Olympian Gruenwald does coaching part of his dual role this weekend

Two-time Olympian Jim Gruenwald announced a return to competition this fall after a three-year retirement as an athlete. Gruenwald, who was the assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Education Center program at Northern Michigan, also decided to continue his job as a coach.

This weekend, Gruenwald will be super busy with his role as a coach. In two weeks, at the U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas, Nev., he will be concentrating more on his other role, as an Olympic hopeful athlete.

The USOEC has 22 athletes entered in the Greco-Roman division at the University Nationals. Gruenwald will be busy all day long attending to the needs of his athletes. He has a unique perspective about what it takes to compete and coach at the same time, especially with the current FILA rules for Greco-Roman.

"It is one thing to coach it. It is another thing to apply as an athlete," said Gruenwald. "It is easier to coach it. As a coach, you never have to put it into action. It gives me more respect for what athletes have to do. That is especially true when the rules change. You lose that edge as a coach."

Gruenwald's return to the mats this fall featured a runner-up finish at the Sunkist Kids International, where he lost to one of his USOEC students, Joe Betterman, in the championship finals. His next two events, the Dave Schultz Memorial International as well as the Hungary Grand Prix, ended up with Gruenwald falling short of the medal rounds.

"The competition has not been going well yet. I had a three-year break. With the start in the reverse lift and in par terre, we have been tweaking a few things lately," said Gruenwald.

Gruenwald is excited to participate in the Olympic quest again, which picks up intensity in the upcoming weeks. Regardless of what happens, he is glad that he decided to lace up the shoes again as an athlete.

"I have a different take on things lately. Some of the pressure I put on myself in the first segment of my career isn't there. Every tournament since I have come back as an athlete has been more enjoyable. I don't have that driving nervous feeling that can overwhelm you. With my weight control, I have been doing everything better," said Gruenwald.

Military teams use University Nationals to develop programs

The University Greco-Roman Nationals is more than just an age-group national event for many of the programs entered in the tournament. For many of the U.S. military teams which are here this weekend, this event is an important part of developing their young wrestlers and adding depth to their teams.

The U.S. Marine Corps team has 12 athletes in the field today, and this event has importance to each athlete in different ways.

"This is huge for us," said U.S. Marine Corps coach Dan Hicks. "If we place in the top six here at any weight class, we can send the athlete out to Colorado Springs. We need to get them their funded access at the Olympic Training Center, which covers their costs to train there. We also need to win this for a couple members of our team, which will allow them to sit out at the University World Team Trials."

Hicks has athletes who are at different places in their development as wrestlers, and he feels this tournament helps them all.

"It is important at different levels," said Hicks. "For some, this is their first tournament. I have a guy who just got back from Iraq a few weeks ago. There are others who have been here two or three different years and will do very well here. A lot of our young guys need to grow up and this is a good place to do it."

Rich Estrella, the U.S. Air Force coach, has seven athletes in the tournament. He also knows how important this event can be for each of them to build experience and confidence on a national level. Estrella, who is one of the U.S. Olympic Team coaches this summer in Beijing, China, also looks at the bigger picture.

"Part of the reason is not just to develop our program, but to develop all of USA Wrestling in the country," said Estrella. "When you have this kind of development opportunity in our feeder program, we will continue to do well in Greco-Roman against the world. This tournament has gotten a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger than the last few years. This is very good."