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First Competition -- East Stroudsburg Open
November 26, 2007
It has been a weekend of firsts for the Columbia wrestling program. Our first official competition of the year, our first time with multiple champions at the ESU Open, and my first time on the "other side."
The team has been training hard since our first official practice date almost a month ago. The workouts have been intense and the guys have stepped up to match that intensity. Heading into this weekend I think we all felt the need to see how the team's hard work was paying off. The grinding workouts that the coaching staff has put the team through can start to get cumbersome when competition seems so far away. We neeeded to have our guys wrestling in a true tournament, and the East Stroudsburg Open came at the perfect time.
As a whole, I think that our team had a very positive first performance. At the end of the day (a very, very long day) we had two champions and a runner-up. Champs Derek Sickles and Brandon Kinney were dominant all day. Though some of the scores may have looked close, neither was close to losing. Nick Sommerfield, wrestling on 5 minutes rest between his semifinals match and finals match, battled with a tough Drexel wrestler though losing in the end.
The tournament itself was a bit ugly, and as a result some of our guys never really had a chance to compete. At 4 o'clock when we'd be wrestling for 6 hours and were still in the round of 16, the tournament directors decided to eliminate wrestle-offs. All of our guys were still alive at that point, though when they cut it short we lost a lot of matches. I think we're all looking forward to this coming weekend where we'll get some more matches in.
On a personal note, yesterday was the first time I was at a tournament not as a competitor but as a coach. It took some adjusting for sure, but at the end of the day I felt comfortable being in the corner. I was proud to see my guys compete. They are all in great shape for this point in the season, and it showed as the tournament wore on. Each of the finalists had to wrestle three matches in less than an hour, but none of them thought twice at jumping right into their matches.
The goal is to keep improving as the season progresses. We have a lot of potential for the upcoming season, and I think...no, I know, that our team will start to open some eyes. That being said, it is one step at a time.
Next step, Mat Town next Saturday.
Happy Thanksgiving. Guys, don't eat too much.
The team has been training hard since our first official practice date almost a month ago. The workouts have been intense and the guys have stepped up to match that intensity. Heading into this weekend I think we all felt the need to see how the team's hard work was paying off. The grinding workouts that the coaching staff has put the team through can start to get cumbersome when competition seems so far away. We neeeded to have our guys wrestling in a true tournament, and the East Stroudsburg Open came at the perfect time.
As a whole, I think that our team had a very positive first performance. At the end of the day (a very, very long day) we had two champions and a runner-up. Champs Derek Sickles and Brandon Kinney were dominant all day. Though some of the scores may have looked close, neither was close to losing. Nick Sommerfield, wrestling on 5 minutes rest between his semifinals match and finals match, battled with a tough Drexel wrestler though losing in the end.
The tournament itself was a bit ugly, and as a result some of our guys never really had a chance to compete. At 4 o'clock when we'd be wrestling for 6 hours and were still in the round of 16, the tournament directors decided to eliminate wrestle-offs. All of our guys were still alive at that point, though when they cut it short we lost a lot of matches. I think we're all looking forward to this coming weekend where we'll get some more matches in.
On a personal note, yesterday was the first time I was at a tournament not as a competitor but as a coach. It took some adjusting for sure, but at the end of the day I felt comfortable being in the corner. I was proud to see my guys compete. They are all in great shape for this point in the season, and it showed as the tournament wore on. Each of the finalists had to wrestle three matches in less than an hour, but none of them thought twice at jumping right into their matches.
The goal is to keep improving as the season progresses. We have a lot of potential for the upcoming season, and I think...no, I know, that our team will start to open some eyes. That being said, it is one step at a time.
Next step, Mat Town next Saturday.
Happy Thanksgiving. Guys, don't eat too much.
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