Austin Co Wrestling

The October spotlight is on Austin Co Wrestling in Sealy, Texas. This second-year club was started when the owners oldest son talked a few of his football team friends into trying wrestling.  The best part of starting Austin Co Wrestling is owner Mike Rorhs being able to see the transformation of a kid coming in with no idea what the sport is about and having them emerge as a wrestler. 

Football players are still their main recruits; all but one of their current team play football together. "The center on the 6th grade team is a Novice wrestler this year and he's working on getting the entire offensive line to wrestle," Rorhs said. "We may have more heavy weights than we know what to do with!" He said it helps that these kids practice and play together 6 days a week, and that the club allows them to democratically make decisions.

As with most start-ups, the hard part was finding a location and mats. "We heard through the grapevine that the school had a couple of mats, even though they didn't have a wrestling program," Rorhs said. Right now they are using the junior high school 20x20 mats, with hopes of talking the AD into the use of the 40x40 mats the high school football team uses.

With the initial hurdle of a location cleared, they now have to find a way to get the word out to parents that wrestling is a good sport. "Parents just aren't comfortable with what wrestling is," Rorhs explains. "The only exposure most people have had is WWE."  He said the club has a lot of good kids and their enthusiasm is helping the club grow. He credits wrestling with instilling positive values, and hopes more of the area's youth give it a try.

One of ACW's stand-outs last year was D3 rookie Brett Karakos. Apparently football has taken a backseat this year so Karakos can concentrate on wrestling. "He's got pure heart on the mat," Rorhs said with pride. "When he learns to settle down and wrestle instead of trying to use brute strength, I think he'll do very well."  Jason Oliver, now with Katy HS, was with ACW last season. 

Rorhs encourages other parents to start their own team, even if the "team" is just one kid practicing on a 10x10 mat in the garage. "Of course, it won't stay that small for long," Rorhs advises, "pretty soon you'll have every kid in the neighborhood in your garage."

Many of the wrestling recruits in the area find it financially difficult to come up with the money for membership cards and equipment, especially for a sport with which they are not familiar. ACW wants to make sure they have equipment on hand for new recruits to try out the sport; they are looking for new or gently used shoes, singlets and headgear.