By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.– With the spring sports dodging the raindrops outside, inside the mat room at North Salem High School, athletes are still continuing to get better even if their season is over.

Wrestling together, you saw McKay wrestling with North Salem athletes, all in staying fresh during the offseason.

“It’s pretty important or I think it’s important because if you only wrestle one season,” said the Vikings Ian Carlos.  “I mean that’s only two months wrestling you’re not getting that full mat time.  You’re not learning what you need to learn to become better.

“It’s not enough time,” he continued.  “When I wrestle, it’s all muscle memory.  I’ve done it for so long, such a long time that it’s all memory, it’s like sleeping.”

There’s motivation there said Scots wrestler David Rubio when he entered the mat room.

“The motivation is there.  It’s there,” Rubio started.  “I come in everyday to improve and get stronger and prepare myself for next season and to come back strong.”

“Champions are built in the offseason and I’m taking this opportunity to get as much mat time in and trying to improve on myself and hopefully come after the District Title next year.”

Both freshmen have motivation entering their first full offseason at the high school level as they join their teammates and brotherly rivals to make deep runs again as sophomores.

For McKay’s Matt Jarding, the junior was seen working on his technique, going through the drills, testing and strengthening that knee he injured this past season.

“With missing the whole season and not getting those practices in, muscle memory and my knee kind of started to fade off from the wrestling scene,” said Jarding.  “So coming into these practices it estientally to get the muscle memory back into my knee for wrestling.”

From a coaching perspective, both Vikings Head Coach Andy Pickett and Royal Scot Head Coach Troy Thomas know the importance of getting that extra work in during the nine-ten months that the season isn’t going on.

“Just like any other thing, ‘if you’re not sharpening your skills, someone else is’ and when you meet them, they cut you,” said Pickett.  “During the offseason we stress a lot of weight lifting and resistance training stuff, but it’s important to do some skill stuff as well and that’s why we’re in here.”

Pickett added that they don’t like to spend a lot of time in the room however, an hour, hour-and-a-half max.  Just more or less get some hard work in and get a good sweat in while keeping in contact with guys on the team.

Thomas adds that it gives an opportunity for more one-on-one time with the wrestlers to work on technique and get to know their wrestlers at a personal level.

“Also this is the most fun time we have with the kids because no one’s cutting weight.  No one got to worry about what weight they’re going to make Saturday or Thursday,” Thomas started.  “It’s kind of a great bonding experience because you have a smaller amount of wrestlers with the same amount of coaches, so there’s a lot more one-on-one technique time.

“Also (it’s) kind of getting to know the kids personalities and characteristics I think helps with team unity when the season comes around.  Even though we have six kids here today, it will greatly benefit our team come winter time.”

As the training session wraps up and the Mat Club trickles in, some of the high schoolers who remain were doing their best impersonation of WWE moves that we’ve all grown up watching.  But the message is still the same:

Champions are built in the off-season!

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81