Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993 TAG: 9303260140
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
THE KID HAS POWER
On Monday night during a Christiansburg Wrestling Club practice, seven-year coach Todd Bartlett yelled, "Who wants to win?"Nine-year-old Preston Hall's voice rose above the roar of nearly 20 youngsters in a small practice room at Christiansburg High School.
"I do!" he yelled as he bounced up and down with a determined grin on his face.
That was after he had dusted three opponents.
But his next opponent was a small but gritty 5-year-old Mathew Epperly. So Preston let Mathew take him down.
There lies the essence of Preston Hall.
"He's got a heart as big as this room," Bartlett said. "Like when he went up against Mathew and let him pin him. That shows he has personality and doesn't have a big head because he's good."
With his 65-pound frame accentuated by a freckled face and his soft-spoken demeanor, Preston doesn't look like such a formidable foe.
"He's just a sweet little 9-year-old," said his father, John Hall. "Until he gets on the mat."
That's when he puts on his wrestling face. When he does, watch out: Gold medals are his thing.
He has won four of them since the Commonwealth Games in Roanoke last summer and one first-place trophy.
Preston will leave his Blacksburg home and head to Manassas today with Christiansburg Middle School eighth-graders Scottie Brubeck and Jamie Harris to compete in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Association Virginia Preliminary District Tournament.
A wrestler who places in the top three in Manassas advances to a regional meet in Salisbury, Md., April 3 and 4. A top-three finish in that meet will earn the wrestlers a shot at the Eastern National Championships at Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pa.
"I think I can win," Preston said. "It is going to take a lot of hard work, self-control and patience."
Preston, a third-grader at Day Spring Christian Academy, is in his third year of wrestling after his friend and former Virginia Tech wrestler Kelvin Bergsten invited him to practice on a Tuesday in January 1991. He practiced the following Thursday and promptly placed third in his first-ever meet that Saturday.
"I never really thought about wrestling until then," Preston said. "I always thought it was like that jumbo [sumo] wresting where people slap each other and everything. But I went to practice and liked it."
Now wrestling is as much a part of Preston's life as video games.
"There is a need to wrestle," he said while fidgeting on the wrestling mat after practice Monday night. "I need to wrestle."
He said wrestling doesn't completely consume his thoughts, but his mind always drifts back to the sport. But, he's got one thing on his mind when he's on the mat face-to-face with an opponent.
"I seem to feel this eager thing inside me to come up and beat the person I'm wrestling against. When I get out there, it's just me and him. I feel nervous, like `I have to beat this guy. I just have to.' Two men enter and one man leaves - victorious."
Talking to Preston with closed eyes, his age would be hard to pinpoint. Descriptions of Preston folks often repeat are mature, well-mannered, determined, aggressive, dedicated and focused.
"He's crazy about wrestling," Bartlett said. "He is wide open. His 50 percent is like most people's 110 percent. You've got to gear him down sometimes. It's been neat to watch him. I remember when he came in crying, and now this year he hasn't finished lower than second in a tournament."
Preston says he doesn't know exactly why he likes the sport, other than that he enjoys learning the moves and "it's just a good sport."
But he's not pushing it on anybody.
"Other people don't have to respect wrestling," he said. "It's just my best sport. It might not be yours."