Blatnick, who won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1984 and has served as an announcer for the Olympics and the ever-popular Ultimate Fighting Championship franchise, entertained the crowd of more than 100 children and parents with his tales of his pre-wrestling sports endeavors. Before taking on wrestling in his sophomore year of High School, Blatnick was an offensive lineman on the football team and ran cross-country. At one cross-country meet, Blatnick remembered, he came in last but received an ovation from the crowd at the finish line and encouraging words from his coach.

'My coach respected the fact I finished something I knew I couldn't win,' he said.

Blatnick's wrestling career in high school began in similarly spotty fashion, but he persevered and eventually reached Olympic glory down the road.

'I kept telling myself, if I wrestle better each time, wrestling will come,' he said.

Oben, who played offensive tackle for the New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns and San Diego Chargers during an 11-year career that spanned from 1996-2007, recalled having a tough time growing up in Washington, D.C., to which his family moved from the West African nation of Cameroon when he was 4 years old.

'I had a 'funny' accent, so I was fair game,' he said.

Throughout his career, Oben said, he had to overcome adversity, from devastating injuries to being cut from teams. After being released from the Browns roster in 2001, Oben went on to win the Super Bowl the very next year with the Buccaneers.

'Life is a process, and we're helping our kids through that process," said Oben, whose two sons are wrestlers. 'Failure is part of that process. It's all about overcoming your failures.'"

Sparta Pride, which is only in its second year of competition, is already finding success on the local and national stages. In its inaugural season, the programs 88 members won a combined 76 medals, including a national championship and two national placings. The club, which Mastrogiovanni said he hoped would exceed 100 participants this year, includes students from all of Sparta's public and private elementary and middle schools and is divided into novice, junior varsity and varsity divisions that compete in separate leagues. Aside from placing wrestlers in tournaments, it serves as a feeder program for Sparta and Pope John XXIII high schools.

'We're a couple years away from being a powerhouse, but we're getting there,' said Ed Piccola, head coach of the novice team. Piccola was a four-year varsity wrestler for Sparta High School from 1997-2000 and worked as an assistant for the school's wrestling team for five years after graduation. His level of experience is typical of the club's dozen coaches, all of whom have posted wins on multiple levels.

The club grew out of a program known as The Pride Wrestling, which was founded in 2002 exclusively for Rev. Brown Elementary School. Five years after that program's inception, Mastrogiovanni and some of his colleagues stepped in and proposed that The Pride be expanded to include other schools.

'It was very difficult for the private schools to find a competitive team due to the low number of participants, ' Mastrogiovanni said. 'Sparta Pride has helped to field a team by allowing Sparta residents and local private schools to join forces. We want to take novice guys and keep working with them to make them into championship-caliber wrestlers.'

In its first year, Sparta Pride met in the cafeteria of the Pope John High School. Due to the program's size, the board memebers sought out a larger space and eventually settled on a 4,000-square-foot facility located on Park Lake Road off of State Route 15.

Every Saturday, the club hosts elite elementary and high school practices that routinely attract state and national champions, including wrestlers outside of the Sparta Pride Wrestling Team.

'We bring in a very talented group of kids,' Piccola said. 'Naturally, high-caliber wrestlers want to work with other high-caliber wrestlers, and that's what we offer.'

Among those wrestlers is Joseph Grello, 14, of Newton, who has captured three state titles since he began wrestling eight years ago. Grello and his wrestling partner, Jordan Kutler, 12, of Sparta, a two-time state champion, regularly attend the practices.

'Wrestling disciplines me,' Grello said. 'Once you do wrestling, everything else becomes easier.'

In addition to offering sparring and wrestling-specific exercises, Sparta Pride's facility is home to a cross-training group called Basement Boyz, which, despite its name, caters to children of all ages and both genders. The concept for the class grew out of a practice space the Sparta Pride Coach Bob Stewart set up for his three sons in the family's basement.

'I wanted to provide something different other than the wrestling constants, so they're having fun but not realizing they're working out,' Stewart said.

Stewart's sons, all wrestlers, have been successful members of the Sparta Pride Wrestling team.

'Wrestling for the team has been great,' said Garrett Stewart, 9, who won a state and national championship in his weight class last year. 'My dad said I wrestled best when I was in the state qualifiers for the national championship tournament. The best part about it is winning against tough opponents.'

While the wrestling lifestyle can be taxing and requires patience, the payoff can be immense, Bob Stewart said.

'There's no harder conditioning out there than the conditioning for wrestling and mixed martial arts,' he said. 'People have to be unique to enjoy wrestling and be really successful at it.'

Sparta Pride's regular season starts this week. More information can be found at www.spartapride.com."