While the entire Academy welcomed the revamped facility with open arms, the Army wrestling team was most appreciative. This past fall, the Black Knights' wrestling program moved into a spacious new room on the second floor of the sparkling new building.
With its walls adorned with photographs of Army's 14 NCAA All-Americans and each of the program's head coaches, the new wrestling room includes four, 42-foot square double-sided mats, with collegiate markings on one side and Olympic-style markings on the other. Two additional 42x42-foot mats are located in an attached freestyle room that gives the Army coaching staff a total of six mats at its disposal during practice sessions.
In addition to the six mats, its capacious new room also features a state-of-the-art locker room that features 50 roomy wooden lockers, enough to accommodate each athlete on the Black Knights' roster.
A plush wrestlers-only team lounge, replete with leather sofas and a big screen television set, is attached to the wrestling room as well.
The new Army wrestling room includes over $30,000 worth of cardiovascular and weight training equipment itself. Treadmills, stair climbers, stationary bicycles and a set of free weights and weight benches are located adjacent to the mats.
Without question, the Army wrestling room is one of the finest in the nation. Army head coach Chuck Barbee believes that the facility gives the Black Knights an advantage as they continue to develop future All-Americans and NCAA Champions.
The following is a transcript of a question and answer session of Coach Barbee talking about the new Army wrestling room.
What are some of the best aspects of the new room?
"The sheer size of the new wrestling room is probably its single best attribute. Having four square mats with padded walls on two sides makes for a tremendous training area. The ability to wrestle uninterrupted without stopping for a wall or a pillar is a huge bonus for us. Another tremendous attribute of this room is how everything is centrally located. Our guys have a locker room, a team/video room, the coaching staff, the training room, an equipment room, swimming pools and numerous other training tools all available to them under one roof. It is really an awesome training environment."
How does the Arvin wrestling room help you recruit high school wrestlers to the Army program?
"I think the new room speaks very loudly to our whole commitment of training to be the best. Obviously, with the right determination and work ethic a person can be good in most any training environment, but when a young man comes to visit West Point it is exciting for them to see that we have one of the best rooms in the country. Wrestlers know how much time they have to spend at their sport, so the facility that they are getting ready to spend the next 4 years of their life in is very important. This new wrestling room and the entire Arvin complex is truly one of the best I have ever been in. While a nice room does not bring in great athletes by itself, it certainly can make a big difference if we're doing our job in recruiting and a prospect needs just a little extra inspiration to choose our program."
How has the new wrestling room allowed you to do more in practice?
"We have been able to train at a much higher intensity level because we don't have "stops" in our wrestling action. When two guys get into a flurry of wrestling action you want to let that go as long as you can. Usually that stop occurs from a wall, a barrier or another wrestling group. With this new room, we can get some great uninterrupted wrestling time in, which has been really nice. With the freestyle room attached to our room we can have six matches going on at once, all on their own 42 feet x 42 feet mat. It is great to be able to train in a full circle and we can have 12 guys going at a time.
"From a conditioning stand point, I just love our new facility. We can run sprints in the room, we can get dumbbell workouts in with our rack of dumbbells, and probably the best thing we have is an indoor set of stadium stairs. The building was designed in such a way that right in the middle of the building is a set of stairs that start in the basement and run continuously up to the 5th floor...in a straight line like a football stadium. Of course it's kind of a love-hate relationship for our guys, but they know when the third period rolls around their legs and lungs will always be ready."
What do the wrestlers/recruits think of the new room? What are they saying about it?
"Our guys were flabbergasted. The room is lit up in such a way that it has a very dramatic entrance to it, including some spectacular trophy cases. The first day we went into the room was pretty cool. I was very happy for our guys who had been training in a temporary facility for so long to finally get to see the finished product. My main concern now is that they do not get too spoiled. I always remind them how lucky they are to have the room that they have. Our recruits, parents and boosters all feel the same way. If you had been in wrestling rooms before and you come into ours you can't help but be amazed with all that it offers".
What are some of the long-range benefits for the Army wrestling program of having such a nice wrestling room?
"There is no facility in the country that can turn you into a champion; that comes only from hard work and determination. However, I am confident that we will always have the work ethic and determination at Army. Adding the extra advantages of cardiovascular equipment, a team room, a large locker room, swimming pools and all the other great items our new building has to offer will help make it more efficient and more motivating for the young men that lay it on the line every day to be an Army wrestler."
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