Welcome!

Welcome to the Angry Fish Wrestling Club. This site is in a state of rapid steady development.

The move to Seneca Valley has made life easier for some, more difficult for others. Coaches Rich Catalano and Ben Rings live in the North Allegheny area, and have offered to give rides to any interested athletes from the south.

Coach Catalano will pick up athletes from T-Bones, near Wexford exit of route 79. If athletes arrange to get a ride with him, he will be there 5:50pm. Coach Catalano’s phone number is 412-400-9467; be sure to contact him before you show up expecting a ride.

Coach Rings will be leaving from a top-secret location, at an undisclosed time. His phone number is 724-612-2793; if you call, he may share his plans with you. It’s also possible we’ll update this post in the near future, and make those details public.

No practice tonight (Tuesday). On Thursday, we will resume our normal schedule.

Practice will be resuming at Seneca Valley Senior High School. If you don’t know the place, Google Maps will show the way. The field house, which contains the wrestling room, is all the way in the back by the football field.

While there are still a few details to be worked out, it looks as if practice Tuesday is a certainty, and Monday is a high probability. Assume that practice is on for Monday unless this page says otherwise.

Thank you for your patience.

Update: Thursday is a certainty, and Tuesday is a sketchy possibility. No practice Monday (today).

Our apologies for the continued chaos. We can’t wait to get back on the mat either.

Practice for today (Tuesday April 15th, 2008) is canceled. We will be changing our practices to a new location. Please watch this site for updates, which should be forthcoming forthwith.

The following may be considered a master tournament schedule for the spring; it contains every tournament which we would that be likely to attend as a group. It is unlikely that we would (or could) attend all of these as a group.

Until further notice, practices for all ages will be from 6:15 to 8:15 PM, at North Allegheny Senior High, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

Last Saturday, Angry Fish Coleman Scott and Phil Davis each won NCAA titles in commanding style.

In the finals, Coleman, a senior at Oklahoma State, pinned Iowa’s Joey Slaton in 49 seconds. Phil, a senior at Penn State, cruised to a 7-2 win over Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan. Senior Mark McKnight of Penn State wrestled eight matches to rise from an unseeded start to fourth place.

Six other Fish were in the tournament: Steven Bell (Maryland), Adam Frey (Cornell), Ryan Lang (Northwestern), Jarrod King (Edinboro), Josh Weitzel (Oklahoma), and Kurt Brenner (West Virginia).

Update: When this post went up, it failed to mention Mark McKnight. This was a gross oversight, probably resulting from the fact that it was written at quarter to three in the morning.

Obtaining the gym permits for the youth session has been difficult; we apologize for the great delay. This week’s practices will be at North Allegheny Intermediate School, in the small gym.

You can find a map to the Intermediate School here (Google Maps).

Due to the lateness of this announcement, it is quite possible that few athletes will be in attendance the first week. For those that attend, we will at least get registration done. We expect that things will be normal by next week.

It is highly likely that NAI will be home to our youth session for the rest of the season. There are a few last details which remain to be worked out however; a change of venue at some point is unlikely, but not impossible.

Thanks for your patience (assuming you’ve been patient).

It’s Wrestling Season!

The Angry Fish are proud to announce another season of Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Experience a season where no one cares what your record is, tournaments where no one cuts weight, and matches where slams score extra points.

This year we’ve expanded our staff to include top state and college wrestlers Rich Catalano and Ben Rings. We’ll be putting a strong technical emphasis on fighting for position, throwing, and making safe and correct leg attacks. And while the practices are helpful, wrestlers will get much more out of the season with an ambitious tournament schedule… we’re going to be taking trips to both local and national-level events.

Springtime wrestling is what the sport ought to be: low-pressure fun, even when you’re working hard. Get ready for next season by doing something different.

Head Coach

Ray Brinzer

• 3x Pennsylvania State Champion
• 3x Junior National Champion
• 2x NCAA All-American
• U.S. Open Greco-Roman Silver Medalist

Roving Assistant

Ty Moore

• 4x Pennsylvania State Champion
• Suave Man of the World

Cadet & Junior

(born 1993 and earlier)

• Group Coach: Rich Catalano
  • Pennsylvania State Champion
  • Greco-Roman Junior National Champion
  • NCAA All-American
• Weekdays: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
• Start Date: Monday, March 24th
• Last Practice: Tuesday, June 10th
• Time: 6:15 - 8:15pm
• Location: North Allegheny Senior High

Schoolboy & Younger

(born 1994 and later)

• Group Coach: Ben Rings
  • 2x Ohio State Champion
• Weekdays: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
• Start Date: Wednesday, March 26th
• Last Practice: Wednesday, June 11th
• Time: 6:00 - 8:00pm
• Location: TBA

Cost

• $210 for the season
• Additional siblings $160 each
• Club T-Shirt included in the season price
• Make checks out to: Angry Fish Athletic Club

Notes

• A USA Wrestling card is required for the season. You can get one online; we’ll just need the card number.
• We believe we have a venue for the Schoolboy group, but we don’t want to announce it until a gym permit is issued. We’ll update this soon.
• There will be a limit of 50 athletes per group, and a minimum of 10 athletes per group.
• The split between the groups is meant to be more helpful than restrictive. Our goal is to give athletes more appropriate workout partners and instruction, and more mat space. If we feel that an athlete would be better off in the other group, we can switch them.

Starting this Friday, we will be holding a class on leg-riding.

• Dates: November 30th - February 8th
• Time: Friday Nights, 6:15-8:15 PM
• Location: North Allegheny wrestling room
• Cost: $100 ($70 for additional siblings)
• Exceptions: There will be no class on January 11th. Class on December 14th may start late (details will follow)

Both offense (from the top) and defense (from the bottom) will be taught; the primary focus will be on “new legs”, though “cross-body legs” will also be covered.

Leg-riding is perhaps the most effective approach to wrestling on top, but it is a difficult skill to learn, and is very risky when done wrong. Riding legs well requires discipline and extensive practice; because of this, it is strongly suggested that athletes not miss classes if possible. Learning a bit of leg-riding is worse than learning none at all.

This course is mostly for experienced wrestlers. Novices who are serious about the sport are welcome as well, but should be ready for a challenge.