From: https://www.manchestertimes.com/sports/local/year-round-opportunities-legacy-wrestling-club/article_15bb2b0a-c58c-11ec-86be-c7bc80e6a88e.html
By Dalton Perez
An all-inclusive wrestling club has come to Coffee County, while servicing surrounding areas as well. Wrestling coaches Randall Jennings and Roger Barlow of Manchester, and Al and Jenna Morris of Tullahoma have all helped to create a wrestling club that is available to wrestlers from all of Coffee County, as well as Warren County and other surrounding areas.
Jennings gave some insight as to what the club was for and its origins, saying, “This is the first year that we have done this as Legacy. We have tried to do things like this in the past, but they’ve never really panned out as well as it has this year.”
Jennings stated that the club has seen 10-15 total kids in the past, however, this year has increased in numbers by double. “This year we have about 30 kids from six different schools,” said Jennings.
The coach was asked why the club was started, and he mentioned that growing the kids’ skills and drawing more attention to freestyle and Greco wrestling can help them build their talents and abilities. “We know that it is an added benefit to the folk-style seasons and their (the kids) regular high school seasons. I think one of the big things this year was all of the area coaches buying in as well,” Jennings said talking about the partnership between all of the schools.
“We have kids from Coffee County, Tullahoma included, Warren County, Sewanee, Cascade and maybe Shelbyville every now and then.” Jennings said.
The main difference between LWC and the regular high school seasons is that the atmosphere is more laid back and stresses more on rounding the skills of the kids. Jennings relates the likeness of the wrestling club to that of travel ball for baseball players.
“The goal is really to provide a wrestling option to those who are interested year round,” stated Jennings. The club starts its season at the end of the high school wrestling season and intends to stop at the beginning of the next, providing wrestling as an option during off season.
“It is a really good opportunity for the kids, not only to get on the mats and expand their wrestling repertoire, but to also make connections.”
Jennings mentioned that there have been previous wrestlers who were not recognized for their athleticism during the high school seasons, that were recognized during freestyle and Greco seasons. This recognition gave those wrestlers the opportunity to take their wrestling to the next level.
“This is our first year rolling into this and it being this big, but on and off we have been trying to get to this level for two or three years. We have always done good partnering with Tullahoma, but this is the first year that we have actually established a club and got sanctioned through USA Wrestling. It’s legit. We want to continue growing and put together some dual teams, just like a high school season.”
