Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401120106
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Standing in at 5-feet-1-inch in thick-soled work boots, he's dwarfed by a pitchfork. He could turn a bale of hay on its end and hide behind it. That's no bull.
It's also true that Alan Trout is tougher than a well-done steak from spending his life doing his chores.
That's why he's able to toss opposing wrestlers around like hay bales when he steps onto the mats.
Trout is unbeaten in 11 matches this season for Shawsville High School's wrestling team. All of the wins have come by pins, most of them quickly.
He's one of the main matmen for the Shawnees, who are one of the best teams in the Mountain Empire District for the second straight year.
Then again, this is only Shawsville's second year of wrestling. Last year, the Shawnees capped their inaugural season by winning the MED tournament.
"We have good kids who want to work hard," said head coach Ben Boyd.
That taken literally, no one can possibly work harder than Trout, who wrestles at 103 pounds.
In addition to helping out on the farm owned by his father, David, and his father's brothers, Mike and Bob, the 18-year old senior maintains a part-time job at a local pizzeria.
Wrestling - with its grueling practices, exhausting matches, and that special feeling of having your face shoved into the mat by brutes - is usually the easiest part of Trout's day.
"Wrestling is my extracurricular activity," he said. "I don't look at it as a chore."
Winning also makes the sport a little more fun, too. Trout placed fourth in the 112-pound classification at the Group A state tournament last year after having finished second in both the MED and Region C.
Trout even qualified for the state tournament as a sophomore, before the Shawnees were wrestling a full schedule. It was the first year he had wrestled since being introduced to the sport as an 8-year old Boy Scout.
"I always wanted to wrestle, but there was never a place around here," said Trout. Plus, "I never had time, working on the farm and stuff."
When Mike Blevins started Shawsville's wrestling program three years ago, Trout was one of the first to sign up.
Trout took to the sport seriously. He learned the fundamentals, began working out with weights (he now bench presses about 175 pounds) and used his younger brother, Zack, as his at-home practice equipment.
Now that Zack is a freshman wrestling at 112 for Shawsville, the brothers have turned their bedroom into a wrestling room.
Although wrestling occuring in brothers' rooms may not be news to some parents, the Trouts have set it up right. Their beds can be folded up against the wall, exposing the wrestling mat that covers the floor.
The boys can have a full-blown match right there.
"There have been cases where we've bounced up against the walls," said Alan Trout.
Said Zack: "He used to [whip me] pretty good when I didn't know any moves. Now, he still pins me, but I wrestle with him longer."
An industrious sort, Trout designed the lumber-and-rope rigging that lifts the beds off the floor. For his Eagle Scout project last year, he cut 7 1/2 cords of wood for people in need of firewood.
"He's always doing something," said Boyd, "and he does it 100 percent."
Farm boys know not to leave chores half-done. They also know not to look too far ahead when there's work to be done today.
That's why Trout takes nothing for granted on the mats, even though he's one of the favorites to win the MED 103-pound title and advance to his third straight state tournament.
"I look at every wrestler like they're the best I've ever seen," he said. "I've learned I've got to work for what I've wanted."
by CNB