It was the week after Easter and before my birthday. I was working on what was needed to contact agents and publishers for my Turin Biography and putting together the Resilient Seeker Coaching Program. Things were going well, I was feeling good mentally and physically, and that week we were going to celebrate both the boys and girls wrestling teams at the annual banquet.
Growing up with my father as the longtime coach of the program, thirty four years, I am one of the only people to have personally experienced the evolution of this event. I”ve experienced it as a member of the coaching staff, as a member of the team, and as a fan.
I was there before it was a banquet held at one of the kid’s homes. Typically they had a swimming pool, which was not very common in the 1970s and early 1980s. I was there when it was held at the local firehall and social club. And now I was attending and it was being held at a country club.
I’ve experienced the full evolution of the event. In the early days it was for the kids to celebrate a season of hard work by being together, having fun, and eating. Eating is very popular with wrestlers, especially during a time when there were no weight control rules and cutting was done in a variety of ways that would now be deemed to be endangering the welfare of a child, despite the fact that we did it to ourselves. The music was loud. The pool water was choppy as matches broke out. Girls who then were a part of the team as managers, or Mat Maids, probably deemed a derogatory term today, but so respected there were formal tryouts then, were occasionally tossed into the pool if they didn’t actively choose to go in first.
It was fun. When the food and play was finished, everyone gathered inside and the seniors put on a slide show recapping the season. Yes, slide pictures projected on a wall or screen, with commentary often recorded on a tape cassette loaded with jokes and inside jokes. Everyone left happy and with a memory that would last forever.
In the early 1980s a booster club was formed to pay for some things that the school would not. These might include off-setting costs of kids attending camps or clinics in the summer, the purchase of post season awards, and other small things. It wasn’t too long that a banquet was held. This became an event. The kids had to dress for dinner. There was a formal agenda. It was held at a fire hall or social hall. It started with the team, mat maids, cheerleaders and their parents. It eventually grew to include fans. The event outgrew early venues drawing a few hundred people.
Now it was at a country club decidedly more formal than the early days. The slide show made by the seniors was long since replaced by a presentation made by adults without commentary and including everyone. The girls seemed to enjoy dressing up, the boys not so much so. The parents saw their kids recognized and praised and were sure to have pictures that were posted online. The changes reflected the general change in society and most if not all noticed no difference as they lacked the perspective of those early days I recalled.
The girls were in their second season. When the team started there were so little resources that the existing boys team booster club supported both programs. Consequently the girls were added to the banquet and both teams were recognized.
Understandably, the boys program was given most of the attention and time. The program is, in my opinion, the best public school program in the country. It was started in 1949 and since 1963 there have been three coaches. At one point the school went forty consecutive seasons without a losing season. The boys have sent a qualifier to the individual state tournament for 39 consecutive years, for 22 straight years and counting at least one wrestler has medaled, and at one point for 16 straight years the team had a state finalist. Considering Pennsylvania is widely regarded as the top high school wrestling state in the country, the program’s status in Nazareth is undeniable.
For a start-up girls program, it is one more challenge to confront. Of course they want to be treated equally, but they also respect that they need to do more than participate. The prior year was a celebration of a new program, a new tradition, but this year the shift went to merit.
The booster club’s gifts for seniors were equal for boys and girls, but the boys had more accomplishments and understandably got more recognition. The girls had a good season in terms of building. The team had a winning record after no dual meet wins in year one. We won one tournament and placed second in another and were competitive in all of the ones we entered, until it came to the post-season.
Our district was deeper and tougher than we had realized. When regionals took place our district outperformed the other two by a wide margin. Unfortunately, most of our girls placed fourth to sixth in Districts and only the top 3 advanced to regionals. We had one girl advance and place in states so that was a program milestone.
We had a lot to celebrate. Building is a struggle. It is rewarding though. I am very much focused on the journey rather than the endpoint at this point in my life. Seeing the boys and girls at the banquet really brought that home. The boys were at a point where the standard was so high that barring a state title everything else was a let-down and perspective of the journey was required to keep spirits up. The girls, while wanting more, could see the tremendous gains made over year one.
It is great to reflect on occasion. It helps us assess and realign. It keeps us grounded. The trick is not to dwell on it or try to relive it. The journey never stops. There is no singular goal, but instead an on going sequence of events. Enjoy them as they come, learn from them, and savor the process.
Resilient Seeker Coaching | Ross Raymond Nunamaker 