In general, there’s a strong tradition for wrestling excellence in Jackson County. Jefferson High School’s record is one of the most successful and coveted in the state, while JCCHS has had a strong resurgence in recent years.
Now, a group is working to write more history and to make the county wrestling scene as a whole stronger.
Headed up by coach Marty Robinson and JCCHS sophomore Tre Horton, a Jackson County Wrestling Club was started in the last few months, introducing kids to Freestyle Greco Wrestling.
Horton said the idea to start the club came when he spoke with Robinson about halfway through the last high school wrestling season while both were working with younger wrestlers. The two discussed the idea of starting a free style program in the county. From there, they made plans to start the program, figuring out how many kids would be needed and what age groups could participate.
From there, the program began to grow. To date they have seven high school kids involved, along with one middle schooler and three elementary school students.
This includes two female wrestlers, a rarity in this area on the wrestling mat.
The kids practice twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the gym at the Gordon Street Center in Jefferson.
Horton said the goal for the club is to make their wrestlers better overall, not just as wrestlers but also as a whole.
“We want them to have a higher quality of character than the people around them,” Horton said. “Wrestling is not just a sport, it’s something that you build your character with. It takes dedication and heart. Unless you have both of those, you have to develop it.
“It’s really hard to describe, and you really don’t know what it feels like to win a wrestling match, to know all the hard work you put into it and to actually win your first one.”
Freestyle Greco wrestling differs from high school wrestling. It’s the style that you see on the Olympics, Horton said.
“In essence, it’s pretty much the same thing. But your goals are different.”
The scoring is different between the two, Horton said.
“Scoring changes from scoring for a take down to back exposure and how much you can get on an opponent,” he said. “How long can you hold them there, how high can you lift them in the air and make them land on their back. How quickly can you do it.”
Scoring is based on a five-point scale, Horton said. Five points are awarded for a takedown when a wrestler throws an opponent and the opponent’s body goes completely above the wrestlers and lands on the mat in control. Three points are awarded for a throw that takes an opponent off his feet onto his back, and so on.
Points are also awarded for a reversal, for exposure, by penalty or by an opponent going out of bounds.
Horton said so far, the kids are responding very strongly. In a recent tournament, three of their wrestlers brought home second place honors, while others recorded third place results.
In fact, all of the programs wrestlers have placed in every tournament, with results ranging from first to third.
The team will be attending their biggest tournament yet this weekend. On May 28-30, they will take part in the Southeast Regional Freestyle-Greco tournament at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, where the boys and girls will all get to wrestle.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
