The feel was different on Monday afternoon when the Greyhound wrestlers made their way to the wrestling room for the first official day of practice.
Part of that was on a white board on one of the building’s walls that lists the season schedule, one that begins Nov. 8 at Harlem.
“They’ve been working out all summer and doing some conditioning stuff, but it’s different to get back in the room on the first day,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said. “The intensity is a lot different; the focus is a lot different. Instead of preparing for a season, you’re preparing for the first tournament.”
To say that the Greyhounds roster, one that’ll add more to the lineup when football season ends, will be full speed ahead soon is a fair assumption.
Starting Nov. 8, Jones County will wrestle a total of eight times through Dec. 20. That will include the Nov. 25 Gauntlet in Gray and the Main Street Gray Dual on Nov. 29 in downtown Gray. Jones County will then compete in region and state duals Jan. 10 and Jan. 16-17 before traditional tournaments led up to the state meet the weekend of Feb.
14.
“Once we get to Nov. 8, it’s non-stop, and it’ll be Feb. 14 before you know it. These first two weeks, the biggest thing is that we have to get back in shape,” Gillhouse said.
“The baseline is better than it has been, but there’s a big difference between running and rolling around some and being ready to wrestle for six minutes straight.
“We want to build physicality, and we’re trying to get back to being one of the most physicial teams in the state and having the same values of our community, to be hardworking men of integrity.” That mantra plays into the team’s focus for the season, a vision that’s already been laid out: “What If.”
“We have a lot (of guys) back, and one thing we’ll lean into is ‘what if.’ They know the basics and what it takes to win,” Gillhouse said. “It’s ‘what if we remove distractions, what if we what we have been holding back from we let go of that and go all in.
It’s thinking about what is holding us back from being great.”
