So they say wrestling is tough but this bunch of kids in Dublin have a slightly different opinion ....
Robyn Molloy is nine years
old and barely comes up to her wrestling coach’s elbow but when he calls, she
charges in to throw him on the ground. It doesn’t quite work but she just grins
and lines up to try again.
A dozen kids aged from seven
to fourteen come to the Hercules Club in Dublin’s
inner city once a week to wrestle. One of the senior boys helps coach Daniel Kennedy
with training while older wrestlers lift weights next to the colourful mat.
Wrestling was one of the original
sports at the Ancient Greek Olympics. Ireland has yet to feature in the
medals tally but in other countries wrestlers are given a status far beyond mere
athletes.
Russian star Alexander Karelin was elected to the State
Parliament after retiring from competition. And when Chechnyan wrestler Buvaysar
Satyiev won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games, he used the publicity to draw
attention to the war in his country. Most American universities offer wrestling
scholarships to entice the best wrestlers onto the school team.
But coach Kennedy says the
sport is still growing here.
“In Ireland we are
trying through the schools to get more kids in. About six to eight years is the
ideal age for any sport. Not everyone is into soccer or other team sports. I
never played a team sport in my life. And wrestling is what some people are
into,” he says.
He says the hour-long session
are different to work he does with the seniors - more playful but strict at the
same time.
About half tonight’s students
are girls but Kennedy says ruefully it’s not easy to convince girls to join.
‘It’s Ok once they get over
that they’re grabbing someone and they realise you don’t get hurt. There are
very few injuries really, it’s not a violent sport,’ he says.
It might not be violent but
these kids are definitely getting a good workout. It’s freezing outside but they’re
in T-shirts even though the emergency exit door is open to the wind.
He coaxes the kids into
forward and backward flips before moving onto throws. Jasper collapses in
laughter as his throw completely fails to move his partner but Kennedy makes
him try again until he gets it.
‘We are freestyle wrestlers,
the same as the Olympics. We do get MMA fighters down here now, a lot of their
moves stemmed from wrestling. They train with us but not compete, no money in
wrestling,’ he adds laughing.
Kennedy competed at
international level up to the World Championships, and photographs of himself
and his brother Keith in action dot the walls.
Keith Kennedy is watching the
training, explains this group is for Cadets with a few Juniors in the mix, and
the later session is for Seniors.
The giant mat they’re on takes
up half the room – yellow circle on the inside, then red and blue for the
outside. Kennedy says wrestlers start on yellow and can gain points by pushing
or throwing their opponent onto the blue.
The children are barefoot or
in socks, but short boots are worn for competition to support the ankles and
feet.
Why wrestling supports these juniors
Kennedy says the Irish
Wrestling Association is keen to encourage juniors. and stresses how safe the
sport is.
“They think it’s just fun but
they are leaning techniques as they play,” he says, pointing out hidden skills
in what looks like a great game of rolling.
“They’re doing rolls now so
they learn how to fall. You need that for when someone throws you over his
back. We might tie a balloon onto their ankles and you have to try and burst
your partner’s balloon while protecting your own, that’s for speed. ”
But wait a minute, isn’t
wrestling meant to be about being tough? What’s with all this laughter?
“It’s good for them;
wrestling gives them the ability to concentrate. And physically it gives them
flexibility. Some of the kids go in for competition, that’s different then.
When they lose, it’s hard to get their confidence back up again,” Kennedy says.
Another coach Mick McAuley
chimes in to say they’re trying to get more girls involved. He has two
granddaughters out on the mat now, but says they’d love to see more taking up
the sport.
“Some of the girls say it’s
like dancing, they like the flexibility and the agility. The problem is keeping
it up as they grow older. Teenagers can feel awkward getting down on the mat
with boys,” he says with the wisdom of 40 years in the sport.
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| This story appeared in Irish Fighter |
Kennedy agrees but lists out
women who have trained with them and says lots of girls train in judo which
isn’t that different.
But so far there’s still a difference
between the number of girls on the mat and the number of men in photographs on
the walls. That said, these photos go back a long ways - Hercules Club was
started in 1935 and moved to its present location in 1985. This building with
its winding corridors was once a spaghetti factory.
Unlike other gyms Hercules is
owned completely by members and fees go into buying the brightly-coloured
equipment scattered across the floors.
Watching on the sidelines ...
And parents watching say the
club’s reputation is what brought them here with their young children.
Michelle Cahill says her nine
year old son Jasper announced he wanted to be strong and wrestling was the
first thing she thought about.
“He didn’t want to do martial
arts. So we looked up wrestling and then someone recommended this club. It’s
great here, he’s really happy. I’d be tempted myself but I’m 30 years too
late,” she says.
And sitting next to her
Ingrid says her seven year old boy Samuel is just following his dad. From Slovakia, she
trains in Judo but laughs at the idea of being a wrestler.
“It’s a good sport for his
body and mind. In Ireland
it’s growing all the time, it’s not very popular at the moment but it’s
growing,” she says.
As the children finish their
hour, Samuel can be heard calling out: “Coach! One more game?” but as the older
students step onto the mat, it’s time for the Cadets to leave.
and the Kids say ...
Sitting down to chat, the girls
shrug off any aches and pains, saying it’s just part of the fun.
Twelve year old Lauren Coffey
says she’s been training for almost 18 months already.
“Sometimes I hurt my arm but
you just have to shake it out and it will be fine. My favourite move is the
head-spring. You put your head down and turn into a crab and then flip over,”
she says.
Her younger sister Eve is
here for a trial, her first night. “I’m not tired, it was fun. I love the
chasing. I want to come again, but I’ve ballet on Thursdays too,” she says
wistfully.
Caoimhe Symth (13) says she
followed her older brother down one night and stayed.
She says: “I love the
double-leg. You grab both legs and put them on their back. It’s not really
hard.
"I landed the wrong way once, but I was alright.”
And Robyn says she has her
eye on bigger things. Pointing to Clinton Scott who was helping with training,
she says: ‘He’s my cousin, he’s goes all sorts of places with wrestling. I’d
like to go with him. It’s a little bit hard alright.”
Two of the boys join in with
twelve-year old David Scott (yes, another Scott, Clinton’s brother) saying travelling to
competitions is great.
“I compete for the club; I’ve
been round Ireland, and Scotland and Wales. I went to England too. You
get medals and trophies,” he says.
David’s favourite move is the
fireman. His friend Ciaran O’ Connor (13) says: “That’s when you put them on
your shoulder and put them over. It’s fast.”
The boys only talk for a
minute, their eyes drifting back to the mat as they speak. And after a few
minutes, they take off again to the centre – joining the Seniors with massive
grins.
As she heads for the door
Caoimhe says: “I’ve been coming here for two years. My friends used to think
it’s strange, but they don’t anymore. It’s fun.”
This story appeared in the March 2013 issue of Irish Fighter
