Top of the Podium : The evolution of wrestling in Virginia

Yesterday we spent the day competing at the hammer tournament at Top of the Podium in Northern Virginia.  I feel compelled to take this opportunity to provide a bit of context for our involvement in this tournament.

There was a time when elite youth wrestling in NOVA was dominated by a dual meet calendar administered by the CAWL (Capital Area Wrestling League).  Today the CAWL is not what it once was and there is a new movement in NOVA centered around regional centers of excellence that are not bound to any single school district but attempts to create an environment where wrestlers in a general area can come to train and where the competition schedule has a wide variety of options for all wrestlers depending on ability and willingness to travel.  The wrestlers who train out of these regional centers have a smorgasbord of options for competition and if there was a void left by the CAWL, Tom is helping to fill it.

I grew up in central PA where this was a well proven model for many years and that still exists and thrives today and produces the best wrestlers in the country.  Iowa may win the NCAA tournament this year.  If they do, it will be because they recruited wrestlers from PA.  When I was a kid we'd go to a local tournament to compete and there was always a table somewhere with printouts for the tournaments for the next several weeks advertised.  You would write a check and mail in the registration form.  Today the same model exists at the same venues but all of the tournaments are browsable on a single site (www.pywrestling.com) and registration is done online.  The site in VA is www.virginiawrestling.com.  URL to Top is https://www.topofthepodium.org/

When I walked into Top of the Podium it didn't take me long to run across Tom Houck, the man behind the mission.  I'll call it a mission more than a facility because the mission is clear.  He wants to promote wrestling in the most entitled area of the country where it is most desperately needed.  I was talking to Joe Scanlan about this and we are in violent agreement that this a sport that is very needed in the area and we will do everything we can to support it.  Wrestling isn't a game.  It isn't always fun.  You get what you earn.  There is absolutely nothing about the sport that rewards a kid for just showing up.  On the other hand if a kid does just show up but hasn't put in the work it won't work out too well for that kid LOL...  This is why we as coaches talk about the value of the sport and how these are life lessons.  Work is rewarded with results and there are lessons in every failure.

I was at Tom's facility all day and didn't have the opportunity to talk to him until the very end of the day.  This is because Tom was on a mission the entire day and was relentlessly engaged in running the event.  Hard work.  What is Tom's reward?  Perhap Tom has seen the benefit of the sport in his life and he wants to give back?  Maybe he wants to have a positive impact on NOVA.  After 1 year in this new facility I'd say he's off to a pretty darn good start.

We had a great day at Top and took about 10 kids.  The highlight for me as a coach was our 4 wrestlers for whom this was their first tournament outside of novice level competition.

Calvin Cardone
Benji Cardone
Julian Bonner
Michael Bonura

The benefit to more advanced competition for these wrestlers is that they learn that bad technique doesn't work here and we take these lessons back to training and now there is a purpose to the training.  Practicing with a purpose makes the difference.

Enjoy the holidays!

Coach Burns

Wreck the Halls

This weekend was filled with wrestling all up and down the East Coast.  Our boys were scattered, but as a coach following everyone's individual advancement was extremely satisfying.  I decided to attend Wreck the Halls in Martinsville, WV with 3 of our wrestlers, Billy Tyler, RJ Phelan and Wyatt Carter.  Let's start with little RJ Phelan, who we won't see for 6 months as his family spends the winter months in Florida.  This kid wrestled up an age group and also up 10 lbs.  The kid he wrestled in the finals was a veteran from PA and about a foot taller.  RJ has an excitement of the sport and a never quit attitude like nobody.  He was down the entire match but came back to a tie by the end of the third period and took the match to overtime.  He got a little impatient with his shots in OT took a bad one and lost but what a fighter and also a good sport!  RJ's dad Rob has been a great addition to the coaching staff on game day and in the room so the Phelans will be missed and we look forward to their return in April 2020.   Billy Tyler double bracketed in 2 age groups and wrestled up a weight class and dominated both of his brackets.  The champion received a t-shirt so Billy decided to get one for himself and one for his dad.... picture below....!  Wyatt is starting to try new things in competition and placed 2nd on the day.  Crossfit for Wyatt has paid off!  Landon Spence took out a MD state champ in dominant fashion (6-1) at the Viper duals in MD and went 4-0 on the day.  We had several kids at the Top of the Podium tournament on Saturday.  Matthew Arndt took 1st at the Top tournament ant THEN decided to spend Sunday in PA at the Gettysburgh tournament where he ran into some hammers that had an age advantage but he wrestled solid up there and will be better for it.  The Hobgin twins ended up with a positive Win Loss ratio overall at the TOP tournament with Cole going 3-1 and Connor going 2-2.  Leland Cline placed 2nd out of 9.  Evan Sanati wrestled out of his mind at NAWE duals going 4-1.  All of this combined with a 3 hour clinic on Saturday at Eagle Alley.  GREAT WEEKEND OF WRESTLING!

2019 Cougar Challenge - Catoctin HS, MD

Billy Tyler extends winning streak after tech falling his opponent in the finals.  Colton Quaker and Matthew Arndt finish 2nd on the day.

As always, the crab soup that the event coordinators sell at the concession stand alone was worth the trip down Route 15.

Virginia Patriots were well represented with the following wrestlers.

85LBS Andrew Krajic
126LBS Angel Fonseca - scott
95LBS Billy Tyler
95LBS Cole Hogbin
144LBS Colton Quaker
90LBS Connor Hogbin
108LBS Matthew Arndt
108LBS Owen Clayborne

Overall I am seeing kids making individual improvements, which is what this is all about.  Incremental improvement and going in the right direction.

18th Annual Vipers Mike Beck Tournament

This tournament was in Cooksville MD on Dec 1 and is always held on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving.  This year the tournament was run by Todd Del Tufo and went as smoothly as any tournament we've been to.  We had to make a decision about which even to attend between the pre CAWL tournament.  We selected this one primarily because we have several kids who are younger and the CAWL format (with no age categories) didn't really accommodate the age distribution that we have.  We're glad we went.  We took 9 Virginia Patriots to the event.  Below are the place winners and attendees.

Colton Quaker's crossfit training combined with a marked improvement in technique is starting to shine thru.

Billy Tyler is on a run bringing home the championship award several weekends in a row

1st Place
Billy Tyler
Colton Quaker

2nd Place
Landon Spence
Angel Fonsecs
Carson Stroud

3rd Place
Corey Hunt
Owen Clayborne

RJ Phelan
Sam Blevins