close
close

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Part – Newstatenabenn

    • New Columbia wrestling coaching staff inspires culture of trust and new path forward
    patheur

    New Columbia wrestling coaching staff inspires culture of trust and new path forward

    Sakege Posted on

    Three months ago, on a wrestling mat in Paris, Columbia assistant wrestling coach Sebastian Rivera was seconds away from letting his dream slip away.

    MORE UNIVERSITY FIGHT

    He trailed Mongolia’s Tomor-Ochiryn Tulga in the Olympic bronze medal match 9-8 as the clock ticked down.

    10. 9. 8.

    That’s when Rivera delved deeper. He launched himself at Tulga and twisted his body around him, pushing him to the canvas to take him down with great force. He found a way and that moment cemented his Olympic legacy: he was now officially a bronze medalist.

    Rivera brings that intensity, that fire and that determination to never give up to his new role now in the Columbia wrestling program. After returning from Paris, he joined the school’s staff led by his former Rutgers associate head coach, Donny Pritzlaff, who took over as head coach earlier this summer, along with Jeff Buxton, who coached Rivera. in Paris, and Greg Bulsak, another Rutgers. All American.

    It’s a unique staff with deep Big Ten roots that now works within the Ivy League, but Pritzlaff said it’s a staff he “trusts (his) life to.”

    “I’m really proud of these guys, the way they develop relationships with kids and push them, but sometimes they know how to back off, and they’re really fun to watch and be around,” Pritzlaff said in an interview. with NCAA.com. “Being able to work with them is so fun and great, and seeing them every day. Feeling more comfortable with the team will only make us better.”

    This is a group of leaders hoping to raise the level of Columbia wrestling and remain competitive in an Ivy League that has officially split from the EIWA this season and will compete for its own postseason conference title in March before the tournament. of the NCAA.

    ACROSS THE IVY LEAGUE: Penn | Brown | Princeton

    It’s a new era of wrestling at Columbia, but it’s one of great promise and excitement, both for collegiate athletes and those continuing on the senior circuit.

    coach confidence

    Columbia wrestling has had only six All-Americans in program history. Half of them earned their national recognition before junior Kai Owen was born.

    So it’s no surprise that Owen said he viewed the achievement as something “out of reach” when he started as a freshman with the Lions, something “reserved only for the best kids in the country.”

    But that has since started to change for the 141-pounder.

    After qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2024 and watching former teammate Lennox Wolak finish on the podium at 174 pounds, Owen is starting to believe this is a path for him.

    The new coaching staff only helps him with that confidence by fighting with him in the room every day.

    “I think doing those one-on-one reps with Sebastian Rivera, specifically for me because I’m a smaller guy, I think doing those one-on-one reps with him is helping me build my confidence,” Owen said. “But just feeling what it’s like to fight an Olympic bronze medalist is obviously incredible, and it’s a great opportunity for me to see where I am compared to such a high-level athlete like him.”

    REVERSION: Inside Sebastián Rivera’s mentality as a university athlete

    He’s not the only one who gets these benefits. Nick Fine, a redshirt junior topweight, said he has seen immediate growth in both the physical and mental aspects of his wrestling since the new staff took over.

    “I get to wrestle with Greg Bulsack, who is also an All-American, and the confidence you get from working with these guys is huge,” Fine said. “And on the other hand, with Donnie’s technique and Coach Buxton, I’m working on a lot of things at once, and every day in practice I really feel like I’ve made significant improvement.”

    Returning leaders

    Fine returns to the lineup this year at 184 pounds after spending a year off training alongside teammate César Alván, a redshirt 165-pounder who qualified for the NCAA tournament as a sophomore in 2023. , at the New York Regional Training Center.

    He explained that while he grew as a wrestler during that period, he also benefited from the opportunity to spend more time with his teammate Alvan, someone who, according to Fine, is “a leader for a reason.”

    “He’s incredibly hardworking, but also super disciplined, in every way. He really lives it and breathes it,” Fine said. “So being able to live with him for a year and learn a lot of things and then continue training, but take on a more reserved role as far as not competing, and take a step back, it definitely gave me a lot of perspective on where I was on my journey.” to become an All-American.”

    The coaching staff was also impressed with Alvan’s leadership and the values ​​he brings to the room every day, particularly during this coaching transition.

    “We didn’t really know who would step up, but Cesar seems to have the respect of the team and a lot of people look up to him and listen to him,” Rivera said. “It’s great that there’s someone on the team who has taken on that role.”

    However, Alvan is not only considered for his personal attributes. He found solid success this season on the mat, placing second at the Princeton Open after earning wins against Lehigh’s Richie Grungo, Rider’s Cole McComas, Princeton’s Sean Sefeldt and Joseph Cangro.

    He will also have a number of important tests ahead of him, as he will likely face No. 13 Beau Mantanona on Nov. 17 when the Lions battle Michigan and No. 15 Tyler Lillard in Columbia’s matchup with Indiana on Nov. 21. ahead of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in early December.

    However, the new staff is already helping Alvan believe he is capable of competing with the best.

    “Just in this first tournament, I was coming out of bounds, or the period was ending, and I was facing my corner, and I had these guys coaching me; that gives me confidence inside of me,” Alvan said. “I could have wrestled in the tournament the day after they were announced, and just the fact that they were in my corner at that time would make me a lot better.”

    Improving is the objective and the model is there.

    Alvan said he, like Owen and the rest of the Columbia team, was inspired last season by watching teammate Lennox Wolak, who now wrestles at Virginia Tech, earn All-American honors. Watching Wolak achieve big goals has helped Alvan believe he can finish on the podium too.

    ALL AMERICANS: Meet the 80 athletes who finished on the podium last season

    Wolak became Columbia’s first All-American in 10 years when he placed sixth at 174 pounds last season. For Alvan, the victory broke a barrier for him and his teammates, showing them what is possible. Alvan compares this to the phenomenon known as the “Bannister Effect.”

    “When a barrier that was previously thought to be unattainable is broken, a mental shift occurs that allows many others to overcome it,” Alvin said, reading the definition of the phenomenon on his phone. “This effect is named after the man who broke the 4-minute mile. I sent it to Lennox. Getting on that podium and becoming an All-American is, you know, possible… but when it’s not achieved, or at least within a while, it’s very difficult to conceive of it and think that it’s achievable. So the fact that Lennox can do that almost opens that door and that barrier for us.”

    The belief may have started with Wolak, but Alvan doesn’t expect it to end with him.

    “We have two, three, four or five, a group of guys on this team that are very capable of getting on that podium,” Alvan said. “And I think it will definitely happen this year, for years to come.” “Come on in and there are a lot of thanks to a lot of different people, but Lennox Wolak is definitely one of those names to be thankful for.”

    The coaching staff wasn’t willing to offer names on which guys to watch, but Alvan and his teammates weren’t afraid to shout out their friends, including the 125-pound sophomore. Sulayman Bah and Jack McGill, senior, at 174 pounds.

    ‘Don’t give up. Be tough.’

    What will it take to help these guys become All-Americans like Wolak? For Rivera, the answer is simple: don’t quit. Be tough.

    “It’s hard to teach it, but I’m trying to implement it a little bit as best I can in my wrestling,” Rivera said.

    Coaching at the college level may be new for Rivera, but he has a model in Pritzaff and Buxton, mentors who have helped him achieve his goals and mentors who now support him to do the same for the next generation of Columbia athletes.

    OLYMPIC SUMMARY: What we learned about each of the Olympic medalists

    Pritzaff, however, believes that simply having Rivera, and his intensity, in the room will elevate the culture of the program.

    “We’ve been trying to get these guys to understand that our culture is going to be a hard-fighting culture where guys like Sebastian said they’re not going to give up, they’re going to continue to try hard,” Pritzaff said. . “And we’re trying to build that and we’re trying to maintain that throughout the season.”

    Rivera’s credentials, and the fact that he’s still active in the sport, give him the credibility to back up everything he says, and he’s already had an impact on guys like Owen, Alvan and Fine, who are looking to make leaps this year under the new staff.

    “When you think about an Olympic medalist, it’s hard to even understand how someone can be so good at times,” Fine said. “And you know you almost think there’s some kind of secret method, but working with (Rivera) has been really cool because it’s as simple as his intensity and… just the fact that anyone can try to emulate that just by trying.” to match their intensity, not only in competition, but in practice, day after day.

    Every practice, every rep, every second matters because, as Rivera said, “you never know when something big can happen with 10 seconds left in a game. “You saw it at the Olympics.”

    Whether it’s the world’s biggest stage or the NCAA Blood Round or anywhere in between, this mantra of “don’t give up, be tough” will be part of the Columbia ethos as the team looks to add to the history books this season. season and fight to take athletes to the podium, both in the Ivy League tournament and in the NCAA, with new confidence.

    Sakege
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like