TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Destination: Fargo

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: May 22, 2008

SPRING HILL - Wrestling on the high school level takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. Not only do wrestlers have to compete during the winter in the prep programs, but if they want reach the top at the state or national level, they need to compete during the summer.

That is exactly what Springstead High's wrestling coach Eric Swensen is doing with his Spring Hill Wrestling Club.

On May 4, six wrestlers from his club qualified for Junior and Accelerated Cadet Nationals, which will be held at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota on July 20-26.

Spring Hill wrestlers Richie Bliss (105 pounds), Dustin Soto (112), Nick Soto (119), Shawn Landgraff (140), Scott Wern (171) and Kenny Cox (215), all qualified at the Southeast Regional Tournament at Coral Springs.

"The Super Bowl of the summer tournaments we go to is the one in Fargo," said Swensen. "If you place there, Division I colleges are going to be giving scholarships."

"That's what happened to Schuyler Swanton a few years ago," recalled Swensen. "He placed up there in the tournament and colleges just started calling him and it's why Virginia Tech recruited him."

With wrestlers from 5-year-old son to kids, who wrestle for his varsity team, Swensen says that doing this off-season program of training and competing in tournaments is tremendously vital.

"You have to get some national exposure," said the Eagles' mentor. "A lot of our kids haven't wrestled when they were little. Now they get a whole season by wrestling during the summer. If one of my guys wrestled 50 matches in the Springstead wrestling season, between March and the next season, we want to get them at least 50 matches.

So when he's a freshman, he acts like he's wrestled two seasons."

Emulating Brandon

The example Swensen utilizes to show what summer wrestling can do for a program is Brandon High. Brandon, who has won eight straight state titles, hosts a number of freestyle and Greco-Roman events during the summer.

"The reason they have had as much success as they have is the amount of work they do in the off-season," insists Coach Swensen.

The coach also thinks that the work his wrestlers do in the summer is what separates them from others.

"It really takes a special kid to commit to what we're trying to do," Swensen said. "They wrestle, they lift weights, and they're trying to do their homework.

"It's the summertime that really splits the kids. The ones who stay, they end up being the varsity wrestlers. Some nights we have 25 kids in the room, and some nights we'll have 17. Half are committed and they do everything we say."

The Spring Hill club goes to a number of national tournaments as well as meets in Florida. This year, they've competed in the national high school tournament in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Swensen says that to do all the things he asks, takes a special kid. "I've got flyers up all over school, but I seldom get anyone new."

He also says that having so many different ages in his club, it becomes easier to teach them.

"In the summertime, everyone does the same drills," added Swensen. "Like my 5-year-old son, he's doing the same drills that Dustin Soto is doing and it becomes easier because we can treat them all the same."

He also says that to become a state champion takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice.

"The kids who know what success feels or want to know what it feels like," she says. "Are those are the ones who stay in it."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT