GILROY — Shoes of all shapes and sizes are piled outside the door of the new wrestling room at Gilroy High. If you even think about stepping inside with shoes on, you better be prepared to answer to the Mustangs wrestlers.
“They’re taking care of this room,” Coach Greg Varela said. “Usually it’s me being a parent-like (and saying) ‘Clean your room’, but it’s not like that. They are meticulous about how clean this room is.”
Having a place to call their own has been a long time coming for the Mustangs, who previously dealt with bumping into the walls at the undersized facility at South Valley Middle School.
Construction began on the new room — dubbed the Athletics Facility as it will be used for cheerleading and gymnastics as well — in Mid-May and was completed in November following the arrival of the wrestling mats that fill the entire room. It contains suspended chin and pull-up bars and a mirror wall that reflects the Mustangs’ logo.
The appreciation the Mustangs have for their new space, Varela said, is unrivaled. While others may see it as a just a room, the space is a representation of the hard work that went into building Gilroy’s storied program.
“They understand that they didn’t earn this gift — decades and decades of Gilroy wrestlers that came before them paved the way for this room,” Varela said. “This room wasn’t built for them. It was built on the sweat, blood and tears of everyone that came before them.”
In tribute for those who have represented Gilroy, Varela plans on filling the now bare walls with collegiate tshirts signed by the wrestlers who were able to attend their respective colleges due to what they learned during their tenure at the school. The Mustangs already have 2012 CCS and state champion Willie Fox’s signed Navy shirt on display.
Alumni have been pounding down the door to take a look at the new room and Varela said each has simply uttered ‘finally’ when taking a look at state-of-the-art facility.
Varela called himself “lucky” for getting to come to work each day and admire the program’s new digs. When asked about what it felt like to finally have a space for his wrestlers, his face lit up with a smile as he took a long pause and said:
“This is where I wish I would’ve been an English major or a writer. When I come into this room, I can’t describe how good it feels to finally have a place to call home — this is the program’s home. This is bigger than us. On the outside people think it’s just a room, but it means so much to our community and the guys that came before us.”
