Strong turnout for wrestling; staff eager to train, teach

By CHRISTOPHER OCEGUERA
The Tower

With many boys and girls in the wrestling room, there are puddles of sweat on the mats and energy in the air. The team is bigger than ever, spilling into two rooms, and the coaches are screaming at the top of their lungs.

The new kids are terrified, but the returners are unfazed as they are used to it. Glancing around the room, there is an obvious difference in skill, but the coaches are convinced of their teaching ability and aren’t giving up on anyone.

As the wrestling season gets started so do the practices and conditioning. The coaches agree that they have a lot of work to put into the newcomers, but they are prepared with a staff of five. There are many new faces and there are plenty of returners, and even though the team lost some of the seniors, their spots are filled by the class of third-year juniors. The coaches say that even though the team is not as good as last year, they still think the team has a lot of potential.

Manteca High wrestlers Ryan Whincup and Misael Meza fight for wrist control during a recent practice in the wrestling room at Manteca High.

The Manteca High wrestling team is especially big this year — more than 60 turned up for tryouts and early workouts — and there are two rooms for the team. This is good so that there is enough room for practice. When the football season ends the team is expected to be even bigger, and that space will be needed. The coaches are committed to the students, and they plan on driving them to tournaments in cars and buses.

Coach Vince Bordi says that “the goal is quality over quantity this year.”

“This year there are close to 60 kids. This year isn’t necessarily a rebuilding year but a teaching year. Even though the team has lost some senior leadership, there are kids ready to fill the spots,” Bordi said.

Oakdale is usually a school that headlines the Valley Oak League and Sac-Joaquin Section postseason meets and makes noise at the state level, so for Bordi and Co. the goal this year is to go for second place.

From a competitive standpoint, the cool thing about wrestling is that you could be the most athletic kid in the school, but wrestling is about learning new skills. The way that you get better at practice is by putting in hard work and dedication.”

The main concern about the practices is the consistency the kids put into it and the work they are willing to put into the sport. It’s also about the stuff they do outside of school, like recreational programs and jobs. If they put too much work into their life outside of school, they are not going to be able to give it 100 percent in practice.

“We must get kids out. It’s going to be a grind, but it will pay off for the kids that stick with it because we’re going to get just that much better,” Bordi said. “The game extends among the wrestling room we get a lot of guys with a lot of confidence, not only because of what they can do on the mat but the changes it has to their bodies. It also gives the kids a lot of confidence outside of the wrestling room.”

Manteca High student Miguel Cocio contributed to this report.