Wrestlers are the most amiable sort. They shake hands before and
after each match. In between, they try to staple their opponent’s
face and/or back to the mat as the two sweaty athletes twist each
other in ways unimaginable.
Wrestlers are the most amiable sort. They shake hands before and after each match. In between, they try to staple their opponent’s face and/or back to the mat as the two sweaty athletes twist each other in ways unimaginable.
Nice match, guy. Let’s do lunch.
I made some astute observations at Saturday’s Tri-County Athletic League Tournament at Mattson Gym. First, I was amused, for lack of a better word, that the referees were so friendly with wrestlers and coaches. One ref reportedly hugged one of the coaches before the tournament started like he was Marlon Brando in the Godfather.
I don’t think it was the “kiss of death.”
Then, on two occasions, I saw a referee, who had just reffed a match, personally congratulate the winner. And I’m not talking about the traditional raising of the winner’s hand. I’m talking about an up-close and personal congrats moment afterwards in front of the scorer’s table. I guess it’s OK as long as you do it with every match and do not discriminate with any team. It probably would be a good idea to congratulate the loser, too, just so people don’t begin to whisper suspicious things, especially if the match was tight.
I’m not accusing anyone of “the fix.” I just think it doesn’t look good.
“I don’t think there are any biases with the officials,” said Gilroy coach Armondo Gonzales. “I’ve been in this league for five years and the referees have been around a lot longer. They get to know the coaches pretty well and get to know the kids. In the spirit of sports, it’s not a bad deal. The refs have a lot of integrity. They won’t let their relationships with the kids sway it either way.”
Baler coach Matt Olejnik isn’t quite so sure, claiming loneliness when it comes to the men in stripes.
“If I have any refs that would fraternize with me, it would be a whole different story,” said Olejnik. “But they seem to avoid me. They give everybody else hugs but they never give me one. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. Most of these coaches and referees have been around a long time so you develop friendships and things like that. When the refs are out there, they do the best job that they can. We’ll always question some of their judgement calls. For the most part, they do a good job.”
There seemed to be a communication problem before the title match at 119 pounds between Gilroy’s Armondo Gonzales, son of the coach, and Hollister’s Jamie Driskill. The referee was to be John Gurich, father of the Mustangs’ 103-pounder John Gurich, who won the league title Saturday by beating Hollister’s Joe Verissimo.
Father John huffed off the mat before the 119 bout, claiming Baler assistant Dave Salcedo nixed him from reffing the match because of a conflict of interest.
“It was a slap in the face,” said the elder Gurich.
Salcedo’s story was that he did no such thing.
“He came to me and asked me if it was OK if he did the match,” said Salcedo. “I just shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t tell him he couldn’t. He’s one of the best refs in the section. I wanted him to do the match.”
“That was unfortunate,” said Olejnik. “John’s one of the better referees in the section. It was a long day after a long night of setting up. It’s been a long season. People are on edge.”
Then there’s the stopwatch, which was manned by Baler students at the side of the mat. During one match between a Baler and a Gilroy wrestler, a Mustangs’ assistant kept pacing back and forth from his corner to check on the time.
The student offered his watch to coach Gonzales after Gonzales accused the Baler student of stopping the clock.
“Do you want to do the clock?” said the student.
“Don’t listen to him,” said the referee for that match. “Emotions are running high right now. You’re doing a good job.”
Gonzales later recanted.
“We had a lot of head-to-head matches with the Hollister wrestlers,” said Gonzales. “And they have their own kids keep time. On a couple situations the clock stopped. It wasn’t any fault of the kid. Those clocks are kind of faulty. That’s what we found out afterwards. The clock was acting up.”
Speaking of acting up, during the match, coaches have a tendency to wrestle the match for the wrestlers. They’ll constantly yell instructions for every situation the wrestler is in and add their own gyrations to demonstrate the proper technique. I’m trying to figure out how the wrestler can wrestle and absorb info from his coach at the same time. Seems to me that the time the word registers with the grappler, it’s too late. He’s already on the next position. Seems to me that this kid should have been prepared to deal with the situation during practice or from the experienced he gained from previous matches. If he needs to be reminded about what move to use, he probably won’t win anyway.
And, if that isn’t bad enough, coaches from the stands that come in the form of parents and/or ex-wrestlers yell like the kid is going to listen to him while he’s gasping for air while being ridden like a Derby hopeful.
The popular one is when a wreslter is laying face down on the mat with his opponent securely upon him.
“Stand up!” yells the gallery in unison.
Stand up? What do you think he’s trying to do? Have his back massaged so it doesn’t hurt that much when he’s finally pinned?
Those are just some astute observations and it’s nothing to detract from the sport. It’s good to see friendly faces in a sport that is the most grueling of all the sports played in high school.
There is no getting around it. This is a physical sport. In the early seconds of his match with Gonzales, Driskill found one of Gonzales’ fingers inadvertently in Driskill’s eye. The Balers’ Octavio Lucatero was head-butted in his semifinal match. A Palma wrestler had to be treated on the trainer’s table after getting kicked in the head.
That’s OK, though. It’s all among friends.
