Obviously this season has already been a 180 degree turn from last year, but as the semester came to close us coaches had some big decisions to make. Taking into consideration the performance of the wrestlers over the first part of the season, how they did on "x' time off or what they looked like after time away from the school and the practice room and the importance of a strong performance at the Wilkes, a decision needed to be made. Do we go the easy route and let the guys all go home for the break and have them meet us at the tournament hoping that the gains they made thus far would be enough to sustain them over the time off, or do we do make the unpopular call and bring them all back right away so they have time to train and prepare for the upcoming tournament? As someone who tries to avoid playing the results which in our sport can really cloud a coaches accurate critique of his wrestlers performance over a more relevant sample size (his total body of work and match consistency) we clearly made the right choice bringing them back, and it was a choice we had discussed well before the semester end on a regular basis. It must also be said that had we not been as successful as we were, the decision to bring them back was made to establish precedent and help change the culture of the program/the wrestlers own expectations and confidence. All of our guys followed our program and training instructions over the break and most if not all of them performed at a high level at the tournament whether they met their expectations of fell a bit short. Moving forward it will be that much easier to justify our training strategy and our guys will hopefully understand that their best interests are always being considered in our process. As for our performance, we had 3 wrestlers who really showed they are improving and will be in the mix the rest of the year.
Our two finalists were Jake Bucha and Matt Fullowan. Jake and Matt came into the tournament from two opposite sides of the wrestling performance curve. Matt has had what I am sure he would describe as a slow start to his season, struggling to find his groove on his feet and in close matches. Jake on the other hand, was rolling, entering the event undefeated and dominant the entire season. In Matt's case, his struggles were more mental than physical and it was only a matter of time before he "clicked" and got back on the winning end of things. Wilkes was this time. His first match was against an old nemesis from his high school days, a multiple time state champ and blue chip recruit from NJ. Matt started out fast and never lost position winning in close but solid fashion. He took this momentum into the finals where he hit a tough opponent who found and exploited a weakness on their feet to end Matt's day with 2nd place. Overall it was a strong showing for Matt and a great start to the "2nd Season".
Jake started the day the way he ended his last match before break. By dominating the takedown battles and shutting down his opponent's offense and mat game. In the finals Jake met an unorthodox wrestler who threw Jake off his game and handed him his first loss of the season. While a loss is never welcomed, I do feel losing a match now can have more positive effects than negative in the big picture. It will relieve the pressure of being undefeated, which believe it or not can be a major a stress factor match to match for a wrestler and from a coaching and game planning perspective it will definitely give us things to improve and work on to get Jake ready for EIWA's and qualifying for Nationals. While the finals match is over and we are moving forward, I do have a picture of the kid Jake wrestled which as you can see illustrates his wacky wrestling style.
The last guy I am going to talk about is Colin "The Warden" Ely. For those of you who don't know Colin or have not had the "pleasure" of watching him wrestle, he is the wrestling equivalent of one of those NHRA Funny Cars. He is strong, powerful, explosive, and at any given second he could could give a coach a heart attack. To be fair, Colin has improved his technique and overall wrestling performance more than anyone else on our roster and his results this season show it. He has defeated multiple wrestlers who had beat him last year or early this year and while not the most conventional on the mat he has carved out a niche and makes it work. This week he literally "locked down" all but one of the wrestlers he faced, scoring from his feet and on the mat, finishing a strong 3rd in tough weight class. Below is a quick summation of his performance at the Wilkes:
As we kick off the new year, all of our guys are on campus training through the break in preparation for Davidson and Princeton 1/7 and 1/8. I would like to the thank the parents, alumns, and friends of the program for their continued support of our program. See you all on the mats, and as always, please feel free to call or write with any feedback or questions you might have.
Happy New Year,
Coach G
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