Wrestling Builds From The Mat Up
Story by Michael Harris
It was during last year’s state high school wrestling tournament in Lakeland that Mount Dora resident Rene Soto was hoping to do a little shopping.
His shopping trip was to find a quality wrestling mat and, as luck would have it, he was able to purchase a mat. It was a regulation size 23-foot by 20-foot for his fledgling club.
He used his own money; nobody helped with the funding.
A little more than a year ago, Rene founded the Triangle Wrestling Club, a club for kids interested in standard USA Folk Style wrestling and the one practiced by the Florida High School Athletic Association. What was a startup club, because he wanted to get his 14-year-old son Jacob into an activity, has grown into a club of young champions and competing in region and national events.
To use the metaphor he started from the mat and picked himself off of it should be taken quite literally.
“I’ve lived here for nine years and I wanted to get back into wrestling and then I find out there’s no wrestling here,” says Rene, who wrestled in college in New York and has coached prior to the club. “The closest wrestling camp for me to help with was in Inverness at Citrus High School.”
Shortly after buying the mat, he had to give up his spot at a gym in Eustis because the local AAU basketball team would be using it. Left without a home to wrestle, Rene didn’t give up and went door-to-door.
“That was four months ago and now my kids were getting better, so I knocked on doors and I got in for no charge at the Alee Academy in Umatilla,” he says.
The club practices on Thursday nights and Rene is always open to interested kids from six to 16. He even has had several adults inquire about wrestling and there are a couple in the club.
According to Rene, the Triangle group has wrestled in 15 tournaments so far. Most recently, at a tournament in Kissimmee in early November, the team showed its mite as Caleb Gruner (First), Riley Cinnamon (Second), Alex Lopez (Second), Christian Lopez (Second) and Chris Hollender (Second) all placed.
Rene has another youngster, Joey Silva, who, at age 10 and only 65 pounds, took second in a national event at Disney World.
“Joey hasn’t lost in about nine tournaments,” Rene says. “He’s a freak of nature at 65 pounds. I have six or eight kids that place all the time.”
It’s been a tough grind for the club, and for many the road could stop once they get into high school, which presents Rene with his next challenge – getting high school wrestling in Lake County. Lake and Sumter counties are the only two counties in the state of Florida that do not have high school wrestling.
The Villages has a team; however the school is not open to the public unless a parent works in or for The Villages. The last public school to wrestle was Leesburg in 1992.
Of course, anyone can see Rene isn’t stopping there. He’s already in the process of going to schools in the Triangle area to inquire about their school starting – or reforming – a wrestling team.
“The parents can see some of the benefits of the program, especially with the child’s self-esteem and the mental toughness and they will ask the question, ‘where is my son going to keep wrestling?’” Rene says. “That’s where the pressure is going to be on these principals, the school board and others.”
It would take quite a reversal on the schools’ part, but if Rene can pin them down, maybe they challenge the powerhouse programs of Brandon and Oviedo for state championships.
It’s $30 to join and $35 for the cost of insurance through USA Wrestling for the year. For more information on the Triangle Wrestling Club, call Rene Soto at 352-589-6622.
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