Alex Thomas with a big throw in Huntsville 2011. Somebody get the ice pack.

 

 

Josh Greer Power Bomb - Huntsville 2010
Ends the match in 1 move.

 

 

Josh Greer 5 Point Throw - Chattanooga 2010

 

From the Birmingham News at AL.com:

Mortimer Jordan’s Brandon Brindley is Wrestler of the Year

Solomon Crenshaw Jr., Birmingham News, March 23, 2011 8:40 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Brandon Brindley is a bit of a retro guy.

No Playstation 360 or Xbox for him. He’s quite happy with the Nintendo 64 he picked up for about $30 at a flea market in Gardendale.

He’s retro in his music too, opting for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin.

And he believes in the old-fashioned benefit of preparation, that practice makes you better. That’s what made the just-completed wrestling season tough.

An ankle injury three weeks before sectionals made practice matches a no-no even as competition promised to become more stiff. While not practicing was tough, the matches proved not to be.

The Birmingham News’ 2011 Metro Wrestler of the Year adjusted his game and completed a 51-0 record in Class 5A 140 pounds to notch his third state championship in four years, including one as an eighth grader.

As the season moved toward its end, Brindley could only watch as Mortimer Jordan High School teammates tussled in practice. He especially missed the latter part of those practices, when the final seven members of the squad had their most intense battles.

“It bothered me, especially at the end of the season when you need to be practicing hard,” he said. “I would go up to the gym two days a week and ride the elliptical and the treadmill just to keep my cardio up. It wasn’t very fun.”

The shooting pain in his injured ankle was enough to take him to his knees, Brindley recalled. That meant that he couldn’t do several of the tactics that he might have.

“I couldn’t do almost anything,” he said. “I couldn’t do high crotches, couldn’t do double legs, I couldn’t wrestle on top, especially couldn’t wrestle on the bottom.”

He could do a sweep single, which is his favorite maneuver. “But I still had to change up how I did it,” Brindley said. “It hurt. I was very limited what I could do.”

Blue Devils coach Terry Tingle said Brindley is often misunderstood.

“People think sometimes he’s a cocky little jerk because on the mat he is very aggressive and he goes right up until the whistle,” Tingle said. “Sometimes that looks bad when he’s wrestling a guy he way out-mans and coaches think he’s pushing it past the limit.”

Brindley said he’s simply wrestling the way he was taught, to go until the whistle.

“Wrestling is a fight with rules,” he said. “You go out there and beat your guy until he’s crying or he doesn’t want to wrestle you again. That’s how I’ve been taught to wrestle since I was tiny and that’s the only way I know how to wrestle. That’s how I am.” 

 MEET BRANDON BRINDLEY
Birmingham News 2011 Metro Wrestler of the Year

>TEAM: Mortimer Jordan 

>YEAR: Junior 

> HT/ WT: 5-4/140 

>RECORD: 51-0 

> FAVORITE ALL-TIME ATHLETE
Cael Norman Sanderson, who was undefeated throughout his college career in winning four NCAA wrestling titles at Iowa State, He won an Olympic gold medal in 2004 and Saturday coached Penn State to a national championship. 

> FAVORITE PRO TEAM
Los Angeles Lakers 

> FAVORITE COLLEGE TEAM
If you’re talking about wrestling, Iowa. If you’re talking about football, Alabama. That’s about as far as it goes. 

> FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL
History. It’s always interested me. 

> FAVORITE COLOR
Baby blue. Like North Carolina blue. That’s where I’m from. I was born in Asheville but that has nothing to do with why I like the color. 

> FAVORITE FOOD
Hamburger Helper. I just love it. Four Cheese Lasagna. 

> FAVORITE DESSERT
Vanilla ice cream, melt some peanut butter, throw it on top and then chocolate syrup on top also. 

> FAVORITE SONG TO PLAY ON GUITAR
“What I Got” by Sublime. That’s one of my favorite bands. 

> FAVORITE WRESTLING MEMORY
Placing at nationals last summer in Greco at 130 pounds in North Dakota.

 

Blockbuster news!

AWC and Oak Mountain Wrestling have united to create a wrestling dynasty. Our temporary location at Pizitz was a little more temporary than we anticipated, but as one door shuts, another opens up and the door that opportunity knocked on this time revealed the grand prize. Both AWC and Oak Mountain recognized the distinct advantage we will provide one another. Already having one of the top Middle School and High School programs in Alabama, Oak Mountain will now have the benefit of THE premier youth wrestling club, AWC, at their disposal feeding talent into their school system.

The new practice location will be at Oak Mountain High School which is perfectly situated to serve the entire Birmingham community and in particular the previously untapped Oak Mountain community.

The schedule remains the same: Sunday 2-4 and Monday - Thursday 6:00-8:00 pm. Since practice will resume on Monday, September 13, the free membership week will pushed back one week to September 19.

The Les Gutches seminar and the kickoff clinic and tournament are still on schedule. More information to follow.

Due to the recent and rapid changes, AWC has not drafted Gold membership fees for September. Now that we have found a permanent home, September fees will be drafted next week.

We hope you are as excited as we are about these fantastic changes. We hope to see you next week and remember:

"If you can't beat us, join us at AWC!"

2009-2010 AWC AL Youth State Championship Highlights