By: Mark Mancini, Journal Inquirer
ENFIELD – Ralph Powers doesn’t bother trying to hide his motivation.
He is doing all this for his son Michael. He admits it.
But in his next breath, Powers points out that if any other young wrestler wants the same royal treatment, he or she is more than welcome to tag along.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to help my son achieve his goals, “says Powers, the co-founder, president, CEO, secretary, head coach, janitor, cashier, and parking lot attendant of Northeast Elite Wrestling. “You’re looking at what I think part of the solution is.”
That would be the former Napa Auto Parts warehouse on Shaker Road. In 2003, Powers took the Northeast Elite name and left the club’s first true home, in South Windsor, “with no hard feelings, “Powers insists. He was looking for a better fit for Michael, a junior at Loomis Chaffee in Windsor and one of the best freestyle, Greco-Roman, and folkstyle wrestlers in the country in his age group.
“I know that Loomis Chaffee wrestling over the past 30 years has had a strong tradition, but I would say that Mike is at the top of the list, “T.J. Reap, Loomis’ head wrestling coach, says via e-mail. “I’m basing this on his finish at the last two national prep tournaments, his second-place at Fargo over the summer, and his second-place finish at The Beast. I don’t think we’ve ever had a wrestler capable of beating the second-ranked kid in the nation at his respective weight class like Mike did down in Delaware.”
Wanting to ensure that his eldest son always had a mat to hone his technique on, and quality competition to grapple with, Powers could have headed for such wrestling hotbeds as Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
Instead, he went to Napa. There he found the ultimate replacement part … for an entire wrestling facility.
“I did this without one cent of startup money, “Powers says. “They should have condemned this place. There was oil everywhere on the floor.”
So how does someone without an extra dime to his name renovate a building to attract some of the area’s most talented wrestlers and coaches?
Step One: Lean on your family. Hard.
Powers’ wife, Virginia, sweats the countless details at their Enfield home, which Ralph rarely sees between his duties as a postal employee and Northeast Elite jack-of-all-trades. She also helps with the club’s accounting and maintenance.
Powers’ younger son, Joseph, an eighth-grader at JFK Middle School in Enfield, doesn’t wrestle competitively anymore, but he helps out at Northeast Elite whenever and however he can.
“I owe both of them so much, “Ralph Powers says.
Step Two: Find out who your true friends are by handing them a hammer, or a broom, or a saw. Then stand back.
“Almost every person involved either has a child wrestling and is a coach, or is a coach, “Powers says. “The plumber and his son stepped up. His brother-in-law is an electrician, and he stepped up.”
Keith Malone, one of the volunteer coaches at Northeast Elite, and his wife, Vicky, have given up countless hours to get the new facility off the mat and on its feet.
The bill collectors still come around from time to time, but not nearly as often as they did a year ago.
Powers now can see a day when Northeast Elite is self-sufficient and operating in the black.
The fee is $100 a month for wrestlers, who get as much mat time as they desire.
“I know what I want to happen here, “Powers says. “In folkstyle, I want to produce Division I athletes. In freestyle and Greco, I want to produce Olympians. Until I get a couple, I’m not going to stop. It’s a plan, not a dream.”
Any wrestling coaches who feel Northeast Elite is stealing the best wrestlers from their system don’t understand Powers’ motivation.
“During the three months of the high school season, the kids from all their towns are with their teams. That’s what I need and want to continue to happen, “Powers says. “As a team of teams, we take kids from probably 12 different programs. We’re bringing the level of wrestling up without the credit, which I couldn’t care less about.”
Maybe the coaches have been slow to come around, but the kids are buying into Powers’ program.
“Last year, in the summer, there were times when there were five or six kids here, “Powers says. “Now 75-80 come through in a week.”
Despite the improving attendance, Powers’ budget still includes many cut corners. The only coach who gets a Northeast Elite paycheck is Rodney Smith, the Springfield resident who won the 1992 bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.
To ease the burden on those around him who give so much, Powers confesses to a second dream: corporate sponsorship.
“That would allow me to stay on plan with getting the wrestlers where they need to be and deserve to be, “Powers says.
The walls at Northeast Elite are barren enough for any sponsor – who knows, maybe even Napa Auto Parts – to make a big splash while simultaneously hitching its wagon to a shooting star.
“Once the debt is clear, “Powers says, “there will be nothing stopping the plan.”
Powers essentially is offering the rest of the free world two choices. You can get on the mat with him, or you can get the heck out of his way.
Goals must – no, will – be met.
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