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Crimson Wrestlers, Managers, and Families-
Week Eleven Recap:
Last week I predicted an exciting week ten. Wild and Crazy would have been a better way to describe the week ahead. The highs were high, the lows low. It was unique as we experienced things I’ve never seen (or heard of). Oh, and we wrestled five duals with various results. Time to reflect…
Thursday, we hosted the St. Cloud Crush (combination of four St. Cloud high schools) and Osseo. It was also Alumni and Senior/Parents night. There was a good turn-out of Alumni and hopefully the Seniors and their parents felt the appreciation we have for them. Thank you to all of our parents who put forth the extra effort to make the night special!
Unfortunately, the wrestling didn’t go as we had hoped. That said there were some highlights worth sharing. Our JV looked good throughout the night. Senior Andrew Toms had an awesome win vs. Osseo. As did Freshman Chuck Langama.
Chuck was one of two wrestlers (along with Noah Fox) who wrestled well after learning they were wrestling as the match was happening. Both were put into action after two of our starters accidently bonked heads (even though they were not practicing together) minutes before the match. I’ve never seen anything like that and obviously it would have been great to have those two wrestlers in the line-up. That said it was good to know we had capable back-ups on short notice.
Despite the disappointing night our team showed a lot of character with a focused practice Friday – offering hope that Saturday would be a good day despite being without roughly half of our starters. We patched a line-up together the best we could. Our line-up consisted of more first year wrestlers (three - Rufus Bartee, Jayden Waste, and Chase Thein) then guys with more than three years of wrestling (two – Connor Peterson and Max Johnson). We also had as many Varsity wrestlers in 9th grade or under (Six – Seventh: Alex Fox, Ethan Hong; Eighth: Connor Peterson; Ninth: Jayden Waste, Noah Fox, Chuck Langama) as we did Tenth grade and over (Six – Sophomore: Chase Thein; Juniors: Rufus Bartee, Max Johnson, Nick Wentland, Julian Stevens; Seniors: Andrew Toms).
We didn’t wrestle like an extremely young and inexperienced team as we won two of three duals – in convincing fashion. Some highlights included both Fox brothers picking up their first ever Varsity Pins. Alex’s come from behind pin in the third dual really got the momentum going in the right direction and began a run of four straight bonus point wins. Ethan Hong and Chuck Langama both went 3-0 on the day. Connor Peterson, Rufus Bartee, Max Johnson, Julian Stevens, and Andrew Toms all finished 2-1 on the day. The team wrestled with as much spirit and fire as I’ve seen. It was a lot of fun to see us put together an impressive total team effort throughout the day.
Unfortunately, Saturday’s JV tournament was completely dysfunctional and kind of zapped what could have been a good day for many wrestlers. They were able to figure things out a little bit and salvage part of the day but overall, it was pretty ugly. Glad our guys that were there did get some mat time but being that many of these wrestlers’ competitive season is coming to an end this weekend, it would have been great for the JV guys to have another great experience. Fortunately, the JV guys have one more opportunity to finish their season on a high note this week.
Can’t believe a portion of the team has their competitive seasons coming to an end this week. It’s gone by so fast! We would like all of our wrestlers to continue to attend practice through the end of every wrestler’s season. Each wrestler plays a role in the success of the team and each individual’s success. Our competing wrestlers are representing every wrestler in our program and they need the support and continued effort of their brothers on the team to compete at the highest level.
Here are the details you’ll need to know for the week ahead:
Week 12 Practice/Meet Schedule:
Monday, 2.7 – Practice: Weight Room at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Tuesday, 2.8 – Practice: Wrestling room at 3:10p. Wrestle offs for JV Conference (only one wrestler guaranteed per weight class).
Wednesday, 2.9 – Practice: Weight Room at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Thursday, 2.10 – Practice: Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Friday, 2.11 – Home Match vs. Elk River. Details as follows:
5p - Weigh-ins. Wrestlers should be to the school by 4:40p.
6p – JV
7p – Varsity
Saturday, 2.12 – JV Conference will be at Park Center while the Varsity will practice at 9a. J.V. will be an individual 16-man bracket format with placement out to 8th place. The bus is scheduled to leave at 7a with wrestling set to begin at 9:30a. There will be an additional 1-pound (106 = 109).
Mat Boss Video Access:
Many wrestlers are now watching their matches on Mat Boss each week – which is awesome! This is a great opportunity for kids to learn from their matches and improve at a much faster rate than would otherwise be possible. Watching back matches can be a great learning tool and is highly encouraged. This is how that is done:
Here is a video showing you how to gain access to your matches:
http://matbossapp.com/?page_id=10138#wrestler-login
Our team code is: NR64T1
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Sports Engine, Facebook Page and Future Communication:
Lastly please download the Sports Engine App and sign up to receive future communications. Parents and wrestlers can each sign up to receive future communications and schedule changes through the Sports Engine app by going to Crimson-Wrestling.com. If you have any challenges with this please text me your email address at 763-913-0601 and I’ll make sure you are added to the app portion. Please let me know if you have any questions with this as we will use this app for communications throughout the season.
Also, I often post fun pictures or related articles on the Maple Grove High School Wrestling Page on Facebook (along with this article). If you are a Facebook user please like our page. Thanks!
Technique Video of the Week:
We are in the stage of the season where each wrestler begins to really dial in on the skills and areas that make them successful – while also maybe adding a big move or two to each wrestler’s skill set. Basically, time for each wrestler to find the areas they want to focus in on and spend time mastering those skills. I’ve attached a few links that might help either find some techniques worth viewing for everyone’s style.
Cary Kolat Video Library:
Ben Askren snaps, fake shots to singles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrG3nt__m4
Ben Askren misdirection attacks for strong sprawls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxdiNafGGcw
The last few weeks will go fast. JV Conference, Team Sections, Individual Sections, and the State Tournament will all be over before we know it. Looking forward to building off the momentum from Saturday and making these final weeks all they can be. Intense matches are upon us – and there is no more exciting time of the season. Looking forward to it!
As always let me know if anybody has any questions.
Coach Troy
763-913-0601