Wyatt Obering reported this story on assignment from The Other Paper. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
First came the sound of shoes slapping against mats, then the smack of sweaty skin hitting the ground. On the wall in front of the half-dozen training wrestlers, a whiteboard reads: “No one is born a champion. You must pay the price.”
The athletes, all high school students, were in a gym on Dorset Street in South Burlington as part of Wolfpack Wrestling Club, a new nonprofit trying to bring the sport to more young people across Chittenden County and the state.
Two coaches, Jack Carney and Alex Zuchman, head up the program, which provides wrestling education to anyone willing to make it to their classes at High Hat Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym.
“There hasn’t been wrestling here, outside of Colchester and Essex, really in a long time,” said Carney, a former three-time wrestling champion for Essex High School whose name is on the wall of the school’s wrestling gym. “Even now compared to when I was a kid, the population of people in Vermont that are interested in it has grown significantly, and I’m not sure what the exact cause of it is, but it’s just exciting to see.”
The club started its inaugural session in March, and it goes till May. Classes are every Monday and Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for sixth to 12th graders. It costs $200 for South Burlington residents or $225 for anyone else. All genders are welcome, and sign-ups are open until May 3. Students range from athletes to rookies. Some seasoned wrestlers are looking to take advantage of available mat time.
The club aims to organize monthly competitions with other clubs or teams and to make wrestling more available for people across the state, regardless of financial status. Equipment costs for wrestling tend to be lower compared to other sports, but having access to training and regular competition can be challenging for wrestlers, especially in areas like South Burlington.
Most of the club’s regulars attend South Burlington High School, a short walk away. Carney stands as a familiar face to them — he worked with the school team earlier this year.
Ryan Bailey, a 17-year-old first-year wrestler at the school, called the club’s setup on Dorset Street convenient.
“I drive, a lot of my teammates walk, it’s really nice … I’m grateful for it,” he said. “It’s a jiu jitsu gym, and they allow us to use it. There’s not really a reason why, just because, and I’m really thankful for that.”
The Dorset street gym is owned by Charlotte resident Shayne Fenton, who opened shop there earlier this year after running a training center in Shelburne. Fenton coached one of the Wolfpack’s wrestling coaches while in Shelburne, and he wants to let the crew use his space as the club develops. He’s listed a director for the group in its nonprofit paperwork.
Cahota Lafond was the only participant in the gym on a recent day not from South Burlington High. He’s a two-time state champion sophomore out of Colchester who was training for the National High School Coaches Association’s national wrestling tournament held in early April in Virginia Beach. Having a place to spend more time on the mats was beneficial, he said.
Lafond was brought into wrestling by his father, who grew up with one of the current high school wrestling coaches at Colchester High School.
Family ties seemed a common theme among those involved with Wolfpack Wrestling. Carney’s father, Jake, was in the gym that day watching his son joke around with the students about losing equilibrium as they all warmed up by doing front and back rolls on the electric blue mat.
Carney still keeps in touch with his coaches from when he was younger and learning. They want to make connections like that with their students and teach them lessons and values they can carry on for life. The kids know the gym’s not just their space, and they have to respect and take care of it.
