Shelton’s Weiner to swap wrestling for rugby
He will wrestle for the 285-pound State Open title Sunday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center. He will wrestle next weekend in the New England championships in Providence.
And then, Matt Weiner of Shelton will take off his headgear, his wrestling shoes and his singlet and call it a career.
“Yeah,” Weiner said. “That’s it. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been having a lot of fun wrestling. So it’s a little sad looking back at it. But hey, it’s not as bad when I think about going right into the next sport.”
Weiner isn’t exaggerating. Matt and his dad, Ray Sr., will return home next Saturday night from Providence, grab some sleep and get up early Sunday for the Aspetuck Rugby Club opener against Fort Hunt (Va.) to be played before New York and New England meet in a Major League Rugby match in Hoboken, New Jersey.
“Rugby is really fun to play,” Weiner said, “but I’m not looking forward to that Monday morning. I don’t think I’ll be able to get out of bed to go to school.”
The big guy figures to be plenty sore on March 7.
Weiner won his three matches Saturday to advance to the State Open final Sunday against Doug Traynor of New Fairfield. The 6-3 Shelton senior has been dominating. He was the most outstanding wrestler in the SCC meet. He was most outstanding in Class L meet where he won all four of his matches in a combined one minute, 47 seconds.
The state’s unbeaten No. 1 seed in wrestling, a New Haven Register football first-team All-State offensive lineman — yes, he has gained his share of recognition. So folks aren’t often prepared for his answer to their inevitable question.
“There are a lot of people who ask me what sport I’m going to play at college and all that,” Weiner said. “They’re a little confused when I say rugby. They know me from wrestling and football.”
Weiner was in his first year of preschool when he started to wrestle. It was his first sport. It won’t be his last. He will decide within the next 10 to 14 days among St. Bonaventure, Kutztown State and Mount St. Mary’s. He isn’t the only 2021 firstteam All-State football player to decide to play rugby in college next year. Trumbull’s Corbin Smith also will play at Kutztown State.
“Matt could have gotten full-ride scholarships in wrestling or football, probably,” Ray Sr. said. “People consistently contact him. He’ll go to school inexpensively, but not totally free with rugby. He really enjoys the other two sports, loves them, but he told me, ‘Dad, four years, I want to do what’s my passion.’ ”
Aspetuck started as a Division II club in 2012. Ray Sr., who played football and wrestled at Stratford High before playing rugby at Central Connecticut and 15 more years of club, took over as coach five years ago. He went about building the culture and work ethic, setting the playing structure of a 15-man Division I unit.
By last summer, Aspetuck, ranked No. 7 in the high school-age club division, finished third in the National Rugby Tournament in Kansas City. After defeating No. 2 Genesis of Utah, Aspetuck lost 7-0 to Southern California Thunder Rugby, the eventual champion from San Diego. Aspetuck beat Woodlands Texas Rugby from Houston for third place. With most of the starters back, the goal is even higher this May in Indiana.
“It was a great experience,” Ray Sr. said. “The kids played really well and gave everything they had. We’re playing teams from big cities. We’re based in Newtown with a bunch of players from little towns.”
It certainly didn’t hurt to have Matt and Ray Jr., who went on to play at University of Arizona and now competes for White Plains Rugby.
Both have been selected “All-Americans” as top 25 players.
The club, with three levels of play, draws players from nearly 20 towns. Shelton, Newtown, Bassick West Haven, preps like Hopkins, Hamden Hall and Choate. There’s also girls rugby and yes, Ray’s daughter Jennie plays. Schools like Fairfield Prep, Staples, Ridgefield, Greenwich, Simsbury, Southington, Darien have their own varsity programs.
“The game is really growing,” Ray Sr. said. “One of the great things about the game is all 15 players get to catch and pass the ball. If you’re a big guy you still get to handle the ball, make passes, develop running skills. In football, those guys are just blocking. Certain kids love the freedom of the game.
“Football coaches call every play. Rugby, it’s the other way around. You put the system in place and the kids are constantly calling plays themselves. They’re basically their own coaches on game days.”
Justin Stanko, who assists head football coach Mike DeFelice, took to calling Weiner “Kool-Aid Man” in the fall. Just picture him as a big round pitcher with a smiling face breaking through a wall. Only in rugby, Kool-Aid man gets to run with the ball, too.
“There’s a lot more things you can do in rugby,” Matt said. “You can do what you think is best for the team. It’s not really restricted. Football, it’s always the little guys who run around with the ball. The only satisfaction is when you put them on the ground. In rugby, it’s a lot more fun being able to do it yourself and put some points on the board.
“People are a lot more friendly in rugby. There’s not as much in-your-face stuff. It’s intense. It’s very competitive. For most teams anyway, there’s not as much trash talking.”
By advancing to the state Class LL semifinals, Shelton didn’t finish its football campaign until Dec. 5. Weiner got up near 315 pounds during the season and had to lose nearly 30 pounds quickly. Very quickly.
“It was a lot of working out, private training that was hard and it got me down around 290,” Weiner said. “And then I started cutting (weight for meets) after that.
“People think I’m very strong. I bench 250, 260 on a good day. I haven’t maxed out in a while, but it’s less than you’d think. I don’t lift much. I do a lot of cardio. Little guys bench more than me. I’m a big dude, but it’s my leverage that I think sets me apart.”
It’s the hips, Matt said. “You have to know where to apply the muscle, rather than just muscle him into the ground. In rugby, I make so little movement, but people slip off me. I wouldn’t truck anyone. I’d take a little sidestep and shake him off. A guy has no idea, ‘Why can’t I tackle you?’ ”
It’s definitely the hips, Dad said.
“Yes there are kids bigger than him playing rugby, especially at the higher levels. He moves better than most of them. He has some of the best ballhandling skills for a big guy. For wrestling, he has good balance of hip placement. He understands his leverage points. He moves his hips really well for a big guy.”
We got to get this boy on the dance floor.
On Saturday, he pinned Marquise Eason (New Britain) in 42 seconds in the round of 16, pinned Don Shivas (Derby/Oxford/Holy Cross) in 2:08 in the quarterfinals and defeated Nuh Ajdinoski (Danbury), 5-1 in the semis.
“It’ll be weird not having wrestling in the winter anymore,” Ray Sr. said. “We’ve always had it. Last week, before the finals, when Matt was warming up, Ray Jr., got the itch, so they started rolling around a little.”
“Eventually, it was evolving into something live,” Matt said. “So we had to cut it off.”
There still was some work to be done.