Coach Jonathan Blackwell said the wrestling team is doing well, but the practices need to be more intense to get improvement.

“The boys overall did what we expected of them. The ones we expected to do well did. We had many medalists in the Bay Area 53 tournament held on Dec. 12, Cameron Haynes, Joshua Little, Alex Lopez, Amadeus Martinez, and Luis Segura,” Blackwell said.

Blackwell is impressed by the talent of some of the newer wrestlers.

“All of our newcomers have potential. The one that has had the most success right away is Amadeus Martinez. All wrestlers have the potential to be great. Sometimes it takes a while for them to realize that success, but if they keep with it, it will come to them,” Blackwell said.

Martinez placed at the Lodi Novice tournament (second), Falcon Dual Shootout (third), Dual versus Lathrop (fourth), and the Bay Area 53 tournament (fifth). Blackwell said he will more than likely continue that streak.

Blackwell works to improve the team by hiking up the overall intensity of the practices. The team has not been practicing as hard as they will near the end of a season. With such a young team, Blackwell is focusing a greater percentage of the practices on technical training, which requires a more moderately-paced practice.

“I am glad that the practices are getting more intense. Right now, I just overpower everyone in my weight, so I need to improve on my skill,” Martinez said. “In the new and intense practices we practice speed, going against each other, learning new moves, and reviewing the moves we already learned.”

“As the team matures, we will get back into a more intense type of practice, probably after the winter break. I expect this to come as a shock to some of the newer wrestlers,” Blackwell said.

“I feel very good about having more intense practices because all of our wrestlers need to become stronger. They are also a lot younger, so they need the more intense practices to prepare them for not only this year, but the following years as well,” Lopez said.

“There are league matches coming up in a few days, so the intense practices are getting me ready and preparing me for the tough matches ahead of me,” Martinez said.

Blackwell is also focusing on getting the wrestlers to attend all the practices, which is a hard task at the moment because many wrestlers are not attending practices due to finals or illness. Blackwell has a three-day maximum unexcused absence policy before the wrestler is subjected to being cut from the team. He expects some wrestlers to be cut after winter break.

“Attendance is crucial. Wrestling is learned through repetition and scaffold based teaching. The things a coach teaches today is most likely based on what was taught earlier,” Blackwell said. “If a wrestler misses practice, it hurts them. It also hurts their teammates, who must slow down the training for them.”

Blackwell expects to beat two or three out of the five teams in league. The team this year is much younger than Lodi and Tokay, making for tough duals. The same is true, but to a lesser degree for both St. Mary’s and Lincoln.

“We have a few kids who I expect to have great success. I want to win a team title, but taking individual wrestlers as far as they can go is more important to me as a coach,” Blackwell said. “The team’s strongest point is tenacity.”

The next tournament is the Lodi Shootout on Dec. 18. There will be four different tournaments over the winter break and practices almost every day.