PORIOTIS OFF TO OCEANIA

AFTER watching the WWF wrestling on television, 16-year-old Nicholas Poriotis wanted to try it.

His father George Poriotis, who seen his two boys and his daughter belting each other in true WWF style decided to show them what real wrestling was all about.

He took them to Lake Illawarra PCYC and signed them up.

That was seven years ago, before Nicholas had even hit double figures in age, now he is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Nicholas has been selected to represent Australia at the 2006 Oceania Wrestling Championships, in the junior 60kg division.

Cheryl Bollard, national operations manager of the Australian Wrestling Union, congratulated Nicholas on his selection.??

Attending the 2006 Oceania Championships will provide you with invaluable competition experience and a chance to train with some of the top wrestlers in Oceania, she said.

Nicholas said this is his first major championship but nerves are certainly not playing on the mind of this talented junior.

Im really excited, I will get to wrestle new people from other countries. When I wrestle with different people who have different styles I can learn a lot, said Nicholas.

He has always been a talented sportsman but in recent years has given up his exploits in soccer and swimming to concentrate on wrestling.

He trains two hours a week on a Tuesday and Thursday at Lake Illawarra PCYC and travels to Sutherland PCYC on a Wednesday to train, keeping Nicholass whole family busy.

Its every week, week in week out, we do quite a bit of travelling, said Mr Poriotis.

His coach of? four years Darren Steain sees a promising future.

He has potential, he is probably not the strongest person in the competition but we are getting him to start a weights program and climb up and down the rope to build his strength, said Mr Steain.

He believes in Nicholass chances.

He was just a little kid when I started here but now he is giving me a hard time.

Its not like we are going up against the big countries like America and Russia, we are going to be the big fish in the tank, said Mr Steain.

He hopes Nicholas remains focused in the coming years.

He describes wrestling as one of the safer sports children can be involved in.

It is still fairly small in Australia but its growing. Kids love it. Its all about control. You are not aloud to hurt anybody in wrestling.