This weekend the Sydney Silverbacks Wrestling Club was in Melbourne to demonstrate the sport and show case the teams’ talents.
With the support of the Laird Hotel and Dominance Gym Abbotsford, the team kicked off straight into a warm up, inviting Melbourne locals to join in and train with the club. Amongst these was Same Same Editor Dean Arcuri.
After training ended I caught up with club President, Tony Galluzzo to find out more about the club and how they operate.
“We receive a lot of support from the Harbour City Bears” Tony explained, “We also have close ties with the Sydney University Wrestling Club and we have recently been approached by Wrestling NSW to to join their committee ”
There is a long tradition of stereotypes in sport such as – ‘All female athletes are lesbians’, ‘the majority of NFL players must take steroids’ and ‘men who wrestle are all gay’. I asked Tony if the club had experienced any of these stereotypes or homophobia when training or competing.
“In the clubs experience we usually anticipate more of it [homophobia] than is actually out there. When you wrestle there is a mutual respect between the competitors, it’s not the sexualised sport many would have in mind. We have been approached by both the Canberra Wrestling Team and a representative from the Commonwealth Wrestling Team to train and compete.”
“Wrestling requires physical toughness, individualism, dedication, and determination to succeed. The last thing you are thinking about when you’re on the mat is how attractive your opponent is.”
Having a wrestling club here in Melbourne is something many of us at Team Melbourne have never thought much about.
“It’s really simple to get started, all you need is a venue, a coach and finally people to wrestle. Becoming incorporated is something you will need to think about later on down the track once you have a critical mass of members.”
As interest builds around DGS wrestling here in Melbourne, We will be helping the Sydney Silverbacks organise future events. If you are interested in wrestling and would like to get involved, or you would like to more information on the Silverbacks or the Melbourne Wranglers including dates for future events please contact us.
Silverbacks training session hosted at Dominance Gym Abbotsford