ekocottonball Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 The topic about Justice Roberts got me thinking. What is the oddest venue you have ever wrestled in? I wrestled twice at La Lumiere Academy (near LaPorte) in '83 & '85 for in a dual meet. We beat them 72-0 in '83 and 78-0 in '85; they were terrible. However, the one thing I've never forgotten is the La Lumiere wrestling venue: a barn. Yes, you read that correctly, we wrestled against them in a barn on the La Lumiere campus. There were literally horses in the stalls and hay on the floor and it was cold as the devil. As a coach, I laugh about that now. I could not imagine the lawsuits awaiting me if I were to schedule a match in a barn. Manure in the stalls stinking, pitchforks against the wall, snow blowing through the cracks in the boards. There was only one bench about six feet long that La Lumiere put out for our entire team of 30 guys. And there was no seating for spectators. My dad stood there shivering and until he decided to sit on the edge of a horse stall which he promptly fell backwards into. I've never let him live that down. In the past, I have heard gentlemen much older than me, talk about wrestling in the 'olden days.' Wink. And some crazy locations they competed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I suppose you walked to school uphill both ways too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoggyStyle! Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Do you know if they practiced in the barn too? ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infowrestling Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Poplar Grove was a beautiful wrestling facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Sobchak Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I once did battle against some nihilist in the parking lot of a bowling alley.... and I learned a front headlock from Doug Blubaugh in a barn as well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown 138 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I once did battle against some nihilist in the parking lot of a bowling alley.... and I learned a front headlock from Doug Blubaugh in a barn as well.... I was at the "Top of the World Wrestling Camp" in 1976. When we were in line registering at the camp, Blubaugh was working on some plumbing in cut off shorts and cowboy boots. Hell, we thought he was the maintenance man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrecoCoach Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 The oddest facility I ever wrestled in was a circus tent. (no joke) Years ago, USAW used to take teams of high school wrestlers to locations all around the world. I was on one of these Greco teams that went to Sweden, where we practiced with their national team for a week and competed in a festival. The "festival" turned out to be more like a carnival, with weird and crazy games/activities going on all around us. There were two wrestling mats under the one circus tent, with the post right between them. There was a slight rain the day of the tournament, and circus tents have a big opening where the center post holds it, so there was rain coming down on half of each mat. Nobody seemed to care that this was happening. Worst part is, the tournament that USAW entered us in was a senior level event that qualified wrestlers for the European Championships. Multiple Olympic hopefuls from several countries were competing against us (we definitely looked like boys among men). Overall, the trip was a lot of fun (plus a great story to tell) and I got to know many eventual national champs from across the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekocottonball Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 I was there in 1976. When we were in line registering at the camp, Blubaugh was working on some plumbing in cut off shorts and cowboy boots. Hell, we thought he was the maintenence man! Blubaugh was a great guy. I went to a 3 day clinic he did in the 1970s at John Glenn HS. What a character! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Sobchak Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Then you got to enjoy the luxurious swimming facility as well. and the deluxe accomodations.... One of the years I was there he was into building a dirt race track... inbetween sessions he would run a bulldozer. My favorite was his air conditioning... just open the windows... man that place could get hot in July.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekocottonball Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 Poplar Grove was a beautiful wrestling facility. I never heard of Popular Grove. Where is that located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekocottonball Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 Worst part is, the tournament that USAW entered us in was a senior level event that qualified wrestlers for the European Championships. Multiple Olympic hopefuls from several countries were competing against us (we definitely looked like boys among men). Overall, the trip was a lot of fun (plus a great story to tell) and I got to know many eventual national champs from across the country. That is a great story. Thank you for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown 138 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Then you got to enjoy the luxurious swimming facility as well. and the deluxe accomodations.... One of the years I was there he was into building a dirt race track... inbetween sessions he would run a bulldozer. My favorite was his air conditioning... just open the windows... man that place could get hot in July.... A bunch of us thought it would be fun to try and get Blubaugh into the pond until one of the helpers told us that a group of kids tried it the previous year and Doug poked someone's eye out! Needless to say, we didn't even try... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfan2001 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I took my son to Mesquite, TX back in 2003 for a USA National meet (part of the dominator series). They wrestled in a rodeo arena. The facility put big pieces of cardboard down over the dirt and tapes the seams together and laid the mats right on top of that. The result was that the ground was no where near flat. Each mat had it's own peaks and valleys and you really had to be aware of where you were stepping and placing your weight. Overall, it was a neat experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theckman Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I've done some wrestling in the back seat of a car and in a van. Took a dive once in a while, too........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtv2112 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I've done some wrestling in the back seat of a car and in a van. Took a dive once in a while, too........ Could have gone my whole life without that info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyoung Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I wrestled in a tournament with Team Indiana in the mid to late 90's (96 or so, I'd guess, can't remember exactly) at the Southeast Regionals in Marietta, Georgia. The tournament was supposed to be held in a normal facility, but it didn't work out for some reason. Therefore, we ended up wrestling in an old Wal-Mart. They hadn't completely unstocked all of the shelves yet. I remember going into an aisle and coming across some fishing gear in between matches... Good times! Chris Young Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekocottonball Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 I wrestled in a tournament with Team Indiana in the mid to late 90's (96 or so, I'd guess, can't remember exactly) at the Southeast Regionals in Marietta, Georgia. The tournament was supposed to be held in a normal facility, but it didn't work out for some reason. Therefore, we ended up wrestling in an old Wal-Mart. They hadn't completely unstocked all of the shelves yet. I remember going into an aisle and coming across some fishing gear in between matches... Good times! Chris Young You win!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosoccermomhere Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 a couple of us took our kids to Illinois to wrestle at what was called a midnight madness tournament. The tournament was held out side on the football field. I guess the year before it was held at night and the dew got so heavy that the mats got too slick to wrestle on, so this year they decided to start the tournament at 4 in the afternoon. By the time the kids hit the BLACK and green mats the temp out side was about 96 degrees. I couldn't even imagine how hot the mats were. My oldest son said he could feel the heat of the mat through his shoes. I gave them one piece of advise before they went out there, don't go to your back and make the match as fast as possible. I think Tommy wrestled a total of 90 seconds in his 3 matches. When it comes down to it, I think a wrestler will wrestle anywhere, so long as he gets to wrestle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lou Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I coached on a wrestling trip to Poland in 1999 and there were several odd places we competed. First, we wrestled in the outfield of a baseball diamond. They were using a FILA mat that consisted of rectangular mats and then through the cover over it. Needless to say, the mats were quite uneven. Later in the week, we wrestled on the stage of an outside amphitheater in front of a crowd of roughly 2000 people. This was a culmination of some festival that their town was having. It was lots of fun. I think I remember Bryce Hasseman being thrown off the stage into the laps of onlookers, and then jumping back to the mat to win the match. It has been a while and my memory might be a little fuzzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crosstownrivals Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Walmart wrestling may have been the best venue ever. I'm pretty sure it was 1995 with Tom Dolly as the leader. If I remember correctly some of our good old Indiana boys got in trouble for climbing over the unstacked shelves and filling their back packs full of goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrecoISU Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Walmart wrestling may have been the best venue ever. I'm pretty sure it was 1995 with Tom Dolly as the leader. If I remember correctly some of our good old Indiana boys got in trouble for climbing over the unstacked shelves and filling their back packs full of goods. That doesn't surprise me considering I was listening to some wrestlers (ranked, at that) talk about going and taking the 125 lbs from Penn State's headgear he had thrown under the bleachers yesterday at the IU vs Penn State match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleB Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Pontiac Silverdome. This huuuuuuuuuuge facility with mats laid down and it was just after some type of moto-cross so the seats were all covered with layer of dirt. Nobody has mentioned the cow barn at the Indiana State Fair yet.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baguba07 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Nobody has mentioned the cow barn at the Indiana State Fair yet.. That is because growing up this was normal to MANY of us... I remember freestyle state being at Ball State one year and Arsanal Tech which was very scary place as a 5 year old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahawkeye Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I remember Arsonal Tech. Not a strange venue but the first year my brother and I wrestled at AAU state there was a shooting (the guy got killed) either the day of the tourny or the day before I think he was 7 and I was 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regionrat1 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Da rat remebers strappin it on at Navy Pier in Chicago. It was a ole quansite hut from be4 ww11. Back in da day dare used to be some mitty fine wrassler practicin dare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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