Bobcats wrestling team practice begins
<p>Sophomore Bridger Lapierre attempts to throw down state champion senior Anthony Parkin during wrestling practice.</p>
SUPERIOR – As a start to the winter sports season, the Superior Bobcats wrestling team has begun to practice and build a team.
The team will be coached by Charlie Crabb, Superior High School’s physical education teacher, assistant football coach and wrestling veteran. Crabb grew up in Superior and was on the wrestling team when he was a student. When the coaching position opened up, Crabb decided to apply and bring his experience to a new generation.
Superior’s wrestling team will be small this season, with only a handful of members. According to Crabb, this has been the norm for the last few years. Since a full wrestling team is 15 people, the team will be impacted somewhat on the mat.
“We’re not going to win any duels,” Crabb said. “Where our success will come from is these guys placing high in tournaments.”
Because of the smaller team, loss of a member due to injury could be more serious to the team’s competitive ability. According to Crabb, most injuries are similar to those seen in football. Despite how physical and high impact wrestling can be, Crabb said the sport usually sees fewer injuries than football. With this knowledge, the team members should be able to rest a little easier.
Superior’s team this season should be a good one. At the time of the interview, a few tentative members were unaccounted for, but those who were present were veterans of high school sports. One member of the team could prove very good in competitions.
Senior Anthony Parkin is a state champion in wrestling. While this should be helpful to the team, it is not what Crabb will not rely on him to win matches. His main focus is for the whole team to compete well and prepare for the later competitions at the end of the season.
“I really don’t care what individual records are,” said Crabb. “What I want to do is get better every week.”
Most of the Bobcats’ wrestling matches this season will be away matches. There are only three matches in Superior scheduled this year with several tournaments in the buildup to the championships.
Crabb felt the most important dates were the divisional and state competitions. In wrestling, if a team does not place in divisionals, it does not move on to state. Because of this, Crabb’s goal is to have the team be at its best by the divisional tournament. He said everything, which leads up to divisionals should not be the focus and the team’s goal should be to constantly improve along the way.
“Everything else is just warm-up,” said Crabb.
At the time of the interview, the wrestling team consisted of Parkin, sophomore Bridger Lapierre and Michael Frost. Crabb said a couple freshmen were expected to join the team, but would not give names until it was confirmed.