Student-Athlete and Parent Handbook
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PROPERTY OF PINE ISLAND PANTHERS WRESTLING 2019-2020 Student-athlete and Parent Handbook The Handbook This handbook is intended to be a guide for the policies, procedures, philosophy, and rules of Pine Island Wrestling. Included are the issues we believe are important to cover before the start of the season, along with a schedule of this season’s practices, meets, and tournaments. Please accept that is a constant “work in progress” just like a wrestler. Overall Program Goals Goal 1: Academic Success - You cannot wrestle if you can’t pass your classes. -“Even in the dictionary, academics come before athletics.” William A. Welker Goal 2: Personal Growth - We want each wrestler to incorporate the discipline, work ethic and self-confidence they gain through wrestling into their everyday lives throughout high school, college and beyond. If our kids fully commit and give everything they have to the sport of wrestling, wrestling will give them back much more. - “After you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy” Dan Gable Goal 3:Wrestling Success - Each athlete develops, improves, and matures as a wrestler. The coaches and wrestlers will work together to set individual goals, and develop a plan to reach these goals. The wrestlers who work their hardest to follow the plan will find the greatest success. - “Success is peace of mind, a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” John Wooden Pine Island Panther Wrestling: Mentality and Philosophy WE believe in the power of the wrestling community supporting great competitiveness, sportsmanship, and life building skills from Pre-K on up. Our program will be “Goal Oriented” with emphasis put on each individual wrestler reaching his/her highest potential of achievement, along with team goals that will continue a tradition of high success. P.I. PANTHER WRESTLING MENTALITY: “OUR BIGGEST ENEMY IS OURSELF, BEAT HIM/HER FIRST” ● We wrestle “our” match and “our” style. Stay within yourself. ● We dictate the match, we dictate the outcome. It’s hard to lose when you’re in charge. ● FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD. Constantly working for the takedown. SHOOT -SHOOT -SHOOT. It is the second, third, and so on efforts that scores 90% of the takedowns. Out work them. ● In the top position, YOU make the FIRST move break your opponent down, think control and work for a pin. ● In the bottom position, UP, UP, UP. YOU make the FIRST move, STANDUP get out; let the standup set up our reversals. Keep your movement continuous. GTHO (Get The Heck Out). ● Take what your opponent gives you. ● OUT WORK THEM the ENTIRE SIX+ MINUTES or until you PIN your opponent. ● In practice we DRILL, DRILL, DRILL: Drill for technique, Drill for conditioning, and Drill for perfection. ● Never jeopardize team morale. Be UNSELFISH. ● Take PRIDE in your STUDIES! ● Win or lose, be a CLASS ACT! ● Wrestling and living with this Mentality and Attention to detail will breed success in all aspects of life. The Coaches Pine Island High School Coaching Staff is a well balanced TEAM. The coaches will conduct themselves with the highest regards to being professional. It is our goal to coach all levels of the wrestlers’ skill levels in the program with effective strategies producing the best outcomes. The student athlete’s well-being, opportunities for success, and further understanding of the sport will be our compass. Coach Ethan Pierson - This season will be Coach Pierson’s first season at Pine Island. After five years of leading ELC in Iowa. He has coached wrestling for the last twelve years at some level. Also coached football and track over this time. Coach Pierson was a wrestler and graduate of St. James High School in 2009. He wrestled on the Varsity 9th-12th grades compiling 93 victories. Also wrestled in many Regional and National tournaments in Folkstyle and Freestyle/Greco. Also placing at many of those national and state level competitions. Coach Pierson attended Iowa Lakes where he wrestled for 2 years. Coach Pierson studied Law Enforcement while attending Iowa Lakes. Coach Pierson enjoys teaching the sport of wrestling to all who will listen. The sport has done many things for himself and is very excited to give back to the sport. Coach Coltan Laganiere - This will be Coach Laganiere’s first season as a full time assistant. He has helped with the youth program here at Pine Island over the last couple seasons. Coach Laganiere is a graduate of Kasson-Mantorville in 2013. Compiling 169 victories while he was there. He competed in the state tournament 9th-12th grades. Finishing 4th,DNP,1st,1st. He was also apart of 4 state teams capturing in a team title in 2013. Coach Laganiere went to SDSU and competed for 2 years. He studied Sociology while he was there. Coach Laganiere enjoys coaching wrestling and being around anyone who loves the sport. He brings a tough winning mentality to the coaching staff. Coach Eric Sanders- This will be Coach Sander’s first season at Pine Island. Coach Sanders was an assistant wrestling coach at MSUM from 2011-2017. As a 2003 graduate of Wabasha-Kellogg High School, Sanders totaled a school record of 223 wins. Sanders is only the second wrestler in Minnesota history to be a five-time champion in weights ranging from 103 to 119. As a senior, Sanders was awarded Mr. Minnesota of Wrestling, NHSCA Senior National High School All-American, Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award and Academic Minnesota All-State.Sanders graduated from North Dakota State University in 2008 with a degree in management information systems and a minor in computer science. Coach Zach Kennedy- This will be Coach Kennedy’s first season as a full time assistant. He has been in the wrestling room since 2014 helping with the high school. Coach Kennedy is a graduate of Pine Island in 2014. He compiled 101 wins and competed twice in the state tournament. After High school coach Kennedy would go RCTC for 2 and a half years for nursing. He then moved on to trade school be an electrician. Coach Kennedy also coaches Jr. high football. Being a Pine Island native. Coach Kennedy brings the past history of Pine Island into the present. He brings a friendly face and a competitive mentality to the coaching staff. Pre-season Information Before the season begins your child must have: 1) Current sports physical on file with the athletic office. 2) Health form waivers on file with the athletic office. 3) Concussion mandates and forms must be on file in the athletic office. Our Season This season officially begins Monday, November 18th and continues through the end of February. We will have practice each school day, some mornings and on occasional weekends. The included calendar is a good guideline for the days and times that we will have practice, but is subject to change. Practice and Competition Schedule The practice and competition schedule is included. Every effort will be made to follow these times. In the event that these times are changed, I will inform the wrestlers at practice and/or via text (if weather related). I expect parents and wrestlers to keep and use the schedule. If you need information, use the schedule, school website, call a teammate, or contact a coach if the above actions did not produce a result. If it’s on the calender you’re expected to be there. Weight loss and nutrition Weight control is an individual task for each wrestler. No wrestler will be told what weight to wrestle or be required to lose a single pound. The weight at which each wrestler will compete is determined by the body fat test (taken on 11/13 ). All wrestlers are expected to live up to the commitment and maintain his/her weight. Practices are intended to improve wrestling technique and conditioning, not to lose weight. If losing weight becomes more important than the technique being taught or worked on during practices, the coaching staff will step in and priorities will be realigned. Additionally, wrestlers are expected to have a proper diet that allows them to perform at their best both in practice and in meets. Eating the correct foods and staying hydrated are an absolute must for wrestlers to succeed. The coaching staff will give wrestlers as much help as they need to maintain a healthy diet and energy level. Sportsmanship Proper behavior and good sportsmanship are expected at all times from wrestlers, parents, fans, and coaches. We will not tolerate any exceptions. At no time is any wrestler or parent allowed to talk to a referee with disapproval of the job he is doing. The coaches promise to fight for our wrestlers if the situation deems it necessary. During a match, Pine Island wrestlers and parents are only allowed to cheer on the Pine Island competitor. Instructions are to be given to wrestlers by coaches only. Please, let the coaches coach and the wrestlers wrestle. Another important factor regarding sportsmanship is the way in which wrestlers handle losses and other setbacks. Adversity is a part of life and the way in which we handle it, individually and as a team, is crucial. Losing is tough and we expect all of our wrestlers to hate it. We also expect them to learn from it, use it as motivation, and handle it responsibly. Any inappropriate actions (swearing, outbursts, or other inappropriate behaviors) will have serious repercussions. The coaching staff will never be mad at a wrestler for losing, we may show frustration, but we will NEVER hold a loss against a wrestler, as long as he/she wrestled as hard as he/she could, and learned from it.