The wrestling team is looking to start fresh with new head coach Angelo Goumenidis after a difficult season last year.
“[Last season] was fun, but we didn’t perform as well as we wanted to,” said junior wrestler Anderson Wong. “[The] team got smaller as the season went on, partially due to COVID-19. One of our coaches just had a newborn child and he also caught COVID, so that was a big problem we had to overcome.”
However, the Dons are positive going into this season, now that their young team has gained valuable experience from last season.
“The thing is that … our team [was] very young [last season] and … a lot of us were … new wrestlers at the time,” Wong said. “[With] this team now, there’s a lot more … experienced wrestlers that … want to be here and are going to commit for … the whole season. I think that’s going to make our team a bit stronger than last year’s team.”
Under Goumenidis, the Dons are looking to work hard to improve their wrestling game and become better people outside of the sport.
“[The goals for the season are] to improve wrestling skills and overall well-being,” said Goumenidis. “[My] coaching philosophy [is that] hard work and dedication is the recipe for success.”
In addition to improvement, the wrestlers hope to see a team member qualify for the Central Coast Section by getting top three in the Peninsula Athletic League.
“[My] coaching philosophy [is that] hard work and dedication is the recipe for success”
“[A] team goal is definitely to get one of us to CCS,” said senior wrestler Eddie Georgievski. “That’s by consistently showing up for practice and helping each other get better by giving each other … good rivalry in practice, and … continuing to analyze mistakes together.”
Despite wrestling being an individual sport, the team supports one another while they compete, creating a close connection.
“[For] every single match that you have, you always have your … teammates … at your side watching you and cheering you on,” Georgievski said. “The camaraderie that comes with wrestling … is more than I’ve seen in any … [other] sports so far. It is … one of the … sports where you … build a family … even though it’s an individual sport.”
The Dons certainly have a lot of time to work on team bonding, as they train five times a week for two hours, with practices consisting of conditioning, drills, visualization and live wrestling.
The team typically has a tournament every other month but they hone their skills by visiting nearby schools for practice fights weekly.
“If you’re just going against one school, we would get players from each side that are similar in weight, and they would wrestle each other,” said Georgievski. “You would get more … points … the more your wrestlers won against the other team … For tournaments, we will have … at least 10 schools … and you would … wrestle against everyone your weight … If you keep on winning, you’re going to move farther and farther into finals.”
Another interesting aspect of wrestling is that it is a co-ed sport, with five girls and fifteen boys on the roster.
“Normally, the boys wrestle each other, but sometimes [a girl will] have [a] similar weight class to a boy so you might … feel comfortable wrestling with a guy since he’s around your weight class,” said senior wrestler Stephanie Huerta.
In competitions, girls are allowed to choose whether or not they want to wrestle a boy if there are no other girls in their weight class for them to wrestle.
“You might not have a girl in your weight class,” said Huerta. “So sometimes you could choose not to wrestle that day or choose a boy who is in that weight class, but again, they talk to you first about it so if you don’t feel comfortable, you’re not forced to.”
One event to look forward to is the novice tournament in December, which is when all the freshmen get to showcase their new skills.
“I’m excited to watch the novice tournaments because you always get new wrestlers from all over the district,” said Wong. “All the people who are in their first year wrestling … come to this one tournament … in December. They all … [get to] use what they’ve learned [in] the past month or so.”
The team’s first home tournament is on Jan. 12 at 3:30 p.m. against South San Francisco.
