Most of the student athletes on Greendale’s wrestling team are relatively new to this season; the team and coaches are taking time to really learn and get the essentials down to have a successful and fun season this year.
The team is combined with Whitnall and they are working especially hard with their new and younger team this season.The student athletes on the team are all working towards common goals on and off the mat.
“We graduated a lot of seniors last year, and are a young team with only two seniors in our varsity lineup. We really had to focus on a lot of the basics and get good at the fundamentals, which allows us to have a good stepping stone into the end of the season,”varsity coach Tom Maloney said.
The wrestlers are always needing to maintain a balance between their school work, social life and their physical health and Greendale is able to work alongside with Whitnall students are able to interact and bond with other alike student athletes.
“I think one thing that I like most about this sport is being able to meet a variety of other people from a different school, and being able to compete in tournaments you meet even more people,” sophomore Max Gailen said.
So far this season the wrestling team has been very successful in their competitions.
“The Blackshirt Holiday Duals at Waukesha South was successful as the team went 3-1 and we competed well with the team we lost to. Also, at the Rocket Scramble in Cedar Grove-Belgium we had a number of individuals place high in the tournament,” Maloney said.
The wrestlers think setting goals is important to their success over the course of the season.
“I’ve been working on keeping my mind right at all times and not let things get to me so it doesn’t negatively impact my performance. I hope to be a leader on the team so others can be motivated for success,” junior Deacon Ward said.
Wrestling is a very difficult sport and there are many challenges the wrestlers have to go to be prepared for each competition.
“The toughest thing about wrestling is maintaining a good mentality throughout the season. Another challenge is always conditioning and the cutting,” sophomore Parker Kulas said.
