Laid Off But Living A Dream

Grown men with potbellies squeezed into spandex crowded inside the boys' locker room, ready to wrestle. The fact that most of the men in this middle school gym in a small West Virginia town would spend more on gas than they'd make this night seemed beside the point.

This is the stuff of dreams -- at least the dreams of Troy Long.

For nine years, Long worked at Volvo's New River Valley plant, helping to build the 18-wheelers that are made there largely by hand. Then, a year ago, he was laid off. The plant, one of the largest employers in southwest Virginia, has lost about 2,400 people, or two-thirds of its workforce, since 2006, when production was at its peak.

With no job, dwindling savings and a son to take care of, Long did what might seem counterintuitive: He walked into Boogie's Wrestling Camp in Shawsville, Va., and signed up. He figured that if the real world no longer had a leash on him, why not run wildly toward what he'd always enjoyed?...More?

source: washingtonpost.com