THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020395
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
In the beginning, there was wrestling.
It's right there in the book of Genesis. Jacob grappled with an angel till dawn one time and wound up gimpy - but blessed - for his trouble.
Wrestling people understand. Uniformly, they consider themselves blessed to be involved in such a tough, time-honored sport. A sport that inspires a soulful passion like few others.
Chesapeake this weekend is teeming with these pilgrims of the mat. A couple thousand from around the state convened Friday morning at Oscar Smith High School for the first day of the Group AAA state championships. They'll gather again today and tonight, at least 4,000 strong, for the semifinals, consolations and finals.
Get there early if you're going. Move toward the middle of the pews so more people can squeeze in, OK? Oh, and if you really want to feel at home, bring a video camera.
Not everybody was taping the action that took place simultaneously on four mats Friday. It just seemed that way. Had they checked cameras at the door, they could have held an electronics convention in the lobby between the day and night sessions.
And if they were close enough, their microphones could have picked up a fascinating part of the proceedings - the rantings of Great Bridge coach Steve Martin, a peerless sideline orator.
The unwashed might not get this. But for a sip of wrestling's essence, I offer a sample of Martin speaking in tongues to his 119-pounder Bruce Fowler, messages delivered wide-eyed as Martin poured over the line that marks the coach's box:
CIRCLE! DON'T LET HIM PUSH YOU OUT! NO DOUBLES! BE SMART! SCORE! GRANBY! WHIZZER! HE'S YOURS IF HE RIDES YOU! SHRUG HIM! WHEN I TELL YOU TO CUT HIM, CUT HIM! BRUCE, DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!
Alas, Fowler dropped his opening match. But it was an entertaining vignette in a heck of a production. One that takes a prodigious, city-wide effort to pull off, from lead tournament organizer Wayne Martin, Great Bridge's athletic director and Steve's older brother, on down.
And one that Oscar Smith coach Sid Savoy is proud to welcome to his 2-year-old school for the second consecutive year.
``It feels good,'' said Savoy, in his 21st year as coach. ``I want this to be the very best championships it can be.''
Of course, with the intensity and drama that naturally fill a wrestling tournament, you'd almost have to try to mess one up. No chance of that here, not after the months and months of planning on various levels this thing goes through.
Besides, it usually takes nothing more than the sight of four mats going at once - could be a garage, could be a field - - to satisfy wrestling worshipers. And Friday was simply the appetizer.
The semifinals, which often feature a tournament's most competitive matches, are at noon today. The finals follow tonight at 7:30 in a gym that will be packed with wrestlers, wrestling moms and dads, former state champs - not all of whom live in Great Bridge, by the way - and loyal friends of a sport that, once you are into, you are really into.
Historically, that's how it's always been. The good people of wrestling know this, chapter and verse.
``Track's in the bible, too, and track people say track came first,'' said Tommy McMillan, wrestling coach at Oscar Smith Middle School. ``But wrestlers say that first guy started running because a wrestler was chasing him.''
A true believer, that Brother McMillan. Preaching to the choir. by CNB