4 The Clackamas Print
Wednesday,! May 9, 2012
sportsed @ clackamas. edu
198
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to A 1 - B aliar^ (right) as he attem pts
opponent to
T ^ e ta a S ttto n a ljttn a tn g fir tb e w r e s tlin g p r o g r a m ^ v h ic ^ is th e only sport a t Clackamas C om m unity College th a t competes a t the n a tio n a l level.
Wrestling struggles to garner attention
the overall air o f the gym during
the scrimmage speaks, •volumes
about the strength of the wres
tling program and the coaching
Late on a Friday afternoon, prowess of Rhoden. In a n econ
wrestling coach Josh Rhodens omy where schools are forced
office was empty and dark. to cut anything they don’t see
Many of the students who made as, necessary, wrestling is often
the building a bustling busy one, o f the early things to go,
place had gone home for the and /to compete at a national
weekend, leaving little to mask level, there is an extraordinary
the; shouts and squeaks of sneak amount of work that needs to/
ers that echoed from the gym. be don?. Rhoden hasn’t built
Looking closer, Rhoden still the program without a fight.
While Clackamas has had
couldn’t be found. The court
was taken up by a group o f men' wrestling since 1971, it hasn’t
playing pickup basketball; shirts always been as good as it is now.
ana skins, but there wasn’t a Barring the national champi
onship in 1971, there weren’t
coach on the sideline.
Minutes later, one o f the many highlights up until 2007
players drove the lane and when six wresders, tied with
scored a bucket, bringing’ the the most in school history up
game to a close. At that point, to that point, placed at nation
one of -the skin’ players'jogged als. Four years later, -Clackamas
over to the baseline, donnea a todk home their second nation
grey shirt and held out his hand al championship, a product of
grit, hard work and fundraising.
in greeting.
Rhoden, now sweaty but rec
.This year, another step was
ognizable, smiled and remarked made in the fundraising process.
The Cougar Classic ^grap
to the other players that they’d
be back on the court in a few pling tournament was meant to
minutes. It was then that a be a new fundraising opportu
few faces began to stick out, nity. Planned for Saturday, May
as many of the NJCAA’s best 5,~ the tournament was spon
wrestlers were- now meander sored by Team Quest, a mixed
ing around the gym. Martin martial arts club in Portland,
Gonzalez, region 18 champion and CCC. wrestling alumnus
in the 133 lb division was sitting M att Lindland, who won asil-
on the baseline. Trent* Noon ver medal in the 2000 Olympic
(both members of TAe Print), Games.
who won his weight class and
“We were gonna try to get it
took fourth place at riationals, off the ground thfs year,” said
conversed with several of his Rhoden. “We’ve been working
teammates.
with Matt Lindland at Team
The collection of talent and Quest to get some things roll
By John William Howard
Sports Editor
ing that can . get some revenue
streams in for the 'wrestling
team just because we’re under
funded.”
While it isn’t tfre most expen
sive sport at Clackamas, wres
ding does spend more money
than any other program on
recruiting, much of which is
fundraised by the program
itself. T hat money, according
to Rhoden, .is'crucial tp com
pete with some of the other
Midwestern junior college pro
grams that have a much larger
budget.
. “It takes, money. There’s
no other way' to look at it,”
said Rhoden. “We’ve got some
alumni that are supportive of
trying to say ‘Hey, let’s look at
creative ways? to gain revenue
streams.’ We looked at the grap
pling event as one avenue, and
we just didn’t get the support we
hoped for.”
Struggling for support o f a
wresding . program is nothing
new to the sport, as it isn’t in the
spotlight like basketball, football
’and baseball are. Calling wres
ding a “fringe” sport, Rhoden
said that most o f the people
that follow'wrestling either par
ticipated in it, or had kids that
wrestled. Comm unity atten
tion and involvement are low,
but extending Clackamas’ track
record of victories and alumni
support will breed success.
“It starts small. It’s grassroots,
but that’s kinda where we’re
at right now,” said Rhoden.
“We’ve won one championship,
and while that’s great, it’s gonna
take more winning and contin
ued success for people to keep
coming.”
Com m unity involvement
isn’t the only challenge that
wrestling faces.. Because the
sport jsnt as well known, wres
tlers are often lost to other sports
like football and soccer. Rhoden
said that wresding loses count
less recruits to the mainstream
sports, especially heavyweight
wrestlers to football. . ,
“I wanted to do something
hard, and wresding is way hard
er [than football],” said fresh
man Jake Laden, w ho wresded
in the-285 lb division and won
region 18 in his class. “It’s also
individual... I don’t have to rely
on anybody else.”
Freshman Terrance Joshua
agreed that he liked the indi
vidual aspect, _and said that he:
enjoyed that he was able to
control his own destiny when
on the mat.
“W ith this, Lean just come
here and work'my ass off,” said
Joshua, who is the only return
ing wresder in the 197 lb. divi
sion. “I can spoil in my own
sweat, as opposed to going to
university.”
Laden and Joshua were
just two of the many wresders
that chose. between wresding
and. other sports, but Rhoden
says that tne rising popular
ity o f mixed martial arts may
give wrestling some traction.
However, at the end of the day,
Rhoden sticks , by the idea that
victories are what will ultimately
make wrestling an attraction at
Clackamas.
“Were gonna carve out our
niche by winning. That’s/m y
mindset,” said Rhoden. “I don’t
think there’s, any other prac
tical way to look at it, just
because were a junior college.
We’re not a DI program, so
you’re, not going to get the same
kind of following. You struggle
with alumni because they have
attachments to’ four year pror
grams, and- , so now we’re Just
like ‘if we win, they’ll come?”