The wrestling team has had a resurgence of students this year, with the addition of a lot of girls.
The wrestling season is looking bright as coach Collin McKillip is looking to get competitive with training, having an entire lineup of boys and almost an entire lineup of girls. Coach Jim Kelly is looking to help students expand their work ethic in wrestling, something that also can be transferred over to the classroom. Coach Kelly thinks that mental fortitude would greatly help students in their normal day-to-day lives as well as in wrestling.
From stretching and learning new moves, to competing and conditioning, the students have a lot of ground to cover. The coaches want the students to focus on themselves and learn everything gradually, not only worrying about wins and losses necessarily, but focusing on the individual’s improvement in their skill set needed to improve.
“I just try to show the athletes wrestling is a very serious sport, but it can so fun. Training, while very hard, can also be fun. Likely to put forth your best effort,” said coach Collin McKillip.
As the coaches need more room because of all the new students’ interest in wrestling, they’re forced to expand their space, utilizing more of the school to let every student have a chance to prove to themselves and the coaches that they’ll persevere.“This year, we have needed to expand our practice space beyond the wrestling room and open up the dance room for practice time when our dance program is not using it for their practices. The dance room is right next to the wrestling room, which lets it become one large space. We have a new mat that comes in sections, allowing us to create more mat space for practice time. We have also used the cafeteria as another large space to help spread out all of the athletes. We have participated between the girls team, the freshmen team, the JV team, and the varsity team. It is a great problem to have to need more space. as it means that we are growing and that we are generating a big interest, welcoming any students to be a part of something special,” said coach Jim Kelly.
Seniors on the team have set an example to work hard every single day this season. They have prepared as much as possible to compete at a high level all season by making each practice important.
“You need to have the strength to get through the practices, conditioning, and cutting weight,” said senior Jacqui Cordova.
Lots of preparation has been done so far this season. Manager and coaches have made sure everything is done right so the wrestlers aren’t behind on anything.
“Preparations is very important because especially at meets there’s so much going on that the coaches need help, and it can be a lot with coaching and trying to record while also doing stats,” said manager senior Kaylee Juarez.
The teams’ hard work paid off as six male wrestlers and nine female wrestlers qualified for IHSA Wrestling Sectionals.
