Learning from the best

By Andy Davis - News Republic

Imagine being a fifth grader at a wrestling clinic and accidentally hitting your partner in the nose. While he goes to stuff some tissue up his nostril to stop the bleeding, a 10-time U.S. champion and three-time Olympian takes his place and begins showing you up close what 30 years of intense training and wrestling knowledge can do.

Every Wednesday at the Baraboo High School auxiliary gym, 30 or so children in grades three through eight get that opportunity.

"I thought he was going to crush me!" a wide-eyed 11-year-old Calvin Holloway said of wrestling with Hall. "It's scary."

Scary? Definitely.

Life-threatening? Not even close.

The clinic is part of Dennis Hall's World Gold Wrestling. Hall, who lives in Plover, was an elite wrestler who honed his skills so finely that he made it to the very echelon of the sport. Now, he teaches young wrestlers a lot about the sport, along with a little about life.

Hall demonstrates with practiced technique against the boys at his clinics. He's been coaching in one capacity or another for 18 years, and giving personal demonstrations is one of the things he does best. These kids are more likely to be hurt from catching a wayward knee or elbow from one of their peers than of getting injured by Hall.

Hall began his wrestling career at the age of 4. He was a three-time state champ in high school before he went on to wrestle at the University of Wisconsin. Hall and his scholarship with the Badgers lasted only one year though; he decided to make wrestling his life. From 1992 to 2001, he won the U.S. National Championships each year.

It's at that time that Hall also started coaching. He still volunteers his time as an assistant coach at UW-Stevens Point, and that's where he met BHS assistant wrestling coach Joe Bavlnka, who was then a student and wrestler for the Pointers.

After Bavlnka left Stevens Point, he didn't forget about Hall. He helped arrange it so that the high school would allow Hall's clinic to use the auxiliary gym, which is basically a wrestling room, to host a clinic in Baraboo. Hall would have a new site for his camp, and in return, Baraboo's youth wrestlers would have a knowledgeable clinic instructor without having to even leave town.

Roughly a third of the kids at the clinic are from the Baraboo area. There is also a good number from Reedsburg. Others drive up to 100 miles for the once-a-week clinic.

"In my third year here in Baraboo, I thought this would be a great opportunity," Bavlnka said. "We had a lot of youth kids that were real driven."

Bavlnka stresses that this isn't a clinic for just any wrestler. This is for the wrestler who is serious about the sport at a young age and wants to be pushed beyond what the average youth program can do. Hall needs only to ask who from the group is going to the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation Kids Folkstyle State Tournament this weekend at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison to see that. About half the hands shoot up.

These are the most dedicated youth wrestlers you'll find, and many of them are among the best in the state.

"We have a youth program that meets twice a week in Baraboo, and it's very laid back," Bavlnka said. "What I saw in Baraboo was a group of kids that wanted to be pushed hard. As a coach, I want to give the kids every opportunity to excel."

"I think I get better and stronger and more confident coming here," said Holloway, who is in his second year at the clinic.

With Hall's background and name recognition throughout the state, it would seem he could do clinics for any age of wrestlers. Still, he sticks with the youngest groups.

He does it because they're the most impressionable and need the most coaching. For Hall, it's a matter of where he's needed most.

Unlike high school wrestling, where coaches typically bring years of experience with them into their programs, youth wrestling programs are usually coached by parents. While Hall said it's great to have parents who want to help the sport, he said he can bring his technical experience and knowledge and make a greater impact on the younger wrestlers.

In return, he gets the satisfaction of seeing his students take the same steps he did when he was a young boy rolling around on the mat.

"For me, it's what wrestling taught me," Hall said. "It teaches you work ethic, determination, it teaches you about winning and losing and how you react to it."

Who knows? Maybe one of these 30 kids will represent the U.S. in the Olympics someday.

If not, they'll at least be able to tell their friends the story about how they got taken down by an Olympian.