Covington Catholic Wrestling-Dawn of a Program

The inaugural season of CovCath Wrestling begins in earnest with a scrimmage on Saturday 11/16.

Although I have only met Coach Dave Johnson a few times, I cannot say enough about coach and his staff and what they are contributing in the building of this program. As you can expect, Dave is taking a group wrestlers, short on experience, but big on heart and building this thing the right way. He has instilled the rules and guidelines for the program that is much more than just the techniques of wrestling. These include attention to schoolwork, respect for others, proper nutrition, workouts, and diligent practice in a wrestling room recently put together.

Covcath will wear their blue singlet most of the time but will also have a special occasion white singlet with Colonel logo. You have to earn the "Right to wear White".

And who do the fledgling Colonels open their wrestling history with? None other than the mighty Moeller Crusaders. (and scrimmage Elder the week after that). Dave Johnson is aiming high for this program, yet all the while paying homage and respect to the wrestling powerhouses of the area such as Campbell County, SK, Ryle, Cooper, and Conner to name a few, as well as the Ohio powers as well (Moeller, Elder, Norwood, etc.). I am not sure he could schedule every powerhouse, but looking at the Varsity and JV schedule it reminds me of the old Fresno State football coach Pat Hill, who often had to go on the road to get games vs. Pac 12 competition. Pat Hill's rallying cry: "Anybody, Anytime, Anywhere".

Will this team and program take some lumps over the few years? Of course they will. Building anything from the ground up is tough. Will they kids be better off for it both in terms of wrestling ability and as young men? No doubt in my mind.

Good luck Coach and go Colonels.

Good luck to the Colonels.

From a high-school wrestler back in the day and the son of an old-school wrestling coach.

First-year program going against Moe seems a bit much. Hang in there, boys.

Good luck to the program. Very glad to see this program going. I am sure with the schools reputation it will be the beginning of strong successful program.

First-year program going against Moe seems a bit much. Hang in there, boys.

I thought the same thing, but what other options are there?

How many wrestling matches does a school typically schedule?

Are there multiple matches per week (like basketball) or only one per week (like football)?

How many wrestling matches does a school typically schedule?

 

Are there multiple matches per week (like basketball) or only one per week (like football)?

Teams are allowed 17 weigh ins excluding the post season. In reality, few schedule that many. Typically, teams will have one dual type meet (with 1, 2 or 3 other teams) during the week (usually Wednesday) and attend a larger tournament or dual style meet (with more teams) on Saturday. Wrestlers cannot wrestle more than 5 matches in one day.

Teams are allowed 17 weigh ins excluding the post season. In reality' date=' few schedule that many. Typically, teams will have one dual type meet (with 1, 2 or 3 other teams) during the week (usually Wednesday) and attend a larger tournament or dual style meet (with more teams) on Saturday. Wrestlers cannot wrestle more than 5 matches in one day.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the insight!

Last week CovCath won their first ever match in a victory over Walnut Hills. (They then lost to Anderson the same night, but technically goes down as winning their first ever Varsity match participated in! (Hey, who's counting).

Sophomore Daniel Branch (St. Joe Cold Spring) with the first ever pin in CovCath history. The CovCath bench erupted when the official finally gave the tap. The rest of the kids battled hard and CCH had some other pins as well.

Must give respect to both Anderson and Walnut Hills. Both teams, coaches, and fans classy in victory and defeat.

JV Colonals face Ryle tonight with a big weekend ahead for both Varsity and JV.

It's not exactly a one on one scrimmage going head to head against a school like Moeller or Elder. It is a mass scrimmage format with typically 8-10 schools represented. While the Colonel wrestlers were competing against kids from Big Moe, but you typically try to pair them up by experience level so that there is not such a huge mismatch.

It was a great experience for the team to see the top program in the area and how they compete.

I've been told that football players at CovCath are encouraged not to join the wrestling team.

I've been told that football players at CovCath are encouraged not to join the wrestling team.

That makes two of us.

I've been told that football players at CovCath are encouraged not to join the wrestling team.

That is a mistake, wrestling, as long as they aren't forced to cut weight, is awesome for football players. It helps so much with footwork, balance, core strengh and understanding leverage. Wrestling is a nice compliment to football. It was much harder IMO than the football offseason conditioning.

That is a mistake, wrestling, as long as they aren't forced to cut weight, is awesome for football players. It helps so much with footwork, balance, core strengh and understanding leverage. Wrestling is a nice compliment to football. It was much harder IMO than the football offseason conditioning.

I agree with everything you said.

However, I have 5 friends who wrestled in high school, and excepting formerkywrestler (he's not the biggest dude I've ever met, and I would guess he didn't ever have to cut weight, but I've never talked with him about it one way or another), every one of them had to cut weight. I've heard stories about water and celery diets for 3 or 4 days straight, going for runs in the summer wearing sweats over top of sweats with a garbage bag over top of the whole thing....lots of unhealthy stuff.

I agree with everything you said.

 

However, I have 5 friends who wrestled in high school, and excepting formerkywrestler (he's not the biggest dude I've ever met, and I would guess he didn't ever have to cut weight, but I've never talked with him about it one way or another), every one of them had to cut weight. I've heard stories about water and celery diets for 3 or 4 days straight, going for runs in the summer wearing sweats over top of sweats with a garbage bag over top of the whole thing....lots of unhealthy stuff.

I've seen that myself but I never personally did it. If I was too heavy I just wrestled up but I wasn't all that good so I only ever wrestled JV. I had a state champion and a state runner that were the same age as me in the weight classes I could have wrestled in. I wasn't beating either of those guys in a wrestle off so I guess it didn't matter.