Monday, March 8 ... After a day of rest from state tournament wrestling and Atlantic City, here are some final post-season and post-Atlantic City thoughts:
--- Atlantic City is not the best place to have this ... much too expensive and a terrible atmosphere for kids ... the wrestlers involved in the tournament are fine, but the kids that come down "to watch" are the problem ... there's little or no supervision of them so they roam the boardwalk or, even worse, end up partying in a motel room.
--- We should move the tournament to The Meadowlands now ... it's a good venue with plenty of parking, cheaper rooms and not as many ways for the kids to get in trouble ... of course, the South Jersey schools won't agree.
--- Morris County coaches need to right our ship ... we had only one wrestler finish in the top three - Jeff Canfora of Delbarton, who beat Eric Fajardo of Boonton in the consolation for third/fourth place - and and a total of only four medal winners after Devon Gobbo of Delbarton finished fifth at 135 and Darren Dungee of Morristown was fourth at 215 ... our kids are not getting to the level of competition that they can because there is no concentrated off-season program in place similar to what the South Jersey schools have.
--- Our Jan Rosenberg was one win away from a medal ... he gained experience and will have seeding criteria for next year which, depending on his region results, should place him in a better position to make a run at finishing somewhere in the top six ... he certainly has the talent and he's only a sophomore.
--- It was good to see my good buddy Jeff (ex-Morris Knolls head coach) Churchill's son Kevin place third at 112 ... Kevin worked out with us last week ... he's a good kid who will be playing soccer at Rowan in the fall.
--- I would NOT recommend the Chelsea Hotel to anyone ... The Annex is bad and the staff is not too friendly ... lousy service in the coffee shop, too.
--- The past weekend was like a state wrestling convention ... it was good to see all the coaches down there ... even coaches who didn't have kids competing came down to watch.
--- I was very glad my wife made reservations at Carmine's for Sunday night, our last night in Atlantic City ... the food was delicious - but we both ate way too much.
--- That's it for now ... the 2009-2010 season has ended and the 2010-2011 season has already started ... being a serious wrestler takes a lot of time ... but it's still one of the best ways for a young adult to learn a lot about himself.
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Saturday morning, March 6 ... Friday, March 6: Well, it’s over for us. Jan Rosenberg split his two matches and is one of the top 12 103-pounders in the state and Adam Ramadan lost his only bout here but he can say he wrestled his last high school match on the sport’s biggest stage - the State Wrestling Championships in Boardwalk Hall at Atlantic City.
The experience for Jan will certainly make his work even harder next year so he can get back down here and do better. This place does that to you.
We had another weigh-in incident today when Mike Intile from Montville arrived at the weigh-in after the appointed hour. His coach had problems getting his car out of the valet service at The Shearaton where they stayed. He explained this to meet officials, but they would not hear of it ... they would not make an exception.
So what happens is that a senior, through no fault of his own, doesn’t get a chance to wrestle in the state tournament. Disgusting!
My long-time friend Mike Kennedy, who is captain of the police force in Parsippany, was here to watch the kids. He runs a training facility called “Pinnacle” and a lot of our kids go to him for their off-season weight training program. It was good to see him here.
The kids are going home with their parents ... we give them the option of staying with us throughout the tournament or going home and they decided to get back home with their family and friends. It has been a long season for them and they deserve some time on their own.
My wife is here and she’ll take me home ... this will be the start of us getting re-acquainted, too ... a lot of long hours with the team. She said she got something for me, too, something she knows I am going to like - reservations for tomorrow night at Carmine’s.
Enjoy!
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Friday night, March 5 ... There was a lot of excitement even before the wrestling started as there were some problems with some of the weigh-ins. Some of the kids who weighed-in early had either used a scale that wasn't calibrated correctly or they had weighed in too early and their weights were not official.
Some of the wrestlers then went out for something to eat and/or drink and, when they came back, they were told they had to weigh in again ... and we heard that some of them were overweight. They had to scurry to make weight and a couple of kids didn’t make it and weren’t allowed to wrestle. They weren’t too happy about it, as could be expected.
Fortunately, neither Jan nor Adam had any problems with their weigh-ins. Their weights were certified and then we went out and had a light lunch at the County Kitchen.
And then we wrestled.
Jan was in control all the way in his first match but his second didn’t go as well as he was up against a senior and one of the strongest 103-pounders I’ve seen in a long time. At least, Jan gets to wrestle tomorrow morning in the wrestlebacks
Adam lost his first match and that was it for him ... he had his hands full against a very good wrestler and did what he could.
We finished our day by taking Adam out for his “first meal” - the meal to which the wrestler treats himself when he knows he won’t have to make weight anytime soon. Adam had a hamburger, french fires and a root beer float and then ordered a milkshake to go. When we got back to the room, he had some of the chocolate chip pie a friend’s mom had made for him.
Adam would have preferred to have had to watch his weight longer ... but at least his stomach will go to sleep smiling.
Sleep is a good idea right now ... we're hoping we'll have a long day tomorrow.
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Friday Afternoon, March 5 ... It's about 2 p.m. and we just checked into The Chelsea Hotel. It used to a Holiday Inn and I got news for them -- it still is. There's free Internet, though, so that's one for them.
The boys were pretty quiet on the way down -- they slept most of the way. They got a kick out of seeing the windmills along the Atlantic City Expressway ... enjoyed the limo ride, too.
When we got to the room, they put on the flat screen and jumped into bed. It's kind of like a mini-vacation for them. They're excited, though, that's for sure.
The weigh-ins are at 3 p.m. - in about an hour. After that, we'll get something to eat and we'll be wrestling at 5 p.m.
I'm glad to see them so excited ... because I am, too.
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Thursday, March 4 ... The boys had a light workout today and they were mostly on their own, too, as the rest of the team handed in their equipment and uniforms.
We had to roll up and put away the mats in the room, too, so the pitchers on the baseball team could use our space to get in their throwing. We had to take down our plaques from the wall so they wouldn't get hit with an off-target pitch. The plaques were 15 feet off the floor, though ... shouldn't they be cut if they are that wild?
Adam and Jan are ready. We got a scouting report on Adam's kid and went over that with him. Jan played the part of the opponent. Jan said it was no big deal since he wrestled bigger kids in the National Greco-Roman tournament in Fargo last summer.
We gave the boys the itinerary and all they wanted to know was how was the food at the restaurant we're going to. They are excited about the limo and, judging from past trips, I'm sure they'll be testing out all the buttons and gadgets in the back. It's really worth the money and we appreciate our booster club for letting us do this.
Steve McKowen will be driving down with us, too. Steve came in fourth in the regions and was Ramadan's workout partner all season, so we'll continue to do that. Besides, I don't want to break up "The Three Amigos."
Everybody will pack tonight ... the limo leaves at 10:45 a.m. ... weighins are at 3 p.m. ... wrestling starts at 5 p.m. and it will go quickly once it starts since they'll be using eight mats.
I can't wait ...
