JACKSONVILLE – The North Florida Wrestling Academy based out of Green Cove Springs will be hosting a special tournament on Sun., Oct. 8 with a little special invitation from none other than the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“We’ve been working on getting events around the community to generate interest in the Jaguars and being a former wrestler, I pitched the idea to our people,” said Benjamin Krakower, a Jaguars ticket sales specialist who also wrestled at American University in Washington, D.C. “I knew this was a strong wrestling area and reached out to the local club out of Clay County; North Florida Wrestling Academy in Fleming Island.”

That was about six months ago and the ball was rolling toward Sunday’s (Oct 8) tournament that will be staged in the new indoor practice facility named Daily’s Place Flex Field and located adjacent to Everbank Field in Jacksonville, the home of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars. The event was given the green light by none other than Tom Coughlin, head of Jaguars football operations.

For NFWA coach P.J. Cobbert, who, with assistant coach Larry Insalaco, has had to move fast to organize the event and prepare the necessary transfer of mats, tables, chairs and clocks to Jacksonville.

“We got approval about two weeks after we thought was the date we would need to get this event on stage prior to the 2017 wrestling season,” said Insalaco. “We will get the meet ready to go and hope that the teams around Florida will show up. We have gotten plenty of inquiring phone calls and emails and hope that means a lot of wrestlers will show up Sunday. It will be unique.”

For Cobbert, who has put the Fleming Island community on the wrestling map with a second in the nation finish at the AAU Scholastic Duals and a second in Class 3A in the Florida high school state championships, the grand plan is to improve wrestling as a whole in north Florida.

“The Academy, the year-round wrestling and training and now this are all put together to make wrestling better up here,” said Cobbert, a four-time state champion for Clay High School. “We get a lot of wrestlers from outside the county to roll with us every week. It makes everyone better. The tournament will probably be much bigger in a few years if we keep it going. I’d like to see 30-40 teams show up in the next few years.”

The tournament, named the 2017 AAU Southeast Fall Classic will have weigh-ins on Saturday at the North Florida Wrestling Academy at 1524-3 Virgils Way in Green Cove Springs (a right turn before Magnolia Point Golf and Country Club) with doors open between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.. Wrestling starts Sunday at 9 a.m. with doors open at 8 a.m. at the Everbank Field indoor facility at the south end of the stadium off East Bay Street.

Admission is $60 per wrestler with age groups starting at kindergarten and going to high school seniors. Each registration (at Trackwrestling.com - Jacksonville Jaguars Southeast Fall Classic) will also get a ticket to the upcoming Jags home game against the Los Angeles Rams. Spectators can pay $10 for just tournament or $50 for tournament and a Jags ticket.

Contacts are P.J.Cobbert (904) 509-3894 or Georgiadogs22@hotmail.com, Larry Insalaco (912) 663-8344 or Insalacolarry@gmail.com or Benjamin Krakower (904) 633-5308 or krakowerb@nfl.jaguars.com.