When Coach Albanese, who is in his 19^th year with the Mustang Wrestling Staff, suggested we, and by we, I mean the coaching staff and wrestlers participate in the Manasquan Turkey Trot I had serious reservations. 

First off the race/trot is 5 miles…quite a distance for someone whose idea of running far is doing drop shot across the matt.  Secondly, the race cost $25 dollars…that was not really an issue as all the money goes to charity but for the wrestlers they quickly figured out that they would be paying to run…and that seems like an absurd notion.  I mean really, many of the wrestlers that I am acquainted with only associate running with cutting weight, and the idea of cutting weight…before Thanksgiving...and paying to do it…sounded outlandish.

I kept thinking about it and didn’t know what kind of response we would get.  Who would show up to race/trot 5 miles and pay for it?  Weeks went on and no response.  A few kids made promises to show up and I vowed to run with them for encouragement.  Secretly, I was hoping they would show up just to carry me to the finish line.

Race day approaches.  Our plan was to meet at Brick Memorial High School at 9:30 and head over to Manasquan.   I awoke still regretting the idea of running 5 miles and thinking that this idea might be a bust.  As every wrestler probably does, I began suiting up…suiting up to cut weight (I am laughing and smiling as I type this).  I put on everything I owned, dug deep in my draws and found a few “famous weight cutting” articles of clothing.  I put them all on and realized….I am not cutting weight and this is a fun run.  I took off all of that gear, put on some Mustang apparel, and headed to the High School for the pick up.

Much to my surprise, three of our wrestlers had pre-registered.  I won’t mention their names, but all good kids and hard workers with high aspirations.  The coaching staff had a nice showing with four of our five staff members present.  We had three alumni representatives and one parent.  They included Dean Kanabrocki, Bob Martin (State Champion 1986), Anthony Nash, and Mr. Kiley.  Our support staff was there and in place.  I started to get a really good feeling about this Turkey Trot!

The really great thing about something like this is that you get to see your coaches, kids, and parents out of the element of the wrestling room, season, and world.  There is no pressure to perform, no desire to win, just an earnest wish to be around good people who have the same interests as you.  This was starting to look up. 

We got to the starting point and here is where my eyes were opened.  The kids seemed excited, the coaches seemed excited, and the parents seemed excited.  There were more wrestling people there than one would imagine.  Wall High School had some outstanding representatives in the Doyle Family, including Mr. Doyle.  If you know the Doyles, you know that they are big athletic men. (On a side note, the big athletic men finished several minutes ahead of me.)  Manasquan High School’s Coach Salvatore and an assistant coach at Jackson Memorial were also ready to race and enjoy the day.  I saw several other coaches from the Shore Conference.  I was amazed at how many wrestlers there were.  I even saw a dad wearing a High Point Wrestling sweatshirt.  Our mustang runners quickly began hollering to him, “Stangs, Go Stangs, Stangs!”

The day was georgous and almost 2500 people raced that day.  The race started and the Stang Wrestles took off along with the coaching staff.  It felt pretty darn good to see our young men, with mustang gear on, smiling, yelling, and taking off like gazelles.   The sun was shining and the race was great.  I have to thank Mr. Kiley for being my wingman and getting me through the 5 miles.  He dragged me most of the way and I couldn’t keep up with his kick at the end.

We all met after the race ended and it was just a great feeling.  As I said before, no pressure to perform, win, or execute.  I think we may have stumbled onto something here.  Coach Albanese was right when he said this would be a great tradition to start.  These types of things are really important in building team camaraderie, bridging the gap between wrestlers and alumni, and involving our parents.  I am hoping next year we can have a greater turnout of both wrestles and alumni.  So to all of you, I say Happy Thanksgiving and let the tradition begin…Manasquan Turkey Trot 2010!!!!!

Coach O’Cone

Okay so here it is my attempt at writing a blog.  Please bear with me as I have a dry sense of humor and writing. well writing has never been my forte.
 
I currently teach and coach at Brick Memorial High School.  The New Jersey Teachers Convention was vastly approaching and our school district was able to give us the complete week off what to do, what to do.   Vacation in some far away hot spot, load up my truck and head to New England for some bicycling, or finish up all the house work before the approaching high school season..you be the judged.Fan or Fanatic?
 
Monday November 2, 2009 Rutgers Wrestle-Offs
I stopped by Brick Memorial High School and picked up one of our up and coming wrestler who is interested in seeing the action at the College Avenue Gym.  I was pretty excited as I know how hard the staff at Rutgers has been working  The gym was pretty much packed, lots of Red and Black, lots of Scarlet Knights gear.I met up with several Brick Memorial parents and fans and we really enjoyed the action.  Ashnault and Coccozo, two outstanding transfers, really proved they belonged.  It was great to see Boyden back in action after suffering a season ending injury during last years wrestle-offs.  Dominick Russo, Dominick Russo.whoa.the guy moves like a cat!  Did you see him hit that low single?  After the meet, I fought my way down onto the floor and was able to congratulate Coach Goodale and staff.I left pretty happy with a wrestling smile on my face...you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?
 
Thursday November 5, 2009 Columbia University Wrestle-Offs
I actually get the phone call on Wednesday from Mr. Santos.  He will be going up to New York City to see our former State Champion Steven Santos compete in his wrestle-offs.   Thursday at 3pm I met Steven's brother DJ and Uncle at the Brick Memorial parking lot.  We head up to Columbia the big city.New York City.  I have probably been to New York City about ten times, so I am pretty nervous.   We meet Mr. Santos at the Quakerbush rest stop and drove into NYC..I must say.the campus of Columbia University is.well amazing.  It encompasses one city block and in the middle it is like an oasis it is very old and interesting if you are into architecture.  The wrestling was pretty darn good and I think Columbia is back on the right track after finishing near the bottom in the EIWA last year. They had a solid recruiting class. Steve looked really good in his wrestle off..I got a little ahead of myself though. the college coaches don't coach during the wrestle-offs.  I got the opportunity to coach Steve one more time.  Right before his bout, I ran over, shook his had and gave him a really good slap for old times sake.  Steve won his first wrestle-off 7-2.  We watched the rest of the wrestle-off bouts and Columbia has a few tough dudes.  Steve wrestled his second bout of the evening and won 3-2.  He looked tough but needs to convert on a few more shots.  Steve took us on a tour of NY afterwards.  The smile on my face got a little wider�.pretty awesome coaching a kid and seeing him make a Division I college line-up.  We left the city pretty happy you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?
 
Saturday November 7, 2009
Head out to the College of New Jersey formerly known as Trenton State College.  It is a historic evening.  The wrestling program faced Norwich University.  The Lions were victorious.TSC/TCNJ would earn their 600 WIN and Coach Icenhower would become only the fourth coach in WRESTLING HISTORY(ALL DIVISION) to earn 500 VICTORIES.  This is an absolutely amazing feet.  Many outstanding alumni were present.  It was great to see old teammates, roommates, and lifelong friends.  Coach Ice, and the College were presented with plaques, which will be hung in Packer Hall to commemorate this achievement.  I had the opportunity to wrestle for TSC and Coach Icenhower.you couldnt find a better man, mentor, or coach.  The smile on my face now was just about permanent you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?
 
Sunday November 8, 2009
Back to the College of New Jersey to see the Frosh/Soph Collegiate wrestling tournament.boy did the US Naval Academy bring some studs!!  I think they put about six guys in the finals and had two guys wrestling in every weightTom Tanis is the assistant coach and it is nice to see a Jersey guy making some waves..Got a chance to see former mustang Mike Kiley wrestle.  I wasn�t surprised.  Same hard nosed kid�in great shape moving forward for 7 minutes.   Mike dropped a hard fought 3-2 semi-final loss (on riding time) to the eventual champ and then bowed out with a shoulder injury.  Great being able to watch such a hard working, young man succeed.  Gloucester and Middlesex Community Colleges had some outstanding individuals..I gotta say I was most impressed with Nassau Community College who was doing a fairly good job of sinking some of the midshipmen..Smiling tingling happy to say the least you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?
 
Monday November 9, 2009
Evolutionary Performance Training, owned by Jim and Rich Airey, stop by at Brick Memorial High School.  They put the Brick Memorial wrestlers through and gruesome one hour work-out on the practice football fields.  Oh what joy kettle bells swinging in the air. yolks being twirled, lifted and thrown around.massive ropes being tussled..and this two hundred pound metal sled being pushed at full speed.  These guys really know how to train and physically exhaust somebody.  The kids really enjoyed it. okay lets be honest..the coaching staff of John Demarco, Tony Nash, and Brian Grainer, and myself loved it..the kids.well they were utterly exhausted I think somebody was throwing up.  A giant smile found its way to my face it was hard to wipe of that kind of training just gets me so fired up for the season you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?
 
Tuesday November 10, 2009
To top it all off.I picked up Denny Deandrea. a wrestling legend the only assistant coach, in any sport, to be inducted into the NJSIAA Hall of Fame.   Coach D is an avid blogger, NJO forum staple, loves to talk about wrestling, talk about wrestling stories, and inform you about how tough it was Back in the Day. We headed out to Rider University to attend Matt Menkowski's History of NJ Wrestling meeting.  Most of the ride. okay, all of the ride out to Rider University, Coach D told me of how it was when he coached how the Shore Conference Tournament came about..how the storied song Sympathy for the Devil came to be used and believe or not Brick Memorial did not originally use that song.Manalapan did.  The ride out to Rider was a history lesson in itself.  We arrived at Rider and searched for the meeting.Coach D and I saw most of the campus before finding the correct room.lol.  Matt Menkowski is a great guy and he keeps all of the stats for the state of New Jersey and is basically preserving our history.  We talked about wrestling history for about an hour, discussing how we can get the word out there�.and we will.   I drove Coach D home and he used every bit of the 50 minute ride to continue to school me on wrestling Smile Concrete.you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?
 
Tuesday November 10, 2009..11pm
..filled with a greater appreciation for the sport, having watched some exciting wrestling, seeing my kids excel..I couldnt stop smiling.I went to bed like I was hit with a log..instead of sugar plums and candy canes dancing in my head I dreamt of take downs, back points, and stand ups..you be the judge Fan or Fanatic?

The dynamics of family relationships in connection with sports today suggests that sports can many times bring families together and also tear them apart.  In a challenging sport such as wrestling, athletes go through many circumstances that need parental guidance and support.  It is this support that is essential to keeping kids interested and involved.  Studies show that 70 percent of the thirty eight million kids who play organized youth sports drop out by age thirteen.  Building positive youth sports memories is the major key to keeping kids playing sports in junior high and high school.  Your influence as parents can determine the fate of your kid's sports future.

Personally, I can't help to thank my father for all that he has done for me.  He has supported my wrestling career since day one and continues to even today as I write this blog.  With three kids of my own, two of which are boys now wrestling in their second year, God help them. I have gratefully learned from dad what a parent should do when it comes to watching their kids compete.  This paragraph is a tribute to him as I hope you can learn how lucky I am to have had the support system of a man who truly understood.  He had always taught me the value of hard work.  He is a blue collar guy who has worked since the day I was born.  He owns a brick paver business and he is tough, as most are in his line of work.  He bears the elements everyday, works with his hands and has proven to be one of the best in the business.  I grew up watching him grind it out and I am thankful that his work ethic has rubbed off on me.  Kids really do learn from watching their parent's actions. 

Most kids that I see compete on the high school level have a hard time dealing with what the sport of wrestling brings.  Hard work, long hours, cutting weight, painful defeats and yes, overbearing parents.  Many kids find it difficult to compete if Mom or Dad or both criticize them.  Kid's face what they call in sports psychology the triple dilemma.  If they quit sports the kids feel parents may withdraw support and attention.  If they play sports but do not perform well, they feel parents may criticize them or they may feel that they let their parents down. And lastly, If they perform well this may become expected behavior and parents may treat them like "little pro's" and never let them do other things. Playing kids sports sounds easy right?  This unfortunately happens at the youth level.  What is amazing is 40 million kids play organized youth sports in the United States and 70 percent of them quit by the time they reach high school. 

What does this all amount too? Well, let's just say if a kid has a positive youth experience he will be less likely to quit.  Parents as well as coaches have to make a conscience effort to make kids love this sport.  We place the emphasis on winning so much in our society that if often distorts our view for what is really important to our kids.  Getting better, improving, overcoming obstacle and being a solid team player.  All of which will help our kids later in life.  I always say that a kid who loses in wrestling never does it on purpose, so be careful to criticize because often his heart and soul goes in to it.  Regardless of any result my Dad always managed to say these words that have stayed with me for ever.  IM PROUD OF YOU.  Thanks DAD... And to all of the parents out there. Love them for trying; your support will make the difference in their life when it comes down to it. 

Thanks for reading - J.  Nase

Here we go.  Long Branch has been moved to District 22 effective immediately.  That is good news for LB and bad news for the rest of District 22.  It is also good news for the rest of District 23.  They used to redistrict about every five years.  The idea was to try to keep a balance of good programs and not have a district be overloaded nor underloaded.  There has been very little movement since 1991.  Too much time has gone by.  District 23 was dominated by Brick Memorial for many years.  After Jay Nase arrived at Wall they started to make waves.  The resurgence of Long Branch along with an always competive Point Boro made 23 a stacked district.  The same could not be said for 22.  Ocean Township had a good run.  Raritan has been steady.  That was about it.  Moving a few teams to balance out a district is necessary.  You can find an argument against any move.  You can use geography, size of school, etc.  The vote FOR the LB move was 13-1.  That pretty much tells you it was the right move.  I think District 24 should be tweaked.  Realistically Southern and Barnegat should head to District 32 but I don't think Gami and St. Augustine would be too keen on that.  I'm sure that the Toms River schools wouldn't be shedding any tears if Southern was gone.  Back in 1991 when Brick Memorial was moved to 23 along with Brick Township the rest of 24 was glad to see them go.  One of the schools from 23 protested the move to no avail.  It was done to balance some of the talent.  I think they should scrap the District Team Championship and allow the Districts to be an individual competition only.  If anyone has a need to figure out which "team" won, it is easily done.  ANY change will have someone thinking they got screwed.  ANY change for the betterment of the sport and the majority should be embraced.  Moving LB to 22 is the right thing to do.  Denny D

Stevens Wrestling

Well its been a while since the last time I had a chance to Blog. Sorry 'bout that. I really appreciate all the support from New Jersey and the Tri-State area... hope it continues to grow. With recent debuts of Jim Miller, Dan Miller and Nick Catone more and more are following the UFC which only helps us fighters so spread the word.

Be sure to pick up my new UFC98 Team Edgar Shirts. They will be available online soon but you can email steverivera@wrca.net for immediate needs. Full line of Shirts and Lifestyle Clothing to come in the months ahead.

UPDATE: I missed my last fight against Matt Wiman, pulling out was one of the tougher decisions in my life. I always feel I can make it through the pain, its part of this game we play (ie.. Tyson Griffen Fight). But in that situation I took the advise of others. Since it was minor enough that I could rest properly and recover 100% without surgery it made sense. At this point in my career. the fight was just too big of a risk not being 100%. Jim Miller beat him and represented Jersey well anyway so I am glad it all worked out. At this point I know it was the right decision since I am scheduled to fight Former World Champion Sean Sherk on May 24th UFC98 at the MGM Grand in Vegas. I will be one of the broadcasted PPV fights so be sure to tune in. Winning this should ensure me a shot at the UFC World Title.

Thanks to Mark Henry (Boxing, Millstone, NJ), Ricardo Almeida (BJJ, Lawrence, NJ), Steve Rivera (Manager, Jackson, NJ), Dean Albreitch (MMA Manager), Annese Mechanical, Rutgers Wrestling and C.C.S.C for the continued support.

Anyone who has ever wrestled or coached at the colligate level knows just how tough this time of year can be. Forget the holidays, family gatherings, and travel, it is the final exams mixed in with competition that makes it tough. Starting this past week, we started altering our practices to allow our wrestlers to really “attack” their academics. These are very important exams and as a program we take great pride in making sure our wrestlers do well in the classroom. It is probably the biggest difference between high school and college. The next two weeks, we can meet one-on-one with a student athlete in the morning, get a great workout, and allow them to set up their study with tutors, groups, and professors during normal practice times. As a staff we need to be very flexible and willing to work with the student athletes because, after all, they are at Rutgers University to get an education. At the same time, we will ask our student athletes to meet us halfway. Don't pull all-nighters, get a mandatory 8-hours of sleep, control your weight, and get your workouts in. It is sometimes (for me always) a good thing to clear your mind with a training session before getting back to hitting the books. In the next 3 weeks we will travel to Lock Haven (and wrestle 3 duals), host Lehigh on December 20 th , and, for some of our wrestlers, compete at the Midlands/Wilkes open. I believe that we have done a good job talking about time management and preparing for exams and competition. We want our guys competing hard in the classroom, like they do on the mat.

This is also a very busy time for the staff. There just so happens to be some great high school tournaments taking place over the holidays. I will ask our coaches to make a big commitment over the next month, which will be filled with a lot of travel, lots of extra workouts with individuals, paper work, etc. Everything possible to be the best. They will sacrifice a lot of family time (Edgar and I are the only married ones, so we will make it work), but that is part of the job.

On the recruiting front, we have developed a bunch of recruiting rivalries with some schools where we happen to be going after the same kid. We have won some and certainly lost some. I have found it very interesting that there are coaches who will throw the line, “when is the last time Rutgers has had an All-American?” This is a good point, it has been a while, but heck, we have only been here for ONE season. The guys we have attracted have actually taken that as a challenge; they want to be the next All-American for this university. So I thank the ones who have tried to use that. Listen, the guys who wrestle at this level all want to be All-Americans and national champs. Ultimately, it comes down to them and how hard they are willing to work. I sure like to think so. I also know that every other person in the program/coach feels the same way. I just find it better to highlight what is good about our university than to try and tell a recruit about someone else's. The truth is that I don't know what goes on at other programs, so who am I to try and speculate?

Until next time, 
Scott Goodale

P.S.: Reserve your seats now for our January 24 th home match against Rider at the RAC. Reserved seating is going fast, so go online and order your tickets. Our goal is to “Pack the RAC.” Help us send a message to the administration and to the rest of the country as to just how important this sport is to this state. Visit www.scarletknights.com to see the schedule for Saturday, January 24 th .

 Life is all about opportunities. The decisions you make on a daily basis in every aspect of your life will dictate the type of opportunities that will arise for you. Once presented with an opportunity, your ability to embrace the moment to make the most of that opportunity is up to you. Preparation is the key to any opportunity that might present itself to you. If you are unsuccessful in securing your goal once an opportunity is in front of you, you need to think back to your actions and thought process prior to that moment. You will find that there are typically two answers: One, you know in your heart and your mind that you did everything in your power to be ready, Two, you second guess yourself and as a result become very disappointed because you could have done more to prepare. The second one obviously leaves you feeling a whole lot more empty than the first one. The second one usually leads to an internal guilty feeling because you let yourself down. It can also lead to excuses, and it seems that now days they are becoming more acceptable to each individual and society as a whole.

It does not have to be that way!!

In wrestling, whether at the high school or college level, there can only be 1 State Champion/National Champion per weight. This makes your preparation even more important. You've heard the phrase “it is better to be lucky than good”. Well you can not be lucky without the right preparation. You can also not be good relying on talent alone. A wrestler's work ethic is something that truly defines him as an individual. How many times have you seen a wrestler that is more talented lose to one that is in better shape and better drilled but not as talented? If you have talent and do not have a work ethic you will only go so far, the law of averages will eventually catch up with you. It is also common for some of the best high school wrestlers to get passed by in college by others that have a better work ethic. Wrestling is truly a sport that will return to you exactly what you put into it. There are many things that you can control within your preparation: Technique, conditioning, strength training, film review, determination, positive attitude and sportsmanship, to name a few. There are also things that you do not have control over within your preparation: Injuries and illness to name two. Obviously you have a pretty good handle on your individual success if done properly. Everyone's success will be different based on the individual talent and work ethic but at least you can say to yourself that you gave it everything you could and leave the excuses to those who do not!

As stated earlier, the way you embrace each opportunity when presented makes all the difference in the world. There is no reason to be so nervous that you can not compete if you have done everything to be prepared. At that point, you need to trust your training both mentally and physically and welcome the opportunity. This is the only way that you will ever reach your potential in wrestling and in life as well. If you really want to accomplish a goal establish a well thought out plan and stick to it, you will most likely be happy with the results.

Good Luck in the upcoming post season tournaments!