Wrestling 2022-23 (The Stretch!)

I've been running practice this year.

The new head coach, Rodrigues, picked the start time: 4:30 PM. Then it's supposed to last until 6:30 PM. He's a great guy and does all the things a head coach should do that I can't. He wakes up early on tournament days. He rides the bus with the team, or drives them in the county van. He's driven to our feeder middle schools to pick up JV wrestlers, stayed late, and even played basketball with kids waiting for their parents (specifically, one kid who forgot to call home and mention he even needed one!).

But he's pretty quiet. He prefers for someone else to run the practice room. The first day, the start time rolled around and nobody was putting the kids in gear. I waited a few minutes and then started yelling and moving things along (I'm loud). I kept checking in with Ricus, because I didn't want to usurp anything but he was happy to let me move things along. He's a veteran, so maybe he viewed it as I was the non-com and he was taking the officer's role.

So I've been driving (practice, at least!). I do enjoy it. I moved the start to 4:20 PM and keep things moving until 6 PM. I told Carrie I wouldn't stay later than that each day. I try to slip out unnoticed around then, but it feels like practice ends many days shortly after I leave.  

I feel a lot more invested in the team this year, because I'm putting more energy into it and running things my way. It turns out, I like to do things my way! Who knew? I have strong opinions on what I think a good practice should look like and this year I've mostly had carte blanche to implement it. 

The team is still in rebuild mode. We only have a few wrestlers with any experience. One of those keeps missing practice for E-Sports tournaments and other random reasons. Another started a month late, attended four practices, and then broke his hand punching a wall. There aren't any good wrestlers on the team to be an example for anyone else. 

We had good numbers for our initial turn-out, lost some, but have managed to pick up a few more as things have gone on. We pulled in an 88 pounder we found playing basketball one day, and picked up two 8th graders who will hopefully be solid additions their freshmen year.

We've had a lot of injuries, though. It's not from me running a rough practice either. We had a girl join the team late December. She came to practice a few times, decided she liked the sport, and then blew her knee out doing a spin drill (that's non-contact for you non-wrestlers). I had just left the room. I was probably still in the parking lot when she started screaming. 

And that's just one story. There are plenty more. Our 140 lber got horribly ill over winter break. He lost over 20 lbs, was hospitalized several times, and had to quit the team (We probably would've been fined if he had come back, because he was way below his safe/allowable weight to wrestle!). One kid was in a group home and they made him quit. There was the anxiety attack from the first match, a freak accident in another match where a sprawl gone wrong lead to surgical consult, and more that I'm probably forgetting.

I could talk anyone's ear off about how the year's gone (assuming they'd want to listen!). I find myself conflicted. Part of me does wonder what it would be like to go all-in and be a head coach. I like wrestling and I like running practices. I feel I could build a successful team over a stretch of years. 

The other part of me recognizes how much more work that would be. Like I said earlier, Ricus takes care of all the "un-fun" stuff. He puts in twice as many hours on a match day as I do. While he's on a bus, I drive myself. He arrives early for weigh-ins. I show up when I can (and often just before matches start!). Then I scoot home whenever I need to. Ricus isn't free until the last wrestler is taken care of (and I drive faster than the bus!). I don't know if I could handle that commitment, and I don't know if my family could either!

Anyway, things have gone well for where we've started despite the setbacks. I'm glad that I'm in the room and I pray that wrestling is a character building experience for all the kids.