"What do I feel right now?" coach Steve Garland asked. "I feel excitement, because, look, I'm going to be totally blunt with you, the stuff we do [in the offseason] isn't all that fun."
It's not information you would have garnered by merely observing the Virginia wrestling team in its natural state, that small period of time when athletes get to hang out and warm up before practice starts. Actually in that setting, it would seem that the operative word for this team was, in fact, fun.
That's because they're a jovial bunch - upbeat and animated. The Cavaliers' exuberance exudes whenever they hear the buttons on the gym door being punched, indicating that one - or better yet a few - more of their teammates have made it up from the locker room to join practice. Each one is welcomed enthusiastically, immediately immersing himself in the team's camaraderie and inside jokes. There's music pulsating, laughter circulating and a high volume of shouting throughout the entire room. In essence, the entire atmosphere is fun.
"I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, I never took a sledgehammer and slammed it against a rubber tracking tire 50 times for fun," Garland said. "I never did a hundred pull-ups, then ran sprints, then carried a sandbag over my head, and then wrestled for half an hour for fun. The stuff we do to prepare for the season isn't fun by earthly standards. The fun stuff is the competition."
Only five days away from their 2011-12 season opener - a home tri-meet against Campbell and Anderson this Saturday - competition remains the word on everyone's mind as the Cavaliers enter into the final week of preseason training.
"Today is all about excitement," redshirt senior Shawn Harris said. "We've put in all this hard work for the last two, three months and it all comes to a culmination this weekend when we get to compete. The fun part is being able to see it all pay off then."
Virginia boasts even more excitement as it returns eight starters from last season's unit, which placed third at the ACC Championships and finished with two All-Americans in a season for the first time since 2004. At the conclusion of last season, Virginia only graduated two seniors - 174-pound, three-time All-American Chris Henrich and heavyweight Jack Danilkowicz. And while the loss of these two important cogs is duly noted, the team is still currently flush with talent as it returns enough notable athletes to compete with any school in the conference.
This season, the Cavaliers' most distinguished wrestlers are 125-pound redshirt junior Matt Snyder - ranked No. 8 in the country - and 184-pound redshirt sophomore Jon Fausey - ranked No. 15 in the nation. Last year, Snyder put together a surprising season as he came within seconds of being an ACC champion and within just one match of earning All-America honors at Nationals. Fausey also came up just short last year during the two major tournaments, placing third at the ACC Championships and winning two matches at Nationals before being eliminated. Both wrestlers will be expected to continue improving this year and will be counted on to lead the team with their experience.
"Guys like Snyder and Fausey, who have won multiple matches at Nationals, we need them to continue to get better," Garland said. "We need them to place [at Nationals] this year. Really, we're looking for them to be All-Americans and take this team where we want to go."
They will be far from alone in their attempt, however, as several other returning members of the team look to have dramatically increased roles this year. Among them is redshirt senior Matt Nelson - the twin brother of 141-pound return starter Nick Nelson - who is fighting for a spot at 133-pounds after incredibly returning from concussion symptoms which had sidelined him during the past three years. Harris, who will be moving down a weight class this season, and redshirt junior Jedd Moore, who returns from a severe foot injury that hampered him last season, also expect to make significant contributions.
An impressive collection of freshmen, the No. 8 recruiting class, also will look to add talent to the already stacked bunch. The group includes 133-pound Joe Martinez, a three-time Colorado high school state champion, and 149-pound David Wesley, a two-time Virginia state champion. This influx of talent has forced Garland to redshirt both No. 4 149-pound senior Derek Valenti - an All-American last year - and sophomore Joe Spisak - the No. 18 133-pounder in the nation. Garland expressed faith in the ability of this year's team and believes the unit has great promise in the long run.
"[The redshirting] was a tough decision because we have eight national qualifiers and those were two of them," Garland said. "We're doing it because we have a vision for the program, and we feel that by redshirting them we can achieve that in the long term."
In the short term, however, a new and promising wrestling season will commence this weekend, and with it comes excitement, anticipation, competition and above all else, fun.
"This Saturday, there will definitely a combination of nerves and rust," Harris said. "We haven't competed in six months or so, so that's expected. But there's nothing like being out there in front of a bunch of people competing, just you and another guy, It's going to be fun"
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