Learning lessons of life, on and off the mat

wrestler.

“There’s about three moves that they’ll learn and perfect over the course of the season, and when they go to tournaments, they’ll use them there,” she added. “It’s exactly how you would see it in a Little League baseball team, football team — there’s a camaraderie there.” All age groups of the Bulldogs attend tournaments throughout the season, which runs from November through March.

Romano, a teacher in New Hyde Park who used to coach Calhoun’s varsity wrestling team, said that practices with the younger athletes sometimes look like controlled chaos — there are a lot of kids with a lot of energy to burn. But that’s a good thing, he added, because they pump that energy into the sport.

The younger wrestlers, he said, learn basic movements that transition into wrestling positions. They also learn strength training, and even some gymnastics — cartwheels and forward rolls.

With the youngsters, Romano explained, it isn’t always the knowledge of wrestling moves that helps them win, but rather who has more strength and aggression. “Our older group focuses more on tougher techniques that are more advanced,” Marine said of the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders. “They’re the ones that are going to tournaments and being noticed, and bringing the tech- niques with them into middle school or high school.

“But really, it’s just learning the basics of wrestling that’s really important,” she added. “We don’t have enough of these types of programs for the sport.”

The Bulldogs are open to both boys and girls, and Romano said their numbers are well distributed around Bellmore and Merrick. About a third of the wrestlers will end up in Calhoun, Mepham or Ken- nedy High School, depending on where they live. Practices take place twice a week for each age group in Calhoun’s gym.

Romano said he believes that wrestling training helps athletes on and off the mat. “I think they learn very quickly how hard it is,” he said. “When they win, there’s no one that helped them besides themselves.

“Wrestling is a great foundation for any sport — it teaches your body,” he added. “Body awareness and footwork can translate to any sport.”

The program, Marine said, provides wrestlers a deeper, overall understanding of the sport. “That’s why we’re a feeder program — to teach them the basic techniques, because they’re not just learning what a referee position is, they’re not just learning what points are,” she said. “What this program is about is when they get to the high school level, they’re actually able to use those techniques on the mat — and maybe they’re more advanced then a ninth-grader who just started wrestling that year.”

What Marine finds more important, she noted, is the lessons about life that wrestling teaches. “What I’ve seen just being around wrestling my entire life is what it gives them off the mat,” she said.

“You know — wrestlers have this certain walk about them. You can always tell who’s a wrestler, young men and women.

“There’s a certain empathy and compassion for the sport they play, and understanding what it takes,” she said. “But also in life, there’s a different type of demeanor about them, a different type of respect. And I think that follows them all through life.”

Information about the Bulldogs has mostly spread by word of mouth, Marine said. More can be found on their Facebook page, Bulldogs Wrestling, and at LongIslandWrestling.org.