Military enthusiasts boost wrestling popularity

Published Jan. 20, 2010
By Susan Griggs
Keesler News editor

KEESLER AFB, Ms. -- Wrestling remains a novelty to many sports fans on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but military families are playing a key role in launching the activity in this area.

Mississippi holds the distinction of being the last state in the country to make wrestling available to its children. In 2008, the Coastline Predators youth wrestling club in Ocean Springs was organized under the direction of Coach Grady Brown, and Ocean Springs High School chartered the first and only high school team in the state.

"Folks that were raised up north, such active duty military members, are more familiar with the sport and its benefits," noted Mike Benca, a cardiologist at Keesler Medical Center who serves as an assistant coach for the Predators. "About half of the 30 members currently on our team are from active-duty Air Force and Navy families."

"I still believe that wrestling is the best sport available to our youth," said Benca, who began wrestling when he was 5 years old at the YMCA in Olean, N.Y. and continued through his first year of college. "It teaches discipline, hard work, self-responsibility and espouses mental toughness. One point about the sport that can't be overlooked is its ability to boost self esteem and give children a means to defend themselves if necessary."

"Wrestling gives children the ability to compete with a level playing field," Benca explained. "In the winter, the predominant sport is basketball, which in high school gives around 25 children a physical outlet. Wrestling is for all shapes and sizes.

"Matches are stratified based on age and weight," he continued. "Currently on our team we have a 5-year-old girl weighing 45 pounds and a 7-year-old boy weighing 80 pounds and all varieties in between. Children love to wrestle and tend to gravitate to it regardless of training."

As a cardiologist, Benca is keenly aware of the physical benefits of wrestling.

"Coordination, conditioning, strength, and flexibility are all big aspects of the sport -- they play a big role in normal child development and help to reduce injury in all activities," he stressed. "Cardiovascular (aerobic) fitness is a big key. Although it doesn't seem like long, the big kids are wrestling 6 minutes in a match and without proper preparation they'll find they run out of 'wind' in the third period.

"Particularly in this age of rampant obesity, particularly among children, and video games, getting kids sweating while having fun is very important," he emphasized.

Benca stated that although wrestling is loosely defined as a team sport, in reality it's more of an individual sport.

"When you're wrestling three two-minute periods, it's just the two of you out there," he pointed out. "All the work you put in conditioning and learning new techniques on the practice mat pays off during the match.

"If you lack intensity and discipline during practice, this is very clear when you are on the mat and likely will result in a loss and an important lesson," he added. "There's nowhere to turn to try and deflect a poor performance. This translates very well into adolescence and adulthood."

Benca read that the average grade point average of high-performing wrestlers is 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, which is a likely reflection of a solid work ethic.

"Several presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower) -- high achievers like Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and professional athletes including football greats Warren Sapp and Ray Lewis were wrestlers," he reported. "Several of the elite mixed martial artists have a wrestling background."

Benca said that wrestling skills enhance performance in other sports.

"If you search on the Internet for football, the holy grail of sports around here, you'll find many scouts and commentators who note how dramatically wrestling improves football performance. Former NFL coach John Madden once was quoted that if he could, he would have all offensive lineman wrestle during the off-season."

For more information about youth wrestling, log on to www.mspredators.com.