Wrestling rooms often times feel like a sauna during the dead of winter, and while the temperature has climbed outside Dedham rising senior Frank Mahoney continues to train inside as he gears up for one last go around with the Marauders.
For the past few years Mahoney has trained at the Wadsworth Wrestling Club and Training Center in Franklin, giving him the opportunity to turn wrestling into a year-round sport in similar fashion to the club and AAU teams that have sprung up over the past 15 years in sports like basketball, soccer and baseball.
Mahoney recently returned from the AAU Wrestling Scholastic Duals in Orlando, Fla., in which he earned a silver medal while going 9-1 in his individual matches. Wadsworth sent two teams down to Florida, while Mahoney’s Red squad did not win a match, the Blue team, a squad primarily composed of the Franklin High varsity program, finished eighth in the Community Division 1 that featured 40 teams.
The competition Mahoney, who wrestled at 171 pounds, faced during the tournament was strong, such as a 4-1 decision over Kyle Gach of Winter Springs (FL) HS, who finished third in the Class 3A-Region 1 tournament at 215 pounds.
“It wasn’t my first national tournament, but I got to experience it again,” said Mahoney. “Once you wrestle people from out of state, a lot of those kids are better, so it gets you on a different level.”
Jeff Goor, who works out of the Brickhouse, a club similar to Wadsworth, in Lowell, was Mahoney’s coach on the trip.
Mahoney said the trip was made possible by the efforts of former Dedham High wrestling coach Jim Maher, who helped secure sponsors. Mahoney hopes that the school administration look at the way Maher goes above and beyond for members of his team and seriously consider Maher’s attempt to reapply for his position.
“He went out of his way, even though he knew he wasn’t going to be my coach next year, he called all the people he knew to donate money so I could go down,” said Mahoney. “That’s not something a coach has to do and he did it anyways.”
Mahoney said he will be skipping out of the Bay State Games that started on Tuesday because he injured his shoulder in his final match. He said it was not serious and expects to wrestle in a fundraiser against Ilii Cojocaru at Wadsworth. The proceeds from the event will benefit spinal cord research at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.
