Winter mat success starts now

Winter mat success starts now
BY MEREDITH GALANTE • EDITORIAL INTERN • JULY 20, 2009
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OLD BRDGE — Bryan Garnett wants his Old Bridge wrestling team to be at the elite level come the 2009 winter season.



Throughout Garnett's 23 years of coaching at Old Bridge High School, he's realized wrestling has become a year-round sport. In order for his Knights to compete at the top level come winter the team has to wrestle in the summer.

So Garnett has had his team participate in the Old Bridge Summer Duals wrestling tournament every summer since its creation 16 years ago. The first matches started Monday evening and will last until Thursday's championship match.

"I always tell my team, "a time will come when winter will ask, what did you do all summer?' " Garnett, the eighth-year coach said.

Most Greater Middlesex Conference teams appear in the Summer Duals for various reasons: to get more mat time, to try new moves, to scout the wrestlers on opposing teams, to bond the incoming freshmen with the rising varsity players.

Other teams come to win, come to defend their title, like South Plainfield, which has won the Summer Duals 12 years in a row.

South Plainfield head coach Kevin McCann said the tournament is a learning experience for the wrestlers, but he doesn't want to see them lose. South Plainfield has a strong wrestling tradition, and his team always tries to represent that to the best of its ability.

In order to win GMC titles and state titles (2005, 2006 and 2007 most recently), McCann says he tries to get almost a full season of matches in for his athletes before the real season even begins. The Summer Duals helps McCann achieve that goal.

"We are one of the best teams in the area," McCann said. "We are always looking to win. It's both a teaching and learning experience but I don't want to see any wrestlers lose a match they were suppose to win."

McCann's South Plainfield squad started the tournament in defending champion form, demolishing the Westfield/Rahway team 64-3 in the first round of Monday night's matches, with just one Tiger wrestler losing a match.

Garnett said most of the teams aren't complete. Some athletes are on vacation, others have different weights in the summer due to playing other sports. Garnett said the goal is to refine his wrestlers.

South Brunswick senior Brendan Vercammen, who has wrestled at the Old Bridge Summer Duals for three years, just wants mat time. He wants to try new moves.

"I don't care if I win or lose," Vercammen, 17, said. "I just want to improve. The best teams in the state wrestle all summer. So we have to to."

The trend has affected every team vying for the top spots in the county and in the state, making the Summer Duals and other summer tournaments that much more coveted.

Currently 16 teams participate in the tournament. The Summer Duals can accommodate up to 18 based on the number of mats Old Bridge has.

"It's about the mat time," Garnett said. "If I have a kid who is bad on his feet I'm going to refine it here. — I had a state caliber wrestler lose tonight. Does it matter? No. It's summer. We talk it out. It's all about helping the kids for the winter."
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