was only able to hold practices and not yet allowed to compete. Jake was surprised to get that many wrestlers to join last year but even more surprised that they all continuously showed up to practice even after they found out they wouldn't be able to compete until the following year. "I was expecting everyone to blow off practice and wait until this year to start coming after I made the announcement that we would not be competing until the following year but I was proven wrong very quickly." says Jake. He had his doubts and worries about the club and wasn't sure he would be able to keep it going but after posting flyers around campus and putting up a table at the campus clubs event, Jake and the returning wrestlers from last year were able to get the word out about the club. Because of all their hard work the club has nearly tripled in size and they will be attending and hosting numerous matches throughout the year against neighboring schools.

Jake is proud to see how much the club has already grown and it is only the first year. “It’s a good feeling coming to practice and seeing how eager everyone on the team is to learn and have fun. I’m glad with the help of some friends we were able to start up this club so wrestlers could keep on playing the sport that they love and I feel like I've really done something good.” Jake is scheduled to graduate this year but says he is sure he will be back to visit the team next year to see how the club is doing. He knows the club will be in good hands when he leaves and only hopes that each year some of seniors will step up and take over the program so it keeps going for years to come.