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Made here, 'Reversal' wrestles with pressures of sport Saturday, September 22, 2001

By Ron Weiskind, Post-Gazette Movie Editor 9/22/2001

The independent movie "Reversal," shot last year in Washington County and playing through Sept. 28 at the Hollywood Theaters at Crown Center in Washington, undoubtedly owes much of its emotional depth and verisimilitude to the ability of its writer and star, Jimi Petulla, to translate his own experiences as a high school wres-tling champion to the screen.

Those qualities help compensate for the film's flaws, which stem mostly from the strictures caused by a very small budget and the decision to cast amateur actors, chosen primarily for their wrestling ability, in some of the key roles.

Petulla plays Edward Leone, a high-school wrestling coach who has been pushing his teen-age son, Leo (Danny Mousetis), in the sport for most of the boy's life. Growing up in a small coal town in Western Pennsylvania, Edward never got to go to college. He ended up working in the mines and stuck in a loveless marriage.

He knows that Leo's only hope of escaping the same fate is for the boy to win a college wrestling scholarship. But he pushes too hard, especially now that Leo has reached adolescence and found a girlfriend, Shaw (Kelly Boone), who makes him start questioning what he really wants in life.

Is it really worth the torture of making weight -- starving yourself, throwing up, working out endlessly? Leo may be endangering his health and even his life for a dream that he realizes may not be as important as his growing attraction for Shaw.

By film's end, we learn more about the harsh cruelties in Edward's background and watch as life deals additional blows to the characters. It is surprising to find such darkness in a movie of this scope, but it feels credible. Petulla based the film on his own life growing up in Oil City.

He and Boone offer two of the better performances in the movie. Mousetis, a Washington High School student who represents the third generation of WPIAL wrestling champions in his family, is strong in the physical scenes but has a tendency to swallow lines or deliver them without enough emphasis. Both adult and teen-age performers vary widely in the polish of their performances.

Director Alan Vint makes the most of his locations, contrasting the beauty of the countryside with the stark reality of life in a coal town. It seems obvious that some financial compromises had to be made. For example, in a scene where one character is flying to California, he boards a small propeller-driven aircraft at the Washington County Airport. Isn't it more likely he would go on a jet from nearby Pittsburgh International Airport?

This coming-of-age story fits into a familiar genre of sports films about youngsters being pushed too hard to succeed as a way of fulfilling larger dreams: the football film "All the Right Moves" and the basketball movie "One on One" come to mind. But the distinct venue and subculture of "Reversal," filtered through the personal experiences of its writers and many of its performers, work to its benefit.

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Churchill have gone from regular defeats to being among the city's best wrestlers
Their best is yet to come

1/24/2001

There is nothing tougher on kids than getting cut from a team.
So when a no-cut team — a squad that guarantees a spot — offers kids a chance to take part in high school sports, it is not surprising some students grab the opportunity and run with it.

In Grade 10, Sir Winston Churchill students Sarah Cutten and Jodie Van de Sype saw an opportunity to try wrestling, a new sport for both.

After a season of being cannon-fodder for the rest of the city’s wrestlers, the pair of 17-year-old seniors are now two of the top grapplers in their class.

“I had a lot of physical strength, so I thought I would do well in wrestling,” said Van de Sype.

“But really, that first year gave me a chance to work on my defensive skills.”

Although neither wrestler is very big, the pair are looking to return to the glory they enjoyed at last year’s city championships.

There, Van de Sype took her weight-class title while teammate Cutten placed third.

Both went on to the provincials, where Van de Sype was second and Cutten fourth.

Most importantly, they helped the Churchill girls team win the city team title.

Considering where they started, the girls are looked upon with the utmost respect by coach Barry Kimick.

“These girls were really beat up when they were Grade 10s,” said Kimick. “They might have had one win, but they persevered.”

Since then, both wrestlers have not only had to fight opponents, but the stereotypes that revolve around women’s wrestling.

While they have the respect of their teammates, they say other students can’t comprehend the dedication to their sport.

“Guys don’t expect girls to wrestle, so we’re always having to defend ourselves,” said Cutten. “They see us as butch.”

With the city championships coming up in three weeks, Van de Sype and Cutten are preparing to lead the Bulldogs to another title.

So far, they have already won team titles at the U of C and Bishop Grandin tournaments.

And if they fulfil predictions they’ll both claim individual titles at both the city and provincial level, the two can expect return trips to the national championships.

From there, both plan to head to the U of C, where they’ll wrestle with inspirational Christine Nordhagen-Vierling, a five-time world champ who helps coach high schoolers.

And from there?

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Diefenbaker can count on this fighting-mad senior to get tough for her team
Cheers for Beer

by Andrew Smith ,fyicalgary2/28/2001

She is the queen of combatives.
The person you want with you when you make that wrong turn and wind up in the bad part of town.

John G. Diefenbaker’s Megan Beer won’t back down from a fight and rarely comes out on the losing end.

The city champion in the 61-kg weight class, Beer accomplished the feat in her first year of wrestling, but only after she reached the highest levels possible in the sport of judo.

“Wrestling is easier than judo,” says Beer.

“I know lots of throws, and it is pretty much the same, except in judo you can throw and choke.”

Beer moved to wrestling when an injury sidelined her judo career.

She’d looked into trying out for the Diefenbaker team last year, but packed it in after only two practices.

But coach James McKeague was persistent in his attempts to get the 17- year-old senior to come out.
While he admits she is not technically perfect on the mat, he does say her judo training gives her an edge.

“Judo has trained her as a competitor,” says McKeague.

“She’s very intense on the mat, and she is able to recover very quickly because of her balance.

“Judo competitors have that intensity. It has carried her this far because she doesn’t have great wrestling technique.”

Not that many have noticed.

In her first tournament at the U of C’s Dino Invitational, Beer placed a respectable third. From there, she won the ‘Battle of Alberta’ meet in Red Deer, and then won the city championships.

Speaking to her prior to last week’s provincial championships, Beer had no plans other than being on top of the medal podium at tournament’s end.

Beer says she’s always been drawn to combatives, starting in judo at age seven.

With an older brother to guide her along, Beer naturally followed suit, but sheepishly says the real moment of truth that outlined her destiny came to her like it comes to many people: through the school yard.

“I beat up a boy,” says Beer.

“Actually, I beat up a few boys when I was younger.”
Now a little more caring, Beer volunteers with Canadian Blood Services when she’s not looking for another victim.

If she qualifies, she’s considering giving the Canadian wrestling championships a shot, but she’d first have to join a club.

If anything, she’s helping to leave a legacy behind at her school, where the wrestling program is still only four years old.

“Last year, we placed second in the city as a team,” says McKeague.

“But by having someone like Megan win city titles, it helps make us more legitimate.

“She’s a big part of the building process.”
Just be sure you don’t get on her bad side.

“I want to go to the Olympics,” said Cutten.

“Women’s wrestling is trying to get in, so I’m hopeful it will so I can go. It should be in.”

And if that day comes, these teens can be thankful that when they were ‘mat mops,’ they refused to throw in the towel

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Forget about dancing, these pals wanted to push the envelope in high school
Brawling buddies

by Andrew Smith
fyicalgary 2/28/2001

Amazing what friends can get each other into.
When they were just kids, Sir Winston Churchill high school students Laura McDougall, 16, and Jenelle McDougall,15, were not going to just sit back and become stereotypical girls.

They wanted to go where the action was.

Breaking from tradition, they became wrestlers.

Good ones, in fact. So good, that they passed on the tradition of becoming practice dummies in their first year of high school and went ahead to win their weight classes at the recent city championships.

All because one of them didn't want to dance.

“In junior high, the boys got to do wrestling while the girls got to do dance,” says Jenelle.

“I didn’t like that, so I asked to wrestle. I loved it right from the start.”

Not wanting to be alone, Jenelle decided to show her friend a move or two in the backyard, and before you could say ‘begin’, the two were pinning and flipping with the best of them.

“It is one of the few sports where it is you or me,” says Jenelle.

“It isn’t your team versus theirs, but your strengths against theirs. And if you lose, it is nobody’s fault but your own.”

Despite some success, everything was supposed to change when the pair entered high school and joined up with one of the city’s most dominant teams at Churchill. Even though they had the experience and training with the U of C’s Jr. Dinos program, the high stakes business of high school wrestling was going to eat them alive, or so they were told.

“They came in and tried to scare us,” says Laura.
“They said Grade 10s always get beat, and that we were going to be nothing but mat mops.

“It hasn’t been a smooth ride, but when you win at city’s, it sort of changed the attitude of the others.”

Jenelle would win the 53-kg class, while Laura would take out all challengers in the 57-kg class.

The difficult thing about her title, was she was forced to square off against teammate Jodie Vandesype for the gold medal, which left the rest of the Bulldogs at a loss for who to cheer for.

Now, the pair of Edgemont buddies have a daunting task before them: repeating as champions for their remaining two years of high school.

But in talking to them, one can understand that these two athletes are more than up for the challenge.

“I sort of set a standard for myself,” says Laura, who is also a professionally trained singer. “My goal is to win the Olympics, sing on Broadway, become a doctor and go overseas and work with the Third World. Seriously.”

“Myself, I always go in with every intention of winning gold,” says Jenelle. “If you have your sights set on anything else but the top, then you’re never going to win.”

About the only thing both these athletes and friends don’t plan on doing is giving up their championships without a fight.

But then, that’s what being a champion is all about