Sean Bormet can walk around the 12,500-square-foot facility that houses his Overtime School of Wrestling, watch the 100 or so kids weight training or working on techniques, and smile.

Funny how far the love for the sport has taken him.

Bormet has wrestled in the NCAA Tournament and in the Espoir World Championships.

He has coached at the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin, and has led Illinois freestyle national teams.

And for the last four years, he has headed a school in Naperville that he could only dream about when he was a kid weight training in his basement during the wrestling off-season.

"None of us had these opportunities when we were younger," Bormet said.

Bormet, who moved his Overtime School of Wrestling from Tinley Park to Naperville in January 2002, was recently named the Developmental Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling.

The national governing body for amateur wrestling hands out the award to the top coach in the nation working with age-group wrestlers and programs.

"It took a while to sink in, but it is an honor," he said. "There are thousands of coaches that they could choose from."

Bormet wrestled at New Lenox Providence High School and collegiately at Michigan. He was then an assistant at Wisconsin from 1994-99 and Michigan from 1999-2000.

He first came up with the idea of a school for wrestling for younger kids when he saw a similar one in New Jersey while on a recruiting trip for the University of Wisconsin.

Bormet opened his school in March of 2001 in Tinley Park.

"I'm really passionate about working with younger-age kids," he said. "Any way you slice it, I love the sport. And I really like having a positive impact on the younger kids. Whether it's a kid who just makes varsity or wins a national title. I like impacting them positively, and turning them on to the sport at a younger age."

Bormet's school has three programs divided up according to age, weight and ability.

They work with kids as young as 8 or 9 years old up through high school, with each program limited to 34 kids.

"We don't have a lot of real, real beginners because the stuff we're doing is advanced," Bormet said.

Every instructor at the school has Division I experience, including John Kading, a four-time All-American at Oklahoma, and Charles Martelli, a two-time IHSA champion at Naperville North, who later wrestled at Michigan.

Jason Patrick, who does weight training at the club, is the former strength and conditioning coach at the University of Illinois.

The school breaks for six weeks at the end of the summer, but other than that the kids are weight training and honing their wrestling techniques the rest of the year.

"I wanted a place where the top kids and the kids that wanted to work hard could go year-round," Bormet said.

"When I was a kid, we wrestled during the season, and then we practiced three times a week, went to the tournaments on the weekend and then during the off-season we might go to a tournament here and there on the weekend. But there was no practice. We just showed up and wrestled. I did strength training by myself in my basement.

"In my mind, what I wanted to create was a place where kids would really have a great experience and reach their potential in the sport of wrestling, and do it in a great atmosphere," he said.

Bormet said he enjoyed the competitiveness of coaching at the collegiate level, but admitted the impact he potentially has on the younger wrestlers is far greater.

"You can mold their technique, you can shape their work ethic, their decision-making, all those things when you start working with these younger ages," he said.

Bormet can also use his connections at the collegiate level to help kids considering wrestling beyond high school.

Not only by opening doors through his personal contacts, but by helping families in the decision-making process.

"I do really feel like I can help a young athlete and their parents make a good decision. Not so much influence them at all, as much as educate them about the process," he said.

For Bormet himself, wrestling never was about winning awards or being honored for personal achievement.

Sure, his mom still has every medal and bracket sheet packed away in a safe place.

But to Bormet, it comes down to his inner drive to take himself to the next level. And now to guide a younger generation of wrestlers to realize their potential.

"For me, it was always about being driven and the process. The journey and the process, elevating yourself at each level and being able to work your way to the top."