WRESTLERS CHANGE WITH NEW YEAR, NEW CHALLENGES
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The New Year brings with it a new set of challenged for wrestlers and their coaches as the sport enters a pair of seasons, both tournament- season and the pre-sectional season.
The weekend Saratoga Invitational gave several Section 2 teams the opportunity to adjust their schedules, their weight restrictions and test their mettle in both a team and individual environment.
Newcomers from Section 4, Norwich made the right call, even as a late one, entering and winning the Saratoga Invitational, holding off Section 2 Final Four dual entry, Queensbury but eight points, 157-149. Niskayuna was third with another Final Four team, Ballston Spa finishing fourth just a-half point behind the Silver Warriors, 145.5 to 145. Saratoga finished seventh with 121 points followed by Columbia with 115.
While Christmas has its own song owning ‘ The Best time of the Year,’ for most coaches, it starts now on Saturdays in multiple-team tournaments.
“As a coach I love the unknown,” Columbia Coach Anthony Servidone said. “I just sit in the chair and whatever is, whoever shows up, that’s who you’re wrestling.
“In a duals we know it’s probably going to be one of two weight classes, it comes down to the draw, it comes down
to the f lip. Our league, there has been some really good parity so far, which is great.”
The combination of matches on Wednesday and tournaments on Saturday’s adds for the staff and the athlete’s preparation.
“You shift your attention from trying to figure out how to work a dual (teamversus-team, all 15 weight classes are contested) and get your best match-ups to getting the kids ready for individual type tournament in a seeded bracket, totally different.”
The week also gets shorter.
“You have to get a lot done in a short period of time and then there is the weight factor,” Servidone said regarding a wrestler reaching the proper weight for each match. “If you practice the right way good things will happen and weight won’t be an issue.”
On a Wednesday night a wrestler will have one match with a strong idea of who they may face. A Saturday could bring a long day of multiple matches for a wrestler due to a rough start.
“It comes down to their mentally preparation now and me helping get them mentally prepared because they are going to face early on, the young guys, early on they are going to face very good wrestlers and they may not win, they may get thumped,” Ballston Spa Coach Harvey Staulters said. “Then they have to come back in this tournament. It’s a grind now (on Saturdays). When you’re young, to get yourself to a podium spot.”
A loss in the first round doesn’t eliminate a wrestler from the tournament, they are typically relegated to the consolation bracket or wrestle-backs and can earn a spot in the fifth-place or even third-place final if they are successful.
“Even if they don’t win they’re getting experience,” Harvey Staulters said. “I am a firm believer in going, getting hard matches, get experience, you may lose, you have to have a short-term memory, let’s forget about that (loss) and move on.”
That mantra is shared by Saratoga Invitational host and Blue Streaks head coach Kris West.
“Our tournament is where we kind of gauge ourselves against some of the top competition in our section and other sections and find out where we stand before sectional time,” Kris West said. “I like it in the middle of the season, I hate doing it right before sectionals because you don’t’ want to go in banged up or anything.
“I always thought this was the ideal time to pick up tough matches, get banged up a little bit and then rest up for the Class As and sectionals.”
West, also a former wrestler, enjoys the tournament feel and format for wrestlers and coaches.
“I like it when guys just come in and wrestle and don’t know who you are,” West said. “You don’t know if he’s a state champ or some nobody and you just go out there and get after it.
“It’s fun to see that with out of section guys and outof-state guys so you have to go out and get up for every match, go all out each match. It’s good to see fresh faces and kids you don’t normally see.”
It is also part of the evolution for top-tier wrestlers who will increase their value on the mat and to college coaches at these weekend events, adjusting to the unknown.
“It’s what our better guys have to do,” West said. “You’re in a tough match, you have to make adjustments, and you have to refine your game.
“You get tough competition, you lose a match by a point and we can go back as coaches and fix that mistake and get ready for the end of season. This is where we fine-tune everything.”