Ratto and Pillot-Sampson: Wrestling then and now

Current wrestling coach and physics teacher Steve Ratto wrestled at Aragon just over a decade ago. Senior Christopher Pillot-Sampson wrestles on the team now. Although they competed a decade apart, there are still many apparent similarities between the two wrestlers.

Even though Coach Ratto has a lot of influence over the wrestlers’ technique, both of them agree that each wrestler develops his own style. Pillot-Sampson says, “The way Ratto teaches us new moves allows us as individual wrestlers to create our own sense of style and how we do things. So really in a sense, I don’t have his technique, as we all create our own techniques off the basics.”

Ratto says, “We don’t have similar styles. You create your own style the better you get. I even teach moves that aren’t typically my style, and they pick and choose what they like. We’re the people who are guiding them. They eventually find what works for them, but if we don’t like something, we’ll say ‘Hey, maybe you should try this,’ ‘Step this foot back a little bit,’ or ‘Move here.’”

In his time as an Aragon wrestler, Ratto went to Central Coast Section Championships (CCS) three times. Pillot-Sampson has been to CCS twice already, and one of his goals for his senior season is to make CCS a third time. Beyond that, he also hopes to make the state championship this season.

Ratto says that the Aragon wrestling team has had some big changes as well as some continued practices over the last decade. They still practice in the same room and have similar warm-up routines. They attend similar tournaments, partly because Ratto chooses tournaments he liked to go to when he wrestled. However, many things have changed. The current Dons wrestle in a different division and have a smaller team.

One rule that has come about between Ratto’s and Pillot-Sampson’s time as wrestlers is the weight assessments required by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). In the 2005-2006 season, the CIF implemented the wrestling weight certification system as a measure to protect the health of the student-athletes. Ratto says, “[Now,] the kids can’t drop whatever weight they want. It’s looked after.”

Both Ratto and Pillot-Sampson joined wrestling as a semi-secondary sport. Initially, Pillot-Sampson was just looking for something to keep him in shape for football season, but over time, he made wrestling his primary sport. On the other hand, Ratto was introduced to wrestling by his best friend. Ratto says, “He said that he was on the team and that it was easy to make the team. You had to do five push-ups. And I was looking for something to do between cross country and baseball, originally. So I went down there, just said ‘OK, I’ll try it out.’ After my first year, I loved it, and came back every year since.”

There are lessons to be learned from every sport, and both Ratto and Pillot-Sampson have learned a couple from their own wrestling careers. Pillot-Sampson says, “Hard work is definitely one of the biggest life values [I’ve learned], since wrestling is one of the hardest sports in the world. I’ve [also] learned to never give up and get up from any loss.”

Ultimately, Ratto has learned some of the same lessons. He says, “[There are] a lot. Dedication [and] trusting your teammates. When you’re going through the practices everyday, you’re working with one or two guys repeatedly. You become friends with them. [Wrestling] builds good habits. It builds discipline and the ability to know what your body can do. [You] push yourself to the point where when you need it later in life, you can fall back and say, ‘Look, I’ve already done this.’”

The wrestling team begins official league matches on Jan. 9 at Burlingame. However, there is a PAL Novice Tournament on Dec. 14 at El Camino.