CLUB'S ATHLETES, COACHES ARE A BIG WRESTLING FAMILY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993                   TAG: 9303260012
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
CLUB'S ATHLETES, COACHES ARE A BIG WRESTLING FAMILY
There is a special room with lots of special people tucked away inside Christiansburg High School.
That's where the Christiansburg Wrestling Club practices two or three afternoons a week.
One step into the room and whoooooosh. It hits you like an ocean wave - companionship, love, devotion, dedication, hard work and energy.
About 20 kids from as far away as Willis drive to Christiansburg to practice under coaches Todd Bartlett and "Porky" Osbourne.
The wrestlers can't seem to get enough. Monday night, after over two hours of rigorous practice, one of them asked Bartlett if the group could run the steps that lead to the floor above the commons.
"I mean that's 10 times up and down the steps with no water breaks," Bartlett said. "And they wanted to do it."
The chemistry between the wrestlers and coaches is remarkable. It's like a big family. Bartlett, a volunteer for seven years, gets off work at Virginia Tech Electric Service around 3 p.m. Then he picks some of the kids up and takes them to practice.
"I've told the parents that I'd adopt any one of these kids if I could," Bartlett said of the group, which has doubled in size in the past seven years.
"You can have a bad day at work and dread going to practice. Then one of those kids smiles at you," he said. "Or somebody like Preston [Hall] gives you a hug. . . . It's a feeling you live for."
A parent recently gave Bartlett a paper that Nathan Johnson, 9, turned in for an assignment in school on Jan. 5. It was titled "My New Year's Resolution."
Johnson wrote that his resolution was "not to get pinned in wrestling. A way to do that is to listen and pay attention to the coach."
Said Bartlett, "I don't know what you think about that, but I get goose bumps just reading it."
Christiansburg is just one of these organizations throughout the New River Valley. The district in which the teams compete was formed two years ago and includes clubs in Radford, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Pulaski County, Dublin and Carroll County.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB