This isn't your NCAA Tournament, playing two games on the weekend before taking a week off to rest and prepare. Nor is it anything like a baseball tournament. For instance, the Rocky Mount Easter Tournament, which is played over a few days.
A wrestling tournament is something that is undescribable. Whistles blow and start the early rounds as the sun is coming up outside the gym, and often the finals and trophys are finishing well after the sun has set on the day.
Nothing compares to a wrestling tournament, right? Well.....that's what I thought. Until last Saturday.
Last Saturday, I took the trek with a friend down to Myrtle Beach, to watch my friend Erica Mazur's club volleyball team play in a tournament. Mazur, and most of the other girls playing Saturday, play college volleyball.
By the time I got there, around 11:30 or so, the teams had already played twice. And had many more to go. As they had three games going on at the same time, there had to be around 25 teams there.
Three courts? Yes. This wasn't your average high school gym. Welcome to the SportsZone. This place home to a multi-purpose floor, which has the three volleyball courts, two full-length basketball courts, all on a full size roller hockey/ indoor soccer floor.
(photos - icecourt.com)
Set over three levels, this place also houses a batting cage and a sportsturf area to train on. Oh yeah, and for the kids, all the regular games. You know, like when you're at Chuck-E Cheese?
The three courts each were their own bracket - the gold, silver, and bronze brackets - based on each team's age group and skill level. (I thought they were all pretty darn good.)
The huge area got me thinking. After all the years of thinking wrestling compared to nothing else, I have to give it to these girls. Many of them have been doing this for years, year-round. Same as wrestling, early mornings, late nights, and little downtime in between going all out.
As I sat on the balcony overlooking the courts, I thought about how many mats could be placed out. My modest estimation gets at least 12 mats in there, but I wouldn't doubt more.
Here's a picture of the NCHSAA State Wrestling Championships, set at Wake Forest University's Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum -
(photo -Nick Phillips)The one difference between Joel Coliseum and the SportsZone?
Sports Zone is lacking seating. Temporary, five-row bleachers were all that as available. Set around the ouotside of the court, they couldn't come close to holding the number of teams coming, yet alone all of the fans coming.
Although the SportsZone isn't going to be hosting any wrestling tournaments anytime soon, it was an ample site for a volleyball tournament.
And it opened my eyes to the fact that there are other athletes out there that go through some of the same routines as wrestlers.
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