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Admin
Last updated
11-16-09 12:26 PM
 
Puternic Wrestling Club
Todd R. Miller
484-571-1774
Fax: 717 442-4480
992 Pheasant Run Dr
Gap, Pennsylvania
17527
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Meet Your Coach, Lau Palade!
 |  | | Coach Lau Palade (center) with Puternic's AAU National Champs | |
Lau Palade By Bill Rudick
There are very few local freestyle wrestling clubs that can boast that they have a National champion coaching their team, as Octorara's Puternic Club can. And Puternic is probably the only local club can say that they have a coach who has only ever wrestled freestyle, as opposed to the folkstyle wrestled in the United States, and done so on a world-class level.
Puternic's coach Laurentian Palade, better known simply as Lau, is a five-time Romanian national champion in freestyle, an Olympic qualifier in 1992, as well as the winner of a slew of international tournaments across Europe and Russia.
Palade, grew up in a small town called Petriza, in the Hunedora region of Romania. His family was poor, and against his parent's wishes, Palade looked to wrestling as a way out. "My parents religion (Greek Orthodox) made them think that wrestling was not so good for me to pursue," said Palade. "I started wrestling at age eleven, and I started having to make excuses about where I was going when I was actually going to wrestle, or my parents would punish me." By age 14, Palade became aware that he had the skills to compete at a higher level, and was looking for something a little bit tougher than the junior level competition he was facing against boys his own age. That, and the senior-level wrestlers got something out of the sport the juniors didn't- money. "I saw that when the senior guys were winning, they were, you know, taken care of," said Palade. "I wanted to have that life, too." So, at age 14, Palade got himself a fake ID, and started to go to compete in senior level events. But things are much different in Romaina than they are here in the United States. Things we take for granted here, must be earned in Romania. "If I wanted shoes or a singlet, I had to wrestle for them," said Palade. "If you won, you got shoes. If you won, good things happened, so I worked very hard to make sure I won."
Palade remembers the exact date he came to the United States. "It was February 11, 1998," Palade says. "We came over as a team to tour the United States, wrestling to prepare ourselves for the World Championships. I never went back." One of the first people Palade met when he settled into this area was Nick Softchin. Softchin, around the sport of wrestling all his life, noticed something immediately that let him know that Lau was a wrestler. Palade carried the wrestler's badge of honor- cauliflower ear. The two struck up a conversation and a friendship, and soon Palade could be found associating with Octorara wrestling.
Wrestling in the United States is different than what Palade is accustomed to, with more of an emphasis on mat wrestling, and lacking something that Palade feels freestyle has. "Wrestling in the United States, in high school, they don't take as many risks to go for the big move," said Palade. "In freestyle, people take more risks, and because you don't stay down on the mat very long, there's more action." (Note: the author thoroughly agrees)
The Puternic Club just completed its third year with Lau as the main instructor. The language barrier is slowly but surely becoming less of a factor, though Palade's occasional stumbles and somewhat different pronunciations are a source of good-natured humor among the club members. Palade loves it here in the United States, to the point where he can't say what he likes best. "I just like everything about life here," said Palade. "I miss my family and my old teammates, but I love it here." Among the things Palade doesn't miss about Romania are the hardships, such as a lack of basic necessities, such as having water to shower with after a grueling practice session, or the lack of proper equipment. Lau enjoys his life here, where he has a home in Coatesville with his wife, Mary and daughters Mihaela Eleonora and Deanna Jessica.
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