Crouching into position with the tenacity of a tiger and the
serenity of a monk, Sergio Mar outmaneuvered his opponents with
precision, grappling in a violent dance that often reached
completion with a thud, his adversaries upended and helpless,
pinned in submission.
Crouching into position with the tenacity of a tiger and the serenity of a monk, Sergio Mar outmaneuvered his opponents with precision, grappling in a violent dance that often reached completion with a thud, his adversaries upended and helpless, pinned in submission.
Whenever he stepped onto the mat and under the spotlight, his mind became a blank slate. No questions or doubts entered his head and butterflies were quickly crushed in the pit of his stomach. His instincts became heightened – an anxious crowd’s chatter suddenly muted.
“It’s almost like a switch,” Mar said. “It’s like you’re, ‘ha ha, laughin’ around (with friends),’ but once you step on the mat, it’s like everything shuts off and you’re ready to go. And all the butterflies that you had before you get on the mat are gone.”
Such a calm demeanor and a “perfect frame” for wrestling, according to a former coach, allowed Mar to be a dominant 130-pounder who finished no lower than sixth in the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships in his last three years at Gilroy High School. He placed third in his junior year and fourth in his senior year.
“He was one of those guys a lot of people overlooked, but was just huge in big matches,” said Chuck Ogle, Mar’s coach in high school. “He wasn’t very flashy, but he had some great technique.”
The technique that became instinct through repetition and the demanding tutelage of his father, Francisco – “Bert” to those who know him – was formed from workouts starting at the age of six. Sergio and his older brother Everet, a three-time qualifier for state in his own right, made their home on the mat, learning under their father who was a Northern California state champ in 1965.
Bert and Sergio were elected into the GHS Hall of Fame together in 2000. Still, the youngest Mar has trouble believing he belongs in such high regard.
“A lot of times people tell me, especially my dad, he makes sure he tells everybody about (how good) me and my brother (were) and sometimes I don’t really realize how big a deal it is. I guess I still haven’t realized how big of a deal it was. I could never say, ‘I was good.’ ”
Sergio’s modesty is just as strong today as was his efficiency in eliminating opponents. Those who remember his matches all make note of his sense of style when it came to submissions. No one in the history of Gilroy wrestling has been better at the balletic move known as the “fireman’s carry.”
“He had a fireman’s carry from hell,” Ogle remembers.
A move that generally requires wrestlers to be locked up, Mar could pull off the forceful feat in almost any position. Holding the back of another wrestler’s triceps, he would scoop his arm underneath the leg on the same side. A lift and swivel would complete the takedown as Mar ended up on top, his chest pressed down on his opponent, negating any hope for escape.
“It’s a very pretty move and a very powerful move,” said Armando Gonzalez, current GHS wrestling coach and a tutor of Mar’s when he was with the Gilroy Hawks youth wrestling club. “I knew Sergio Mar was special since the first time I saw him wrestle.”
What Gonzalez might not have known was that the wrestler who pulled off a move named after heroes who stand in the face of flames, would later make a career out of trying to save the lives of other young men.
Mar now lives in Newman and is a 33-year-old graduate of San Jose State. He and his wife, Carla, have three kids and he is a probation counselor at the James Boys Ranch in Morgan Hill – just like his father and brother – working directly with 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds that have made mistakes. Whether it be through violence, theft or gang-related activities, these young men are dangerously close to becoming menaces to society. It is Mar’s job to help them see a better path.
“At first it was kind of challenging with the kids that you work with,” he said. “Just the kind of kids that are either troubled or just making bad decisions. It was kind of hard to stay there at first. But after being there longer and starting to get to know the kids, it’s just worked out … Trying to build relationships with the kids and helping them make better decisions and stuff like that, it’s cool.”
While Mar is not there to judge but to help the kids he works with, it’s obvious that something has been missing in their lives.
“I think some of them, it’s the parental supervision is not there all the time,” he said. “Either the parent is just not there (in general) or they gotta’ work, and (then) there’s really no discipline in the house.”
As a wrestler, discipline was never in short supply for Mar. Whether it was eating right to make weight before a match, running several miles after grueling practices or having the mental strength to overcome self-doubt after defeat, Mar’s father and mother, Mercy, made sure their sons were well-behaved from the beginning.
“It’s got to start off at a young age,” Mar said. “You cant start disciplining your kid in high school. You gotta be on the kid as soon as possible and all the time. If I were to let my kid run around and do whatever they wanted to do, then when they get to junior high, high school, you’re going to get big-time resistance.”
Despite receiving kids in the final stages of adolescence at the ranch, Mar has seen signs of rehabilitation.
“You get the kids that are cool, that will do the program, and then you get the kids that are kind of like, ‘ahhh, this program’s whatever,’ and they try to fight it. Some of them fight it the whole time and get out in eight months, and some of the kids kind of figure it out. Some of them start seeing the stuff we’re showing them and they start to catch themselves, and the stuff they’re doing wrong.”
With the help and inspiration of people like Sergio Mar, more kids just might see what they can do right.
