olympic wrestling team article mar 2011

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LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS COUNTDOWN

THE TRAINING ROOM wouldbe silent, if it werent for thesound of grunts and muffledsqueaks of trainers on themats.

The members of the SouthamptonOlympic Wrestling Club are more thanan hour into their session and donthave any spare energy for conversation.

Every drop they have is being spentattempting to force each other to theground.

The training is intense.Former Romanian international ath-

lete Daniel Vlad, chairman of thegroup, says that a two-hour trainingsession is the equivalent of a month ofgoing to the gym.

Theres probably some professionalpride in the statement, and

weightlifters would probably disagree.But he has a point.Its exhausting just watching. They

dont lift weights but train for twohours solid using each others weightand strength as resistance.

At one point they are lifting eachother from one side to the other,like a lumbering, lengthy jivedance.

Everyone comes in standingup and they go out doubled upbecause theyre so tired,laughs coachVasile Steffan, af e l l o wR o m a n i a ninternationalwrestler.

Vasile andDaniel wereinvited to opent h eSouthampton clubby the BWA due to ahigh demand for clubs, which werethin on the ground in the south.

Vasile, a former Romanian andinternational champion, spent eightyears wrestling and training inGermany, while Daniel wrestled forthree years in the USA.

Vasile says it is common for coachesin the UK to come from overseas, par-ticularly Eastern Europe, where thesport is much more popular for now.

T h e

cl u b,which isheld on Sundaymornings at St MarysLeisure Centre, opened inDecember and has beengrowing in popularity eversince. Vasile has at least twonew members every week and isabout to add an extra class toaccommodate everyone.

He is also set to open a club for jun-iors and, with the help of the BWA,expects to be holding competitions in

Southampton by theend of the year as wellas taking his studentsto international con-

tests.Daniel and Vasile agree

that the rising popularity of MixedMartial Arts (MMA) has contributedgreatly to the resurgence in interest inwrestling in the UK.

A number of students at the classcome from an MMA background.

Paul Mason, a 33-year-old account-ant from Southampton, has been tak-ing part in MMA for years and finds

Everyone thinks that if youre

a wrestler youre dangerous

but its part of your

education for life

Wrestling is one of the fastest growingsports in the south. SALLY CHURCH-WARD visits a new Southampton clubto find out what all the fuss is about.

GB crownfor Emily...nn BIATHLONSOUTHAMPTONS EmilyJenkinson produced someof the best performancesof the day at thePentathlon GB SchoolsModern BiathlonChampionships finals inCrystal Palace.

The Year 10 pupil atPortsmouth GrammarSchool became the countrysUnder-15 champion.

She collected the year 10girls individual title aswell as both the swim andrunning awards.

It was the fifth yearrunning she has won anational title.

Jenkinsons time of2:56.20 for the 1000m runwas more than fiveseconds quicker than thesecond fastest time of heryear.

The Hedge End starlet

followed that up with a timeof 1:01.28 the quickesttime in the pool by morethan half a second.

Her Crystal Palacesuccesses continued somesparkling 2011 form.

Jenkinson was crownedthe countrys Under-15800m indoor champion lastmonth and in January shewon the South of Englandtitle with a championshipbest performance.

She is also Hampshires50m freestyle swimmingchampion, achieving anational standard time.

The SouthamptonAthletics Club member isalso Hampshire 800mchampion and theHampshire Schools 800mchampion.

Next month she will be offon her third Aviva FutureStars training camp withher heroine, doubleOlympic gold medalistDame Kelly Holmes, atLoughborough University.

SINBIN

Inthe

BINBINLatest Hants FA

suspensions

EMILY JENKINSON

Mike Mallory (Alma Arms v Co-OpDragons, Portsmouth Royal DockyardSunday League. First 5 Cautions. Fine10. 7 days (from 28 Mar)

Steve Brown (Alton Town v BradingTown. Wessex League. 10 Cautions ina Season. Fine 15. 2 matches (from 5Apr)

Tom Figueras (Alton Wanderers vCamberley Cougars.Aldershot &District Sunday League. Receiving asecond caution in the same match.Fine 15. 7 days (from 5 Apr).

INTRAINING:

VasileSteffan.

READY TO WRESTLE: Southampton Olympic members. Order no: 12097963

FORGET WWE THIS,