Posted on Thu, Feb. 01, 2007

TO HANDLE GROWTH

Team Cabarrus wrestlers have new home

Program moves into the old Gibson Mill

JOE HABINA

Special Correspondent

Welcome to "Extreme Makeover: Wrestling Edition."

Having already outgrown its original practice facility, the upstart Team Cabarrus youth wrestling program recently moved into a most unlikely structure: an unused section of the old Gibson Mill (also known as Fieldcrest Cannon Plant 6) on McGill Avenue in Concord.

In only a few years, program founder Jim Tovornik, his fellow volunteer coaches, and numerous parents have built the Team Cabarrus youth wrestling program into one of the largest of its kind in the state.

It's a contrast in metaphors: an empty mill building -- a remnant of the region's textile industry -- and the meteoric rise of a youth sport that, in some ways, represents Cabarrus County's changing demographics. But they co-exist as a link between the past and future.

Adapting the space

A native New Yorker, Tovornik helped establish Team Cabarrus in 2003. The team initially operated out of a 38-by-36-foot warehouse at Tovornik's T&J Construction facility near Lowe's Motor Speedway.At the time, it was large enough to suit the needs of the 30 or so wrestlers. The next year, when enrollment increased by a dozen, wrestlers had to alternate working out on the mat and watching from the sidelines.

In November, Team Cabarrus became a tax-exempt nonprofit organization. It leased a 10,400-square-foot section of the Gibson Mill building.

Tovornik and his construction company renovated it, erasing the residue of grease and lint left by 100 years of textile manufacturing. However, 150 gallons of sprayed white paint was still not enough to fully blanket the brick walls and wood-plank ceilings.

The work crew sanded darkened floors. A 30-foot-high wall separates the wrestling room from a neighboring tenant and helps encase a new locker room.

Tovornik said the crew completed work worth $35,000 to $40,000 in just two weeks. Turning it into a wrestling room, by installing official-grade mats and aluminum bleachers for spectators, was the easy part.

More wrestlers than ever

The improved surroundings represent the growth that Team Cabarrus has undergone since its inception. The program has more than 70 active members, mostly elementary school- and middle school-age students.

The number will increase once high school wrestlers are able to join when the prep season ends. Membership has no geographical limits. Tovornik is proud that wrestlers from rival schools band together for the sake of the program. The team is becoming more active in weekend tournaments, having competed in four more than last season. Tournaments run from late December through late March, and Team Cabarrus is slowly adding to its trophy collection.

To understand how serious the wrestlers have become, one need only know the story of Mount Pleasant eighth-grader Jake Nolan, who subsidized the fees he needed by taking some rather extreme measures.

"I really wanted to go to all the tournaments I could, since it was my first year and I could get a lot experience," Nolan said. "So I decided to sell the thing I like to do the most on weekends, and that was my Xbox."

Of course, Tovornik, too, wants his wrestlers to take it seriously. A self-described "basics" coach, Tovornik will bark out his mantra: "Remember, it's not how fast you do it ... ," and his wrestlers chime back:

"... It's how good you do it."

Freelance writer Joe Habina lives in Kannapolis.

Reprinted with permission from The Charlotte Observer. Copyright owned by the Charlotte Observer