wrestling
WRESTLING ROLLS AROUND THE CORNERBY: EMMA BLAKE BYRUM OCTOBER 31,2014
With new coaches, new players and a new mentality, the Rose wrestling team has major changes in goals and expectations for the upcoming season. The previous wrestling seasons for Rose have not been the best in the record book. Last year the team won a mere four of the 15 matches. “We weren’t that good of a team [last year],” junior Zac Thomas said. “We just weren’t good at all actually.” Some of the wrestlers from last year said it was because of coaching or lack of players, while others said it was it was because they just could not wrestle. “[Coach Bruno] was good, but he wasn’t a good fit for our team,” senior Irfaan Siddiqi said. Ray Bruno, head wrestling coach for the previous two years, recently resigned, leaving the team in the hands of Greg Sisk and Les Thomas. They both are new to Rose, but are veteran coaches. Both also have sons who are wrestling for Rose this upcoming season. “The coaches are very nice and are willing to do anything to help you,” freshman Will O’Rear said. Preseason workouts have already started and have been going on for almost six weeks. Workouts take place every Monday through Thursday. Two practices focus on technique, and the other two are for conditioning type practices, where they work on weightlifting and endurance. Coaches Sisk and Les Thomas require all wrestlers to lose weight for a better chance in weight classes, and it has proven to be a challenge for some. “It’s hard, but I’m used to it now because I’ve been doing it for a while,” Zac Thomas said. For others the whole weight loss deal has been easy from the start. “I’m doing pretty well losing weight,” O’Rear said. “It’s not too hard to do because the practices are hard.” In wrestling, players can only wrestle someone who has a similar weight, so there is not a major advantage or disadvantage to any one player. The goal for everyone is to drop enough weight so that they are at the top of the weight class. This season, the team has goals of an increasingly better season and a victory over longtime wrestling rival Newman High School. The wrestling team also competes in State Dual which is held at the end of the season. This would be the same thing as a state championship. “I definitely think we have a better chance for states this year,” Siddiqi said. With a fresh start for the wrestling team, they said they hope for a better season. |
|