Wrestling team donates time to community
BY BRIAN BENNETT bbennett@therepublic.com
Getting a high school kid comfortable on the wrestling mat is the easy part for Jennings County coach Howard Jones.
But getting a young man ready to be a productive member of his community is a greater challenge for the veteran mentor.
But whether by strength or song, Jennings County wrestlers are always involved in something.
?I do a lot of unorthodox things, but I have the success and well-being of these kids in mind,? Jones said. ?If I don?t do those things, I don?t think I?m doing my job.?
During the holidays, that?s already meant feeding eight needy families at Thanksgiving, working with a local homeless shelter as Christmas approaches and singing in local churches in order to connect young generation with older ones.
?I want them to have a compassion for the community,? said Jones, who has been in North Vernon for better than 30 years. ?One of the things that I think makes us successful is that I have a commitment to the community.?
And an even deeper commitment to his athletes.
Leaving them in tears
Wrestler Caleb Marling and Jones smile when they recall how several older women were in tears as they watched a group of Jennings wrestlers, dressed up in shirts and ties, belting out songs about having the power to change the world.
No, they weren?t that bad, according to Marling.
?For wrestlers that had just practiced a couple of times and were up there in front of a church, I think we did pretty good,? he said. ?I don?t know of anybody on that team that?s in choir or anything.?
But the words, which resonate on the paper in front of the inexperienced singers, are what are important to Jones.
?I want them to feel that they can change the world around them,? Jones said.
That?s where all the work, like moving boxes for the homeless shelter, begins to pay off, according to Jones.
?You have to expend something before you get something.?
For the future
A lesson on the practice mat might pay off in a wrestler?s next match, or it might be weeks or even a year before an opportunity presents itself to use that knowledge.
The same could be said for Jones? teachings away from the school.
Asked what benefit Sunday morning singing has for a wrestler, Jones said it?s always important to be able to comfortably perform in front of people.
?If you can sell yourself amongst your own peers or in a church (now), you?re going to nail that job interview later with flying colors,? he said.