A New Beginning for Chaminade Wrestling in 2010

Roughly 70 students, comprised greatly of freshmen and sophomores, crowded into the Athletic Center's wrestling room Thursday morning and afternoon as 38-year veteran coach George Dlugolonski conducted tryouts for the 2010-2011 varsity/junior varsity wrestling team.

The stale smell of sweat saturated the air as eager youngsters took to the mat in order to cement their place on the team that earned second place in the NSCHSAA league and third place in the state CHSAA during the 2009-10 season. With every spot on the team open, "everybody's job on the line," Dlugolonski said.

Monitoring his prospects, Dlugolonski kept an eye open for one coveted spot in particular that "can not be inherited" - team captain. The position was left vacant after the graduation of Troy Sampson, who holds the record of most wins in Chaminade history and is now going to wrestle for Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In addition to Sampson's departure, expert grappler Glenn McKenna moved on to the Naval Academy's wrestling team, and prince of the pin Brendan Fowler is currently playing football at Duke.

"This is a rebuilding year," said Dlugolonski, who is looking toward star seniors Mike Rizzo, John Faglione, and Mike Jones to set an example and guide the younger wrestlers. "I point out who the seniors are and tell the kids to observe their attitudes and decide if they want them to be the face of the team."

The three starting seniors prepared by attending off-season wrestling camps and clinics, as the wrestling room is not set up year-round. "We have also been doing a lot of running and lifting to build our strength up," the trio said. "It is our senior year so we have to go all out." Jones and Faglione each bulked up 10-15 lbs. and will be moving up a weight class.

Adhering to the strategy of starting fresh, Dlugolonski took to teaching the basics Thursday. "The first month of practice will be nothing but stance work," he said to his wrestlers before proceeding to demonstrate the proper base of keeping the shoulders aligned with the knees. Athletes then shuffled on the mat as they underwent conditioning "over and unders" drills, which are comparable to a "drop step" wrestling move, and "shoot-throughs," which is not unlike a basic takedown.

A large portion of the team's sixty practice days will consist of such conditioning and fundamentals. "Some coaches do just enough to get the kids match-ready," Dlugolonski said, "but then they will go out and lose key matches due to lack of fundamentals."

Those matches are the end-of-the-season bouts, which the head coach considers to be of prime importance in Chaminade's "marathon" season. "The beginning of the year is dress rehearsal; the end of the year is when you really want to win," he said., revealing plans to use pre-season tournaments to "learn about ourselves and see what we have to go back and work on."

As of now, the team has a good balance in the weight classes but is waiting for wrestlers who are still playing fall sports, including its heavyweights still on the football team. "What sets us apart are the numbers we have," Dlugolonski said. "Other schools might have only one person in a particular weight class so that person gets the spot automatically."

Dlugolonski doesn't take his opposition lightly, especially the season opener next month against Wantagh, who along with St. Anthony's and Kellenberg, he considers to be one of the best clubs in Nassau. "Once we see what the best can do, we see what we can take away from the match and how we can progress from there," he said.