Hayden McOlgan faced his wrestling partner with knees bent in a freestyle stance. When the live round started, his opponent lunged forward and attempted a leg take down. To defend against the attack, McOlgan later explained, he could have sprawled. Instead, he wrapped his arms around his opponent's torso, lifted him off the blue mat and threw him onto the ground.
A move like that would have earned McOlgan, a sports science sophomore, points in a match, but, in training, he gets a "good one" from his teammate and they continue rolling.
This is the third week of practice for the newly formed University of Memphis wrestling club sport. Despite this display of physical strength, McOlgan said he is still a little rusty.
"It has been nearly two years since I've been on a wrestling team. When we first started practicing, I felt like all my speed and strength was gone," he said. "But I've been working really hard, and it is all coming back really quick."
But physical training wasn't the only obstacle McOlgan had when he decided to come back to the sport - he first had to grapple with the Campus Recreation Intramural Services paperwork in order to create the team.
After graduating high school, he was disappointed to find the closest college offering wrestling was in Little Rock, so he took it upon himself to organize the U of M's first program.
"Nine months ago I was spending a lot of time just filling out forms and handing out flyers trying to get people interested," McOlgan said. "I had to run the first few practices myself. It was never my plan to be the coach. I was just looking for someone to step in."
His persistent searching and raising awareness paid off when a friend introduced McOlgan to Brian Loeffler, head coach of the Cordova High School wrestling team.
Having had experience in building teams, the veteran coach brought credibility to the program. When Loeffler attended the U of M, he was manager of the hockey club sport and he created the Kingsbury High School wrestling team after he graduated. When he moved to Cordova High School, he led them to four state tournaments with nine of his wrestlers winning state medals.
"Once Coach Loeffler came on board, things picked up a lot," McOlgan said. "People have started to look at this as a legitimate team because of him."
The new University program has given Loeffler a unique opportunity to train some of the best wrestlers from high school again.
One student the coach bragged about was senior Hayden Barcelona who qualified for two state champion tournaments and had a record of 42 wins with only 5 losses his senior year at Cordova High School.
"I didn't think I was going to get another chance to wrestle," Barcelona said. "So I was pretty thrilled to have (Loeffler) coaching me again and to be teamed up with so many talented wrestlers."
Sam Lilley, a senior criminal justice major, had an overall record of 120 wins to 53 losses at Collierville High School and came in first place at the 2010 Black Course Invitational Tournament. Although he never wrestled for the Cordova team, Loeffler gave him a nickname.
"He used to call me 'CK' or 'Cordova Killer' because I was able to beat so many of the guys on his team," Lilley said. "He had a good team, but in my last year of high school, I defeated eight of his wrestlers in matches."
The time these seniors get to spend wrestling for U of M will be short. Barcelona goes to pharmacy school after the spring 2014 semester, and Lilley will graduate in the summer. They have also been off the mat for close to three years each.
However, this does not discourage them. These wrestlers are quickly improving every practice, according to Loeffler. Their major contribution to the program will be the technical knowledge they pass down to new members he said.
The club sport is under the governing body of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association which has 162 teams in the U.S. It holds nine different conferences and its own national tournament. However, the U of M team will not be pinned down to only wrestling other teams within the NCWA. Division I teams are able to have cross over dual meets with any team in the NCAA.
"The guidelines for wrestlers for NCWA are similar to the NCAA. Students are required to be enrolled in classes with a minimum 2.3 GPA," Loeffler said. "Middle Tennessee State University has a wrestling club sport that is ranked 8th in the nation among all college teams."
Currently, the U of M sports club is considered a division II emerging program in the NCWA, but, according to McOlgan, it is possible for them to move up to Division I in as little as a year and a half.
There are still some hiccups the fledgling wrestling team will need to deal with. They haven't been able practice on campus, but Loeffler said he is optimistic they will find a spot on the University for the team to practice. For now the team trains at Memphis Judo and Jujitsu in Germantown.
The bigger issue will be financing the wrestlers. Unlike other U of M teams, which get funding from the University, club sports have to find their own funding.
"The University has given us $1,000 and will also match up to $1,000 we raise, but that's it," Loeffler said. "We will have to pay for this ourselves threw continuous fund raising."
Initially, the team will be relying on member dues and donations to raise money. Long-term plans include raising funds through wrestling camps, golf tournaments and various other ways. Sponsors are key to Loeffler's plan.
"We are all here to build something bigger than ourselves," he said. "Memphis needs this so that future high school graduates can continue wrestling in college."
Loeffler points to MTSU as an example of how successful this club sport can be.
"They are a Division I wrestling team that raises enough funds to award scholarships. They have had a few wrestlers go All-American. My goal is to get the U of M to that level or surpass it in five years," he said.
The U of M will compete in its first conference tournament against East Tennessee State University on March 1. Those interested in joining or supporting the team can contact Loeffler by email at lef103@aol.com or by phone at 901-355-9402.
