You would think a man who has coached the Oklahoma State wrestling team to four national titles and won four world championships on his own would be stately or curmudgeonly.
Not so with John Smith.
The moment he entered SUNY Cobleskill?s gym for last Thursday afternoon’s session of the wrestling camp that bears his name, Smith was a bundle of happy energy. His first order of business was to gather the campers in a circle and pick challengers for his counselors many of whom currently wrestle for Division I college programs to compete with.
Some of the challengers Smith picked were of equal size to his wrestlers. Others needed several years of growth to get to that size. But it was all in the name of having some fun before getting to the serious business of teaching the young wrestlers (who ranged in age from elementary school to high school) how to compete like an Oklahoma State Cowboy.
And in John Smith’s world, having fun is part of being a wrestler.
`First, it’s a privilege to wrestle (in college), and once you approach it that way, you’ll enjoy the ride,` said Smith. `We tend to think it’s more work ` it’s not more work. You’re training your body and your mind. And by first enjoying it, you’ll become a winner.`
This was the first year that Smith brought his wrestling camp to the east coast, and the response was impressive. More than 200 school-age wrestlers from the Capital District and as far away as Maine flocked to the Schoharie County town for a week of learning the techniques that make Oklahoma State wrestlers among the top in the nation.
`I was very pleased with the first year,` said Smith. `I was very pleased with the athletes I worked with. We do a lot of camps across the nation, and there are places where you wonder why you came. This is not one of those places.`
`It’s kind of like a privilege being in this camp because you’re working with one of the top programs in the country,` said camper Matthew McCauslin, who will be entering ninth grade at Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School in September.
Even three-time Section II champion Austin Meys of Shenendehowa said he felt privileged to be at the camp, which was co-run by Niskayuna-based Journeymen Wrestling.
`It’s exciting,` said Meys. `I look up to (Smith), and I hope to be him one day.`
Journeymen founder Frank Popolizio equated the camp to having the New York Giants train in your backyard. `The only difference is we get to physically train with them,` he said.
It took eight years for Popolizio to convince Smith to bring his wrestling camp to the region, but Popolizio said the payoff is huge for Journeymen.
`I think it’s one of the top two biggest things we’ve been able to accomplish ` the first being the Northeast Collegiate Duals,` he said.
That’s because Smith’s camps offer younger wrestlers a taste of what it takes to be successful at the collegiate level. He brought some of his Oklahoma State wrestlers to Cobleskill, including former NCAA champion Zack Esposito.
`It’s about giving back to the kids ` to try to help younger guys out and become better on the mat,` said Esposito, who now serves as a graduate assistant on Smith’s Oklahoma State coaching staff.
`I don’t give (my wrestlers) much choice` about being camp counselors, said Smith. `I tell them who’s going, but it’s a great opportunity for them. Although it benefits the kids, it helps them to verbally go over what they’re doing and go through the fundamentals.`
Fundamentals are at the heart of what Smith teaches his students. He breaks down each move to give them the technique necessary to pull it off.
`Whether you’re 5 years old or 18 years old and about to enter college, fundamentals are important,` he said.
`I’ve been learning a lot of technique like how to throw a single (leg takedown) and how to counter that,` said Meys. `I’m also learning a lot of finishing points to everything.`
Meys seemingly absorbed a lot of what Smith was teaching by the fourth day of the camp Thursday. Smith called Meys out to wrestle Esposito at one point, and Meys was able to earn a draw against the 2005 NCAA champ.
`He’s a tough, young kid,` said Esposito. `He was wanting to take me down, that’s for sure.`
`I’m not sure, but I think my technique improves every time I go to one of these camps,` said Meys.
But Smith’s camps are not always about wrestling. Social activities are mixed in to give the campers a chance to blow off steam including fashioning a slip-and-slide out of some wrestling mats to help them cool off one evening.
`It’s a lot longer than other camps I’ve gone to. It’s a lot of fun, though,` said McCauslin.
Smith certainly had fun in Cobleskill ` so much so that he plans on extending the length of the camp to two weeks next year and promoting it nationally along with his camps in Reno, Nev., and the Oklahoma State campus in Stillwater, Okla.
`I like the setting for training,` he said of Cobleskill. `I like the fact that when we run in the morning, it’s always a beautiful run.`
And if any of the inaugural class of Cobleskill campers go on to achieve greater success, Smith said he will have done his job.
`The greatest compliment I could have is to have one of these kids go on and be a NCAA champion or an Olympic champion,` he said.“