Gilmer High wrestling is one of eight athletic programs at the school taking advantage of the summer months.
The GHS Bobcats began their voluntary summer training June 7 and it will conclude June 27 with a trip to Orlando, Fla., for the Disney Duals.
While their summer schedule began last Monday, GHS wrestlers started some out-of-season preparations in April. They met four days per week with two spent working on the mat plus two days of lifting and conditioning.
Summer practices have been single 90-minute sessions.
“Right now, all we’re focused on is a hour and a half days,” head coach Josh Ghobadpoor said. “We’re primarily on the mat, and we’re just going over things. We can go at a slower pace, and it’s not like we have a dual coming down the pipeline that is going to count against our record. It’s more about working on some problem areas and getting the rust off.”
Summer practices have been a total program experience. Clear Creek Middle School wrestlers along with head coach Thomas Glanton have been on hand every day working with GHS.
“We have a great group of wrestlers from the middle school age and up because we’ve been practicing them together,” Ghobadpoor said. “I think it’s been really good for everybody to have the high school and middle school kids together, and we started the first official day we could do anything.
Ghobadpoor noted that 20 to 30 high school wrestlers “on average” have attended practices. During the summer there are often conflicting schedules with jobs, vacations and athletes playing multiple sports.
“On some days I’ll have 20 and the next day I may have 25, but it’s a different looking 25,” Ghobadpoor said of wrestler participation. “I’d love to have 100 percent all the time, but with all the things you have to deal with over a summer, having those numbers has been real good for us.”
In addition to practice, GHS also has multiple duals scheduled against area teams. Last Wednesday the Bobcats were in Fannin County and traveled to Brookwood High two days later.
Both duals were informal compared to regular season events.
“We tried to get as many individual matchups as we could. There was a two-minute running clock per period. So, it wasn’t like a typical match, but we were getting mat time,” Ghobadpoor said.
“One of the standouts was Leo Domingo, who has been fighting pretty hard (to break into the starting lineup). He’ll be a junior this season and he beat (Fannin’s) Blake Summers, who was a state champion this past year. I was proud and pumped up for him. Owen Moss had some good matches, and Dylan Galloway always looks great on the mat.”
While the summer offers time for technical improvement, not all emphasis has been placed on that aspect. Ghobadpoor hopes the team grows closer during this time so they are ready for when adversity hits.
“We want the team to bond and be tight knit,” he said. “The more time they’re together, the more opportunities and the more things they go through, the stronger that bond is going to be. If they all have that bond together, when push comes to shove and they’re in a tight position, they’re not just stepping up for themselves, they’re stepping up for their team.”
Gilmer’s summer will wrap up with the Disney Duals, which are officially known as the AAU Scholastic Duals. It is one of the premier summer wrestling events, and the tournament routinely attracts 100s of teams from all over the country.
Once again, Ghobadpoor hopes the trip will do more for the Bobcats than what is seen on the mat.
“We’re not just going to Disney because it is some of the best competition you can get,” he said. “We’re also going for the experience and what it’s going to provide for these young men. Maybe after that, they’re closer friends and closer teammates. Some of our kids have never really been out of Georgia, some have never seen the ocean, and some haven’t been to Disney if that applies. We want to make sure it’s a trip where we can make memories.
“And it’s a commitment. It’s a commitment for them to make a weight class, and it’s a commitment to do the fundraising. My hat’s off to our booster club, coaches and wrestlers who helped make this a reality.”