Maryland School for the Blind wrestler Kelvin Atkinson struggled in the early going of his 130-pound match against his Overbrook (Pa.) opponent, but that didn't matter to the cheerleaders, who chanted, "Let's go, Kelvin, let's go!" or to the parents and other students who sat on folding chairs and cheered for their guy in this tri-meet, or to school president Mike Bina and athletic director Wayne White, who were also in the crowd.
It didn't much matter to Atkinson, a senior at the Parkville school, either, because all of them knew one thing. Atkinson wasn't going to give up. Eventually, he turned the tables on his opponent, pinned him early in the second period and then jumped with joy. A buzz went through the crowd and the cutouts of black and gold bees — the school's mascot — seemed to vibrate where they hung on the gym walls.
"When I was 13, I was a very upset kid, always getting into trouble," said Atkinson, now 17, who has low vision and is taking classes at Parkville while wrestling for that team, too. "My uncles suggested wrestling, and I came here [to MSB] and came into a very nice group of people. They taught me everything. I progressed and worked hard, and I became a better person. When I think back, I was a jerk. Yes, a jerk. It was all about me, not the team. They've shown me other people matter, too. I'm a senior now. I get good grades. I owe all that to this team."
Harry Armstrong, who officiated Wednesday's tri-meet among MSB, Overbrook and the West Virginia School for the Deaf at the MSB Fitness Center, said: "Blind wrestlers have been around for a long while. Jacob Twersky, a blind wrestler, made it to the collegiate finals in 1942."
The Eastern Athletic Association for the Blind (EAAB), in which MSB competes, was established in 1946; Overbrook coach Bob Ashbridge said his school and Maryland's have had wrestling teams ever since. In the 1950s, MSB's squad was so strong that many local public schools declined to wrestle it. A few years ago, MSB had a wrestler named Sam Gardner who went all the way to the national freestyle championships.
In truth, there isn't much difference between the sighted and the blind on a wrestling mat. The rules, except for one, are the same. In matches involving blind wrestlers, according to rules established by the National Federation of High Schools, a finger- touch method is used in the neutral position (when they are both on their feet and facing each other) and initial contact is made from the front. Contact must be maintained throughout the match. If the wrestlers separate, the match is restarted with contact.
The match starts with each wrestler holding out his hands to the other, one palm up, one down, touching his opponent. After that, it's wrestling as usual.
But it isn't always easy. Third-year coach Sara Hines acknowledges that it took her a while to figure out how to get her wrestlers to learn the moves.
"When I was growing up, my little brother wrestled for Bel Air High School, and I was the team manager and I wrestled him," Hines said. "And I fell in love with the sport. Three years ago, I was asked to coach. They came to me and said, 'You're the only one with any wrestling experience, will you coach the team?' I said I'd try. I teach the visually impaired, but wrestling is so visual, I was so overwhelmed at first. It took me months to figure out how to model a program."
Now, with boys and girls on her team, she's trying to rebuild a schedule that had dwindled to one match — this tri-meet — when she took over. This season she had three public schools scheduled for practice matches — New Town, Parkville and Patterson Mill, but because of snow cancellations only the Patterson Mill match happened. Next week the team will travel to North Carolina for the season-ending EAAB championship meet.
"I want them to have as many experiences as they can," said Hines, who along with White, the AD, hopes to eventually get the local public schools to schedule their school as an official match. "I want more matches against sighted or blind kids. I hope my kids will take a willingness from that to try anything and know they can do anything they set their minds to."
Today she sat on the coaching chair and with the help of her assistant James Gardner, led her team to a second-place finish in the meet behind Overbrook. And though only two of her wrestlers won on the mat — Atkinson (twice) and Ricky Rickets — it seemed everyone who competed came out on top.
Rasheeda McRae experienced her first match and came away smiling afterward. Rebecca Levaseur showed her great physical strength by refusing to be pinned. Andrew Kotowski, who loves the sound of the official's hand slapping the mat, Shawn Bishop and Jenny Espino all fought hard.
"It does my heart good to see them out there competing on a level playing field," said Bina, the school president. "Some of our community leaders have been beaten by our wrestlers when they were in school. We have a long-standing tradition of wrestling here, and it is so good for them. They discover they can beat a sighted wrestler, that they can go head-to-head and win. They learn they can compete with anybody athletically, socially or academically, and that all helps later when they're competing for jobs. It's a means to an end later in life."