Wrestlers' honor

By Tracy Sandler Daily Sports Writer

6:30 a.m. - Morning practice at Crisler Arena. The team begins its workout with sprints across the basketball court. They lift weights, and a starter is paired-up with a non-starter. Logan's partner is freshman Mike Kulczycki. The two wrestlers are supposed to push each other to go as hard as possible. After practice, Logan goes home, eats some cereal and does his laundry.

This time of year is the most important for the Michigan wrestling team. The Big Ten Championships, which will be held March 6 and 7 at Crisler Arena, are only a week away.

So, what motivates these guys to work so hard? Day after day, practice after practice, they push themselves harder and harder every day.

"You have to be a little crazy to be a wrestler," wrestler Joe Warren (133 pounds) said. "To get up every morning and put your body through hell every day, no one wants to do that."

9 a.m. - Logan, a sports management and communications major in the Division of Kinesiology, has class at the Central Campus Recreation Building.

Logan has been up for three hours, but in many ways, his day is just beginning.

"You have to be focused," assistant coach Joe McFarland said. "You need to have goals. Those are things that inspire you and keep you going. I see that with some of the guys this year. In the past, guys have complained in practice. With these guys this year, I don't here any complaints, and I've put them through some grueling workouts."

Balancing class, wrestling and a social life is not easy. Not everyone can do what these guys do every day.

"It takes a special person," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "I don't think a lot of people realize the amount of time expected from the athlete. Maybe it's not so much the time either ... We expend so much energy at that time, and it's so intense. It can literally drain you for the day.

"Then to turn around, go to class and do all the things you have to do as a normal student, it's very difficult. You've really got to love the sport to do it."

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. - Logan studies for an exam and eats lunch at the Bagel Factory - a blueberry bagel toasted with butter, a fragel and a protein drink. A light lunch, because de doesn't like to eat too much before practice.

12 p.m. - Another class at the CCRB.

Here's why the athlete differs from the normal student. Everyone goes to class and everyone studies, but not everyone gets up at six in the morning for a tough practice. Not everyone practices for a second time that same day.

"I guess what I was saying about being crazy is we're putting ourselves through this every day and we're living a college life," Warren said. "We have to go to school and wrestle. We have to practice in the morning at least three days a week, go to class, practice in the afternoon and then compete on the weekends.

"You've got to want it so bad. If you don't want to work that hard, then you're not going to be a good wrestler. And you're going to have to start liking to lose."

1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. - Logan studies and gets ready for afternoon practice.

Before practice, the Wolverines take time to prepare for the afternoon. Warren said McFarland likes each member of the team to take at least 30 minutes to think about what he wants to achieve during the practice.

"He was talking to me about focusing my intensity," Warren said. "Sometimes I get too intense before I go out there, and I let the first takedown happen. That's why I need to focus my intensity."

An important aspect of practice is support. The team relies on each member to push his teammates to go harder and harder.

"During practice, make sure that if your fine and if you have it, share it with everyone else," Logan said. "Let everyone else know that you've got it. Once you've found it, look around. See who's down. Whether it be me saying, 'Have a good practice,' or getting the freshmen ready - guys who are feeling the long season."

3:30 p.m. - Practice begins.

The team runs laps around the wrestling room. While running, each person drops to the floor to do a few somersaults and a couple of cartwheels. After the running, Warren leads the stretches. Then the fun begins. Each wrestler gets a partner and practices live wrestling. McFarland gives the wrestlers different scenarios to simulate. One example would be sudden death overtime, with the first wrestler to score crowned the winner.

Otto Olson (174 pounds) lives by a saying he learned in high school - "It's not the time you put in, it's what you put in the time."

"In high school I was working out maybe six hours a day," Olson said. "I may not be working out as many hours now, but the work I'm doing in a shorter amount of time has actually made me a better wrestler ... Now I'm working for three hours at a real intense pace. That's more match-like, and that's really better for me."

The match simulations really portray the intensity of the sport. The wrestlers yell and scream, similar to emotions portrayed in actual matches. A minute of hard running follows live wrestling, and then the wrestlers take a five-minute break for water. After the break, they switch partners and practice more live wrestling. Logan practices with Warren, Kulczycki and freshman Maalichai Walker. At the end of practice, Chris Viola (125 pounds) stretches out the team. They clap in a circle and yell, "Go Blue!"

When practice is over, Warren says to the coaches, "Thanks for pushing us that hard. We needed it."

But, the Wolverines were not always thankful for the tough workouts.

"It used to be that we had guys on our team that didn't buy into the idea that if you work as hard as you can, you're going to do well," Warren said. "That's what we've all bought into. The harder we work, the better we're going to do.

"That's why the Michigan wrestling team will never be a losing team again. The attitude it has now will stay this way forever. We're going to see a national championship out of this team. If it's not this year, it's going to be in the next two years. We're going to shock people."

The Wolverines give a lot of credit to McFarland for the work ethic they have developed. He has passed on the idea that hard work equals success.

"It makes me happy, because this is what I'm going to build on," said McFarland, who will take over for Bahr next season. "This is what I'm going to build my program around - commitment, hard work and dedication. That's the only way in this sport to be successful, because it is a grueling sport. It's very demanding, and the more things you do right, the more successful you're going to be."

Members of the Michigan wrestling team said the hard work they put into the program not only benefits them as individuals, but it is also for benefits the entire team and the University.

"If you come back with a national championship, that's great," Logan said. "If you come back with three or four All-Americans representing your team, that's great, too. You worked hard for yourself and for the University."

6 p.m. - Logan eats dinner - a slice of pizza, pasta and half of a chicken caesar sandwich - and studies for his exam the following afternoon.

So, now you're probably asking yourself, why would a person put himself through this type of torture every day? What is the motivation? It's a desire to win. It's the desire to be the best. No matter how bad he feels, Logan knows that he still needs to practice like he's having the best day of his life.

"Even during your bad day of practice, you've got to make sure you're working harder than anyone else that's ranked in the country," Logan said. "You're always going to fall back on it ... If you don't see it right away, you're going to see it in the long run.

"You have to constantly believe that you're working harder than everyone else in your weight class, and you have to make sure of that to feel comfortable."

One reason the Wolverines work so hard is for strong conditioning. Being in better shape than their opponents goes a long way, especially toward the end of a match.

"You have to be completely convinced that you have the conditioning that you're going to need at the end of the match," Warren said. "That's one thing that we have to do now as a team - buy into and believe that they're not going to get tired.

"We need to believe that we're going to be able to go as hard in the third as you did in the first. If something goes wrong in that first period, you know that that guy is going to be tired, and you're not going to."

Strong conditioning gives athletes the energy they need to push past their limits and compete at their highest levels.

"A lot of it is being physically fit, physically ready to go, physically ready to battle," Logan said. "We have to be able to go for 10 minutes, if it does go into overtime, and we have to be able to constantly abuse our opponents."

Now maybe the grueling days are easier to understand. When Big Tens are over and the lights are turned off in Crisler Arena, each member of that team will know he gave it his all.

"It's all for your hand getting raised," Logan said. "When your hand gets raised, that's what you did all that work for. When you lose, it hurts so bad."

02-26-99