(photo - uncpbraves.com)
By Nick Phillips
Asst Sports Editor
March 12, 2009
After walking off the mat last March, Braves wrestler J.J Davis had nothing to hang his head about. He had made his name known in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, site of the NCAA Division II National Championships. As a junior, Davis was fresh off knocking off two of the top six wrestlers in the country in sixth-ranked Mitch Norton and top-ranked Zachary Lee before eventually ending up with a sixth place finish in the Championships.
Davis, whose final record for 2007-08 season was 35-9 on his way to becoming UNC-Pembroke’s 59th All-American with his sixth place finish, would be on his way back to campus for his senior season and seemingly another shot at the National Championships.
But the Spartanburg, South Carolina native had another idea. A big idea. An idea to wrestle and compete in the 2012 Olympics in London, in which the first step is being able to train with the United States team at their Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
A Dream Coming True
The dream of getting to the Olympic Training Center (OTC) is one that started for Davis in high school, as he competed in several tournaments that would allow him to travel to the OTC and compete at the University level if he placed high enough in those tournaments. Wrestlers qualifying to go to the OTC to train also are able to receive a ‘red-shirt’ year, which allows them to retain another year of collegiate eligibility, as well as the chance to train with the Olympic team.
Davis agreed that placing sixth in the Championships last spring and becoming an All-American helped him, but that in the Olympics “there are two different styles of wrestling, Freestyle and Greco, which is different from the Folkstyle, or collegiate wrestling, that we do here.”
He also added that he is still deciding which of the two types of wrestling he will focus and train for at the OTC. The two are almost equal in his mind right now, as he weighs his possibilities of success in the Greco, in which a wrestler cannot attack his opponent’s legs, and Freestyle, where “pretty much everything goes.”
This fall, Davis was wrestled in an invite-only tournament in Puerto Rico, which laid the foundation and started his international career.
What to Expect
Davis expects the road to trying out for the Olympic team to be tough, as he predicts he will be competing against “multiple-time national champions, multiple-time world champions, and Olympic team members.”
“The road won’t be easy at all,” said Davis. “It is one with much hard work involved.”
The experience of being able to go to the OTC and train with the different wrestlers is a dream come true enough for Davis. Being able to get through the grind of the entire process and actually secure a spot on the U.S team is a different story.
“Making the team is something special, something on another level, another cloud, an entirely different universe,” said Davis on the prospect of him acquiring a spot on the National team’s roster.
“Making it to OTC…I have to take it one step at a time, first of all I have to start by placing at University, but getting to OTC is a dream. Just to say you got to train with Olympians and guys you used to look up to and actually be wrestling against them…It’s a dream come true.”
What weight?
With the University level of the OTC coming up in the spring, Davis is still wrestling within himself in regards to which weight class he will compete in.
After competing in tournaments this fall at the collegiate weight class of 165 pounds, Davis is contemplating on wrestling in the 163 pound weight class or bumping up into the next higher weight. The decision is a hard one for Davis, as the next class is 185 pounds.
With the way he is training, he feels that cutting the weight will have him losing muscle that he has already built up. He then would have to build those same muscles back up after competing, which is something he is not interested in doing.
Davis is in the process of discussing with coaches the best weight class for him to compete in, as he is “trying to be in the top three at whichever weight I go at this year” when participating in the University level.
His ‘Hobby’
Many people may know Davis for his voice and ability to play the guitar as much as for his accolades on the wrestling mat. Despite just picking up playing the guitar as a hobby last year, he is commonly seen at the ‘Broke Coffee Shop across from campus performing with Jimmie Worley. Davis also plays with other musicians, and can be found late into the night strumming the guitar and singing with groups in the residence halls and in the UC.
Worley says that he taught Davis a few chords last year, and that Davis took off from there, and that Davis has a “crazy athletic ability as well as a crazy music ability.”
“I didn’t imagine the publicity and the popularity I’ve received on campus. I’ve even had people wanting me to do shows for them,” says Davis.
“I really don’t know where it’s going to go, and I’m pretty much just riding the boat.”
Davis’ songs have found their way onto the popular site YouTube.com and there has even been a group entitled ‘I Heart Jimmie and J.J Music’ on the social networking site Facebook, which boasts over 230 members.
His self-written song “Dance for Me” is always a crowd pleaser, and others include “Don’t Go” and “On Your Porch,” which can be seen on YouTube. Davis even hinted that he may even have an album in the works.
“Everything he does, he does to the best of his ability,” said Worley about Davis.
Davis’ next scheduled event will be on April 4th at the newly renovated Carolina Civic Center, which is located in Lumberton and re-opened on February 13th. But he is sure to pop into the Coffee Shop on a Thursday night before then.
Regardless of what happens to Davis at the University level of competition and, hopefully, being able to train at the OTC and compete for a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, he has already acquired a group of followers right here on campus that are rooting for him.
He has already made it this far, by just having this opportunity placed in front of him, and getting there is half the battle.
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