Club wrestling kick-starts program

Seventy-six schools in the United States sponsored Division 1 varsity men’s wrestling during the 2015-16 season. VCU is not among these schools.

As a result, members of club wrestling at VCU are motivated to engage in their sport. Vice president Dillon Dull spoke about how much the opportunity to continue wrestling means to him.

“I’ve always loved wrestling, especially after wrestling four years in high school,” Dull said. “It builds great character and great discipline, and is a great way to stay in shape.”

The wrestling club at VCU is one of the newest club sports. The Rams are currently in their second year of existence and first year as a sponsored member of VCU club sports.

Senior president Yassin Semmami and Dull noticed VCU did not have a wrestling team when they arrived on campus as freshman. Taking matters into their own hands, they decided to fix that problem and start the wrestling club last year.

According to Dull, the wrestling club saw a drastic spike in membership, going from five or six members last year to about 20 active members who regularly appear for practice. Dull called this “an extreme improvement.”

The team participated in several open tournaments in Virginia over the last two years. Now that the club has gained funding from VCU, they hope to travel to more tournaments without having to worry about monetary constraints.

“It was tough to participate in these tournaments last year because we had to pay out of pocket.,” Dull said.

In addition to the funds VCU provides, the club also plans on doing several fundraisers this year to raise money for more tournaments and new equipment.

The team practices three times a week at 8:30 pm at an off-campus facility in Ashland.

“We have a supervisor that owns the facility and he coaches sometimes, but it is usually Yassin and I that run the practices,” said Dull.

A typical practice consists of a 20-minute warm-up, followed by 30 minutes of drill work. They use the remainder of practice time to live wrestle.

Interested parties should join the “Ram Wrestling Club @ VCU” page on Facebook for more information.

STAFF WRITER

Gabe Hauari
Gabe is a junior majoring in print/online journalism with a general business minor. Along with writing for the CT, he also doubles as the editor of Rams Review, a student-run blog covering VCU sports. Gabe primarily enjoys writing about sports and someday hopes to grace the halls at ESPN. You can usually find Gabe waiting in line at Chipotle, playing FIFA at his apartment, or quoting “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
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