A Sporting Chance
Coaching Hire Crucial for Success of South Fayette Wrestling
By Brian
Knavish
Last month, when the top high school
wrestlers in the region battled for Section,
WPIAL and PIAA championships, not a
single grappler was wearing a South
Fayette singlet.
Next season that will change.
Late last year, the South Fayette School
Board approved the revival of the district’s
varsity wrestling program.
Budgetary concerns and low turnout
prompted the district to drop varsity and
junior high wrestling after the 1998-99 season.
The South Fayette Takedown Club, a youth
wrestling program for district youngsters ages
5 to 12 remained, but once those kids got to
the higher levels, they competed on Chartiers
Valley’s team as part of a co-op with that
district.
Photo: Front Row (l-r):
Ben Anton, Jared
Cardillo, Seth Carr,
Mike Fetchet
(Co-Captain),
Tyler Manion
(Co-Captain),
Brad Haney,
Hunter Curl &
Chris Sarnowski.
Back Row (l-r):
Head Coach
Mark Angle, Michael
Shildtt, Branden Keck,
Kevin Hitlan,
Ben Bryan
(Co-Captain),
Arek Allen,
Mike Smith &
Assistant Coach Bob
Reasey. The trophy
is for 3rd place at
this year’s Montour
Duals, the 1st
wrestling trophy
won by a
South Fayette
only wrestling team
since the co-op.
This year, for example, five South Fayette
High School students – Nick Carr, Brian
Haney, Sean Lubin, Kenny Miller and Adam
Zombek – were Chartiers Valley grapplers.
But just in time for the 2006-07 season,
the junior high program was reinstated, and
next year the varsity program will be back;
South Fayette students will no longer be
permitted to wrestle for any other district.
Reaction to the revival of the program has
been mixed.
Many people surrounding South Fayette
athletics are enthusiastic for obvious reasons.
Certainly it’s a source of pride for the district
to see athletes wearing the colors of their own
school, and there are plenty of kids
participating in the youth program, so there is
optimism about the amount of kids
participating. But concerns over the future of
the program are just as plentiful.
Jackie Carr has two sons involved in South
Fayette wrestling; her oldest son, Nick, is a
freshman starter for Chartiers Valley. He has
valuable varsity experience and certainly won’t
have problems jumping in and starting for
South Fayette next year. But it’s other young
wrestlers jumping into varsity action that
concerns Jackie Carr.
“What you’re going to see are kids with
one or two years of experience going against
kids with 10 to 12 years of experience,” she
said. “At the high school level, once you get
above [the 125-pound weight class], you don’t
see many freshmen or sophomores in the
lineup. But South Fayette will have to put
those younger kids out there on the varsity
team. You’ll see 14-year-old boys taking on
18-year-old men.
“It’s a very bad idea. These kids won’t have
a chance. You’re going to see kids losing,
getting beat up and leaving the team. Or
worse yet, you’ll see kids get hurt.”
In all likelihood, the first few years of
varsity wrestling at South Fayette will be
rough. There are five varsity wrestlers from the
district competing for Chartiers Valley right
now, but next year, South Fayette will need a
starting lineup of 14.
That means if the program was in place
this year, nine spots would be manned by
wrestlers with little to no varsity experience.
Considering Pennsylvania is the toughest high
school wrestling state in the country, these
types of matches will be ugly.
The majority of South Fayette’s
newcomers will lose quickly and forcefully; it’s
just the nature of the sport. Unfortunately,
kids who enjoy wrestling may get turned off
and leave the program. Before long, South
Fayette could be back in the position it was in
a decade ago, with only a handful of wrestlers
on the varsity team.
Certainly, all who follow South Fayette
sports hope that won’t be the case, but
wrestling in the district failed once, so the
reality is it could fail again.
If it is to succeed, the hiring of the right
varsity coach is crucial. In fact, the future of
the South Fayette wrestling program could
hinge on making the right hire.
While a varsity coach should be an
accomplished wrestler, it’s more important
that he be a dynamic leader, recruiter and
spokesperson. By the time the wrestlers get to
the varsity team, they’ve already learned basic
technique; the head coach’s job will be to
motivate, condition, and recruit new athletes.
He needs to be a psychologist of sorts,
keeping his athletes committed even amid the
painful losses that are sure to come. He needs
to be a salesman for the program, meeting
students who could be persuaded to join the
program, and working with the local media to
promote wrestling in every way possible.
There’s an argument to be made that, in
order to perform these duties effectively, he
should be a teacher in the school district.
Paul Amic, the author of The History of
Western Pennsylvania Wrestling, has been
following the sport in this region since 1949.
One of the biggest problems he sees today is
the lack of varsity wrestling coaches from
within a given school’s district.
“Back in the old days, in order to be a
coach, you had to teach at that school,” said
Amic. “When you have a coach who is a
teacher in the school, he is around the kids
every day and he can promote the team.”
If South Fayette hires the right coach, the
wrestling program could eventually thrive.
If the wrong person is hired, the program
might flounder and disappear again.
Here’s to hoping the district makes the
right move.
Brian Knavish can be reached via email at brianknavish@yahoo.com.
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