Gulf wrestlers have big adventure

LEFT: Coach Travis DeWalt. This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on July 20, 2002.

By JASON VETTER

NEW PORT RICHEY - Amid green pastures and layers of trees and mountaintops, a tank sits peacefully with no apparent danger nearby. A missile burns through the tranquillity, exploding into the tank and sending shock waves through the land. A group of Gulf High students unplug their ears to cheer the hit. Then, another missile is loaded and fired at the target.

The students are not watching a friend create havoc on Playstation 2. They are watching a real Russian tank get decommissioned by an American.

No, it is not 1980 and the arms race has not resumed. In fact, judging by a group of Gulf wrestlers' recent two- week visit to Russia, relations between the former Cold War rivals could not be better.

Among the many experiences for eight wrestlers and Coach Travis DeWalt was a visit to a military base in Khabarovsk, Russia, located just east of the China border. While learning about Russian armory and military procedure, the American visitors also were allowed to test the equipment - AK-47s, sniper rifles, silencers and missile and grenade launchers.

``The missiles were bigger than my 103-pounder,'' DeWalt said. ``It was like circuit training. Fire one weapon and move on to the next.''

For rising junior Brian Ryder, pumping 7.62-caliber rounds from an AK-47 into pop-up targets on the mountainside was a ``First Blood'' experience.

``It was a Rambo kind of thing,'' Ryder said. ``It was fun. It was unbelievable.''

Rising senior Freddie Liriano concurs the day was incomprehensible, saying most of his friends thought he was joking until they saw pictures.

``It was crazy. First we watched them shoot, which would kill our ears,'' Liriano said. ``You could feel the shock wave. Then we're getting to shoot at a tank.''

Joey Pospisil, Butch Payne, Tim Tracy, Pat Gallagher, Jordan Stewart and Andrew Mendonca joined Ryder, Liriano and DeWalt on the mid- June trip. Also representing the Americans were four Texas high school wrestlers and USA Wrestling coach Stacy Weiland.

DeWalt took the trip twice while in college, finding each to be as rewarding as any training he had done in the United States. In Russia, wrestling is king. The passion and aggression of their club-team wrestlers is a great learning tool, DeWalt said.

``They are so aggressive. It is fun to watch them wrestle,'' he said. ``You might as well be watching college wrestlers, although I wasn't as impressed with their technique.''

While DeWalt helped organize the trip because he wanted his team to have an irreplaceable life experience, he also wanted to get experience for a rising team that won a district title last season.

The Russians wrestle freestyle, more open and aggressive than the folk-style used in high school matches.

``I learned a lot of new stuff,'' Liriano said. ``There are a lot of things in freestyle that I can use next season.''

In Vladivostok, on the coast of the Sea of Japan in eastern Russia, the wrestlers competed on a mat outside, located in the middle of a carnival.

``All these people are standing around watching us. It was weird,'' Tracy said. ``You always had people huddled around the mats. They would get too close and we'd roll into them.''

DeWalt said Gulf never wrestled in front of the numbers they did in Russia.

``Because our program is young, I was so worried about the mental toughness,'' said DeWalt, who wrestled in Russia in 1995 and '98. ``Ninety percent of this is mental toughness. When you get to see the things they did up close and personal, you hope it leaves an impression on them.''

The American team tied two dual matches in Khabarovsk and lost a pair in Vladivostok. Despite the losses, Pospisil, Payne and Liriano placed in the top three in their weight classes.

The confidence they should have gained is their victory.

``I'm hoping they enter next season confident,'' DeWalt said. ``They are not going to face tougher opponents over here.''

Maybe the greatest lesson the Gulf wrestlers learned were the wonders that can be found in other countries.

``The St. Basil's Cathedral, it was so cool looking,'' Tracy said of his favorite Moscow landmark. ``You get inside, and its a totally different texture than on the outside. I was in awe.''

The group also visited the Kremlin and Red Square, not to mention the nightlife.

``It was great. It looked like Vegas,'' DeWalt said. ``They've always had the most beautiful architecture. But someone must have been to Vegas. Moscow is an amazing city.''

Tracy missed aspects of the American clubbing scene.

``They dance really differently. They dance 5 feet away from each other,'' he said. ``There is no grinding.''

As his wrestlers were playing commando in the mountains of Khabarovsk, DeWalt found himself worried about the reaction of the athletes' parents. Judging by the response of the kids, neither DeWalt nor the parents have anything to worry about. Eight Gulf High wrestlers experienced a lifetime in two weeks.