THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407290256
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Thomas Gillikin has won more than 30 wrestling tournaments, and can produce a fistful of medals to prove it. He's won the Southeast Regional title once, the state title twice. He's won more than 50 matches this year alone.
Not bad for someone who's still a year away from wrestling in middle school.
Gillikin, 12, is at an age where many think the best wrestling is done by Hulk Hogan. But after three years of state, regional and national tournaments, Gillikin's dreams are of wrestling fact, not fiction.
``I'd like to win an Olympic championship someday,'' he said.
According to his father, Tom, achieving such a goal means starting young, something he said is frowned upon by many South Hampton Roads coaches.
``That's why Virginia is far behind a lot of the other states,'' the senior Gillikin said. ``Kids wrestling's not real big around here. But up north, it's not unusual for a kid to be entering high school with 500 matches under his belt.''
Gillikin doesn't have 500 yet, but he's on his way. Two weeks ago, he placed fifth in the 90-pound division of the AAU National Freestyle Junior (age 11-12) Championships, even though he lost just one match and whipped the eventual national champ, 13-5.
``He got a bye in the first round, but he lost out on wrestling for the championship because he didn't have enough points when it came to a tiebreaker,'' the senior Gillikin said. ``Basically, a bye cost us the national championship.''
According to Jack Harcourt, the former Green Run coach who recently directed the U.S. world cadet team to a fourth-place finish in the world championships, the Gillikins' strategy of working hard at a young age has some merit. But he cautions that it may not be good for every child, and that too much, too soon could mean some kids won't stay involved in the sport too long.
``All kids are different,'' Harcourt said.
Tom Gillikin agrees, but points out that Thomas, a rising sixth-grader at Brandon Middle School, also plays baseball and football to help mitigate against the burnout factor. Besides, he said, the idea isn't to force wrestling on kids who don't want it, but to make sure it's available to those who do.
``This isn't something we've come up with,'' the senior Gillikin said. ``We're just following other state's examples.'' by CNB