It’s an interesting moment in the sport of wrestling right now. Holyoke head coach Vin Silano said it best: “(It’s) a tough time for this sport due to its up close and personal nature in a time where we aren’t exactly supposed to be up close and personal.”
Amid COVID-19 regulations meant to keep all athletes as safe and healthy as possible, coupled with the fact that most teams weren’t able to have a typical season (or any season) at all last year, most teams are facing an influx of new wrestlers and don’t have as many returners or experienced athletes. That’s the case for Northampton this year, said head coach Josh Bialek.
“Nobody is raised on wrestling around here for the most part. So when they step on my mat for the first time, they’re stepping on a mat for the first time, period. “It’s always usually like starting from scratch, and that’s why I always try to recruit as young as possible.”
Silano has a similar situation with the Holyoke wrestling team, with a lot of athletes who have already established themselves in other programs wanting to try a new program like wrestling.
“We have a lot of new wrestlers, new additions, kids that are trying to find new roads and make a new name for themselves,” said Silano. “Whether they participated in a sport like football or sport like baseball, they’re now coming out for something that they’ve never done before, and that’s really great to see.”
Small roster sizes and younger athletes are also impacting teams like Granby, which is serving as the host school for a co-op team between itself, South Hadley and PVCICS, as well as more established teams like Hampshire, who have just three returning athletes on their squad this season after winning the most recent Western Mass tournament.
Smith Vocational finds its team in a similar spot, with more than half of the team featuring first-year wrestlers, but head coach Will Hearn anticipates a few of his kids could place at the upcoming Western Mass. tourney. Forrest McSweeney, who placed fourth in Western Mass. as a freshman, is looking forward to improve on that finish after missing last year’s tournament because of COVID-19. Hearn anticipates sophomore Alex Marinez placing high individually as well, and hopes his team can make a run at the league championship as well.
Hampshire’s team is an anomaly amid the other local teams: though they have by far the smallest squad in the area, they’re one of the most experienced, as all three of their wrestlers are returners. Undaunted by his team’s small numbers, head coach Todd Bryant emphasized that his team will focus on individual growth and development.
“I could get really depressed — I mean, for the last 15 years, I’ve been putting out a sectional champ virtually every year, a state champ every two years … and now I’ve got three kids,” Bryant said. “(But) we don’t have to start at square one. I’ve got three kids that really want to be here, I’ve got their undivided attention. They’ve got each other and we’re just throwing everything we have at it … We’ve identified individual goals for each kid, we’ve identified goals for the team and goals for practices and what we want to come out of this with, and we’re all in a good spot in our head.”
While Hampshire may not have a large team this year, it does have a wrestler who’s close to hitting an individual milestone. Junior Alex Willard should hit 100 career wins by midseason, according to his coach. Currently, Willard is sitting in the mid-80s in the win column and may be the only wrestler to hit the milestone this season, thanks to the influx of new wrestlers and the pandemic shortening or eliminating last season for many teams.