Takedown Report

UNH club wrestling team is up off the mat

DURHAM – A little over two months ago, Mark Borak gathered up his headgear and shoes and headed for practice.

It was Oct. 1 and the University of New Hampshire freshman was eager to get his tenure with the school’s club wrestling team started. After only wrestling a few years at Bow High School, he quickly fell in love with the sport, so the opportunity to continue competing greatly excited him.

Borak’s first experience didn’t go the way he thought it would, though. Upon arrival, he noticed there were only a few other students present and instead of getting ready to hit the mats, they were told to gather in another room where they were told the club was likely to be disbanded. The club simply didn’t have the numbers and UNH requires that at least 10 athletes are at every practice in order for it to be a legitimate club.  It was a tough blow and the news didn’t sit well with Borak.  “The vibe in the room was that it was pretty much over,” he said. “When they kind of told us no I wasn’t really going to take that for an answer. They told me we had a ton of work to do and probably wouldn’t be able to get on the mats this season. I was like, ‘Alright, well I’m going to do it.’ I kind of told them that it was going to happen and that I was just going to get it done.”  The first and most obvious thing that needed to be addressed was the lack of numbers. Borak pounded the pavement in an effort to market the club by word of mouth while also making fliers and taking on the role as the face of the club. He wanted people to buy what he was selling.  Jonathan Carrigan was among those that did. The senior had wrestled for the club team in each year he had been at UNH and spent four wildly successful years competing at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton. He witnessed the fall of the program first-hand and has been a part of its rebirth.  “It was partly a lack of numbers and also a slip in structure,” Carrigan said, when explaining what led to the club’s downfall. “For example, now we have two student leaders, a president, a vice president, we have three captains for practices, we have a secretary and a treasurer. We have the whole structure that allows the club to be successful, whereas before we just had the two student leaders that were doing all those jobs. It was too much and we ended up losing a coach.”  Rest of the story at http://www.fosters.com/sports/20181209/unh-club-wrestling-team-is-up-off-mat

December 11, 2018 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized