Grappling for the love of the sport, not scholarships
By: Sean Shapiro
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Sports
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Tucked back behind Bowling Green High School next to the football field stands a small, easily overlooked building.
However, once inside you will meet one of the hardest working wrestling teams in the nation. They are a conglomerate of athletes who play not for scholarship or fans but the simple love of the sport.
They are the BG Club wrestling team, formed a mere three years ago. They now are one of the top teams in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association.
Before 2004, it had been over 20 years since BG had a wrestling team when Title IX forced the varsity program to be disbanded. Wrestling came back to BG in large thanks to the White and Mundrick families.
Both Dan Mundrick and Jamie White wrestled at Anthony Wayne High School, however when they came to BG there was no wrestling program to speak of. Mundrick contacted Ken White, Jamie's father and now one of the coaches, about a team and Ken began to put it together.
Ken was in charge of finding out how to put together a program as he contacted the National Collegiate Wrestling Association and the director of sports clubs at BG. While both contacts were important for the organization of the club, one of Kens' most important calls came to Matt Jacobs, who was the coach of Bowling Green High School at the time.
"One of the issues we had was the University did not have any wrestling mats," Ken said. "They didn't really have any facilities for us. What was important for us was to hook up with the high school."
The team worked it out that they would be able to use BG High School's wrestling facilities, a building that is strictly used for wrestling and according to Ken is better than most colleges' club wrestling facilities.
BGHS wrestling has been essential to the University club team's existence as not only do they allow them to practice but also host their home meets because they already have mats which cost close to $8,000 a piece. The club team has given back to the high school by raising money to build the wrestling center and some players have helped coach the high school team.
However, once inside you will meet one of the hardest working wrestling teams in the nation. They are a conglomerate of athletes who play not for scholarship or fans but the simple love of the sport.
They are the BG Club wrestling team, formed a mere three years ago. They now are one of the top teams in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association.
Before 2004, it had been over 20 years since BG had a wrestling team when Title IX forced the varsity program to be disbanded. Wrestling came back to BG in large thanks to the White and Mundrick families.
Both Dan Mundrick and Jamie White wrestled at Anthony Wayne High School, however when they came to BG there was no wrestling program to speak of. Mundrick contacted Ken White, Jamie's father and now one of the coaches, about a team and Ken began to put it together.
Ken was in charge of finding out how to put together a program as he contacted the National Collegiate Wrestling Association and the director of sports clubs at BG. While both contacts were important for the organization of the club, one of Kens' most important calls came to Matt Jacobs, who was the coach of Bowling Green High School at the time.
"One of the issues we had was the University did not have any wrestling mats," Ken said. "They didn't really have any facilities for us. What was important for us was to hook up with the high school."
The team worked it out that they would be able to use BG High School's wrestling facilities, a building that is strictly used for wrestling and according to Ken is better than most colleges' club wrestling facilities.
BGHS wrestling has been essential to the University club team's existence as not only do they allow them to practice but also host their home meets because they already have mats which cost close to $8,000 a piece. The club team has given back to the high school by raising money to build the wrestling center and some players have helped coach the high school team.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Richard
posted 12/05/07 @ 2:31 PM EST
This is great news. Good luck the the BG program in their efforts.
Tammi
posted 12/05/07 @ 2:45 PM EST
Way to go BG -- Good luck!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ADAM!!!!! (he's my nephew) ;0) ;0)
Oh Tham Eng
posted 12/06/07 @ 12:32 AM EST
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