SJU Wrestling Family,
A 100-year Pandemic! Thank God it is only every 100 years. I cannot take another one of these pandemics in my lifetime.
I wanted to pass along the information that I have TODAY to all of you. We started practice on Monday, Jan. 11. We are starting this season for the second time a few months apart. The health and safety of our community is always a top priority. With this second go-around, and just a few practice days under our belts, I like the direction this team is heading towards. We have a hard-working bunch of underclassmen. There’s not a senior on the roster. Four years ago, when I took over the head coaching responsibilities late in the calendar year, I had one first-year student on the team. After two torn ACL’s, on the same knee, he is no longer wrestling. Our group this season has great eyes and ears. What I mean by that is they are looking for ways to get better and they are also very coachable. Anyone who has spent time in and around sports, has heard coaches talk about these types of student-athletes. It makes it a joy to come to practice everyday knowing that you have the attention and serious competitiveness of everyone in that room.
Due to the pandemic, we will be stranded within the state lines for our regular season. There will be no trips to Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, or Florida like we would traditionally have during a typical season. Most of the junior colleges have cancelled their wrestling seasons already. The teams to compete with have dwindled. We have two dates set at this point, outside of Regionals and Nationals. We have duals with Augsburg and Concordia, and both are home meets. We will live stream these events. We will also be running on two mats with extra matches. I am checking to see if we could have both running at the same time. There will be no fans and no wrestling parents at any of the MIAC sports competitions for winter sports this year. This might be a different story tomorrow, as COVID is still in control.
Recruiting is going well, even with the pandemic. We are getting wrestlers to look towards next year and this has been going well. We have had more senior and junior visits this year than in the past few years. Prospective student-athletes are tired of being locked down, as well. Speaking of adjustments being made to slow the spread of Covid-19, we have been occupying about half of the field house for practice. Having three regular competition-size-mats rolled out with one over-sized dual-meet mat makes for a spectacular wrestling complex. Now if I can just find a ways to keep some of the things that popped up from the pandemic around for the next 50 years (we might be wrestling in the largest facility in America). Instead of a much smaller room that most of us have dealt with in the past.
I am hoping to have a good, but short season. I would like to see our graduates have a graduation celebration this spring. And, most of all, I am looking forward to seeing our first inductee into the Saint John’s Hall of Honor (Gary Svendsen). It would be nice to have a huge showing of support for our first-of-many-to-be-inducted wrestlers down the road.
Stay safe, wear a mask, keep your social distance, webcast our duals, and we will look forward to seeing everyone soon at Gary’s induction this fall!
Coach Schiltz