"I'm Confident We'll Get There"

Finding joy when challenge after challenge disrupts your best laid plans can test the mettle of even the staunchest competitor.

 

Such is the case of the Collegiate School wrestling program, which is in the second rebuilding year after Covid protocols eliminated the promising 2020-21 season and Jeb Ferguson (Prep League champ and All-State at 182), Walker Clemans (All-Prep and All-State at 170), and David Ding (All-Prep at 138) graduated.

 

It wasn’t as if Coach Andy Stone’s crew was completely inactive during that unusual winter. Each day, they reported to the turf room at the Robins Campus for conditioning. Problem was, there could be no contact. Wrestling, of course, is all about contact, and with contact comes skill building.

 

“It was a big hollowing out of the program,” Stone said. “With any program, the older, experienced athletes bring the young ones along. They’re role models, and in such a technical sport, they’re also player/coaches. When you don’t have that, it’s really difficult because kids are put into a varsity role later when they might not be technically ready.

        

“They don’t have someone who’s already been through it and knows the technique that they can practice with and teach them how to drill correctly, correct their mistakes, and show them all the little things that you don’t always think about like how to hold your weight and how weigh-ins work. Before Covid, I felt like we weren’t quite there yet, but we had the pieces in place. It’s tough, but they’re going great now.”

 

This year, numbers are good. There’re 26 Cub and 15 Varsity/JV wrestlers on the roster. Problem is, there’s very little experience to fill the 14 weight classes. The lone senior, Silas Gwathmey (All-Prep last year at 160), has been injured and may not be available for championship competition. There are just four juniors (Cabell Chenault and 2022 All-Prep performers Braden Bell, Walker Bain, and Everett Hatfield), no sophomores, and 10 freshmen, several of whom are first-year wrestlers.

 

In a way, it’s almost as if Stone is starting (in this case, restarting) the program. It isn’t his first time. In the mid-90s, he introduced wrestling to Brookwood High School in Alabama.

 

“My wife (Robin) was getting her MFA in poetry at the University of Alabama, and I was along for the ride,” he said. “I got a job in Brookwood, a little coal mining community between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.  An administrator there had coached wrestling years ago, and he wanted to start a team. I had good community support. The first day of practice, the mat showed up on the truck. We practiced on an old stage in the auditorium. We built the program from there. It seemed like we weren’t getting anywhere for so long, but we knew the kids were getting better.  At some point, they started winning, but when they’re struggling, it’s hard on them and hard on the people around the program.”

 

In the third year, Brookwood won the state championship.

        

“The point is,” Stone said, “it’s the same experience in that the kids didn’t have any role models to look up to, so they had to become the role models. That’s a hard job. These kids are doing that, and they’re responding well.”

 

Mac Friddell heads Collegiate’s Cub program. Asher Rolfe assists with Cub and JV. Michael Blair serves as varsity assistant. All are former wresters and knowledgeable, dedicated teachers and coaches.

 

Bell, who wrestles in the 157 weight class, is team captain.

 

“He’s a great leader with the young kids,” Stone said. “He’s helping them understand what being a Collegiate wrestler is all about. The other juniors have done a great job at that too.”

 

Why, I asked Stone, do kids come out for wrestling?

 

“In wrestling, you have to love it,” he said. “It’s hard. It’s not a glamorous sport. There’s the physicality. Winning and losing are so personal. Strong bonds are made. It takes a special kind of kid. We have those kids.

 

“Sometimes you can tell it’s hard on them. They’re competitive, they want to be successful, they’re used to being successful and being around successful people. We’re that kind of school. They know it’s going to take time. They’re trusting and hanging in there.”

 

Considering the obstacles, what keeps you coming back? I asked Stone.

 

“Whatever I do,” he replied, “I have a drive to do as well as I can. I’m persistent to a fault. I’m very loyal. I couldn’t see walking away from a project unfinished. Here we have these great pieces and great facilities and great kids and great coaches and support. I want to see this to where it’s healthy and running so these kids can have a great experience. I believe in the experience that wrestling gives these kids. I can see this when older kids come back and talk about the whole experience. I think wrestling adds a certain secret sauce to a lot of kids’ experience.”

 

The Cougars host the Prep League tournament Feb. 4. Two weeks later, they’ll compete in the VISAA tournament at Benedictine.

 

“We’ve come a long way,” said Stone, a state champ (119) at Bowie (MD) High who competed for the University of Tennessee and the New York Athletic Club. “Wrestling is a high-skill sport. It takes a lot of hours to get good at it. There’re no short cuts. You have to learn so many different positions and techniques and be able to do them under duress and have the physical capability and conditioning to do them. There’re so many pieces that have to come together. Yeah, it’s a challenge, but I’m confident we’ll get there. I’m proud of what these kids are doing, and I feel really great about where we’re going.”

  ~Weldon Bradshaw