With the exception of track and field, wrestling is perhaps the oldest sport practiced competitively. While the first recorded Olympics was held in 708 B.C., drawings of wrestlers appeared in ancient Egypt around 2400 B.C. and in ancient Akkadian caves as far back as 3000 B.C.

The San Diego Bulldogs Wrestling Club hasn’t been around for 5,000 years, but it has been actively competing for nearly 10 years and offers both beginning and experienced grapplers a place to practice, compete and improve.

Club captain and head coach Greg Lines is proud of his group of 30 members, and says the club is open to everyone.

“We are the picture of diversity,” Lines said. “We’ve got guys from 21 to 55, and all ages in between. We have people who have been wrestling from just a few weeks to guys who have been wrestling for 10 or 15 years. We have two women members and one transgender member.”

Lines, 33, has wrestled since 1985 and has been the club Captain for nearly three years.

Lines became captain because he felt the club lacked a sense of leadership. “My vision was to bring real structure to the club from a coaching standpoint,” he said.

That meant working harder, and getting the members to work harder too. “It means having practices, making sure they are structured events, and that [members] are learning something new and having fun,” he said.

Of course, it’s easy to understand why the club might have lacked some coordination.

According to Lines, during a stretch of about 14 months, while The Center underwent major renovations in 2001 and 2002, the club had no place to practice. “[We] took a hiatus for that period,” Lines said.

But once their practice location was fully restored, the club began active recruitment. Although the club had just a handful of members at the time, there are now 30 members, of which about 17 to 20 are active.

Wrestlers are divided by weight class, with the smallest Bulldogs at around 130 pounds, and the largest member competing at 280 pounds. The Bulldogs also divide members by skill level, from novice to advanced.

“You don’t want to have someone who has been wrestling for just a few weeks go up against someone who has been wrestling for 10 years,” Lines said. In this way, the competition is more evenly matched.

While there are many different styles of wrestling, the Bulldogs compete in “freestyle,” which is largely considered the “international” style, or that which is used at the adult and intramural level.

In freestyle, matches can last up to six minutes, with three periods broken up into two minutes a piece. Victory is earned by either pin, or winning any two of three periods by points. Various amounts of points are given for take-downs, throws and for exposing your opponent’s back to the mat. Both freestyle and Greco-Roman style wrestling appear in the Olympics, with the former being more popular and the latter boasting the longer history.

Of course, in the GLBT community, the chance to wrestle around on a 30-by-30 rubber mat with a gym-fit opponent might draw unseemly parallels to porn movies with bad music and even worse vocal dubbing. Of course, anyone who is gay and played any sport seriously at any level has long suffered these kinds of innuendoes.

As the primary contact for the Bulldogs Wrestling Club, Lines admitted to getting lots of sexually charged questions himself from those curious about the organization.

He is quick to point out, though, that his club is about wrestling.

“We’ll get the occasional guy coming out to the practices thinking the organization may be different than what it is,” Lines said. “Then we never hear from them again.”

Lines explained: “Wrestling is a sport about body contact, sweat and stamina. That generates a lot of curiosity among gay men, but when they come to practice, they get worked. They suck a lot of wind.

“We are truly hard working and dedicated to our sport. You don’t have time to do anything but wrestle when you come out to our practices,” he said.

Membership in the San Diego Bulldogs Wrestling Club is open to everyone with a love of wrestling. There’s no try-outs, no qualifying.“

What I look for as a coach is someone who is willing to learn, have fun, and strive for their personal best,” Lines said.

Membership is just $75 for one year, $65 if you’re a student or active duty military. Half the membership dues go to USA Wrestling, to cover materials and insurance.

To join, or for more information about the club or their upcoming tournament in San Francisco over Memorial Day weekend, visit www.sdbulldogswrestling.org or call Greg Lines at 619-957-6767.