Angry Fish Wrestling Club

The Angry Fish Wrestling Club is a USA Wrestling-sanctioned club; our insurance comes from our membership. For this reason, we require everyone joining to get a USA Wrestling card. Cards last only 1 year, so they have to be renewed annually; USA Wrestling’s membership year begins in September. We have been hassling the guys at USA about offering multi-year memberships, and they seem to be working on it, but for now, it’s year-by-year.

So, if you haven’t joined USA yet this year, you need to. You can get a card at any tournament, or you can join online here. We used to take money for USA cards, and turn in applications for people, but we no longer do; it was a hassle, and now USA’s online registration makes that unnecessary.

One of the things you’ll notice when you’re signing up is that you have the option of listing yourself with a club. There are several things you should understand about this.

First, in Pennsylvania, you can choose to wrestle for whatever club you want at any particular local tournament. If your card says “Angry Fish”, but you want to wrestle for Quest that day, you put “Quest” down on the tournament registration form. At larger tournaments, like the state championships, however, you have to wrestle for the club on your card. The PAWF, which is Pennsylvania’s governing body for freestyle and Greco, allows you to officially change the club you’re registered with once per year, for free; after the first time, though, they charge for each time you change.

Now, we don’t mind who you wrestle for, on any given day. If you want to represent us at a tournament, that’s great.. just make sure you’re a good sport, so you don’t embarrass us. If you wrestle for another club at a particular tournament, that’s fine too; however you should understand that we’re not going to coach you at that tournament. This is a simple matter of respect; if you’re wrestling for someone else at that tournament, and we sit in your corner, we’re sitting in another coach’s chair. We don’t do that. And if you’re wrestling for another club, and they don’t have a coach there… well… that’s your decision.

Overall, we want you to represent us because you’re proud to be a Fish. But if someone else has been coaching you for years, and you feel loyalty to him, by all means, stick with his club. You can still sign up for our season, and practice with us. We’re here to serve the wrestling community, and take over the world… not necessarily in that order. But we’re not petty about it; when we crush the enemy, we do it with class.

Our best-known course: learn freestyle and Greco-Roman skills with strong transfer to folkstyle, and prepare for the national championships in Fargo, North Dakota. Warm-ups emphasize gymnastic skills, and there will be considerable live and situation-live wrestling. Calisthenic and cardio-vascular training increases as the season progresses, peaking for the state championships.

Note: While tournament attendance is not required, it is strongly encouraged. You will get much less out of the course if you don’t go to tournaments on a regular basis.

The age limit is not firm; it is meant to give athletes the best possible workout partners and instruction. Younger athletes who feel this is the best situation for them will be considered on an individual basis.

This course is for younger athletes looking for new experiences, and solid technique. Some skills specific to freestyle and Greco will be taught, but the emphasis will be on generally-applicable skills. Warm-ups emphasize gymnastic skills, and there will be a fair amount of live and situation-live wrestling. Moderately difficult calisthenic and cardio-vascular training throughout the season.

The age limit is not firm; it is meant to give athletes the best possible workout partners and instruction. Older athletes who feel this is the best situation for them will be allowed.

We do not have a lower age limit; we have a lower maturity limit. Athletes who are cannot pay attention for the entire practice, or who are not willing to work hard, will be asked to leave. There’s always next year.

If we do not have 20 athletes enrolled by the end of the second week of practice, this course will be canceled, and the tuition refunded. If, prior to the end of the second week of practice, you find that you do not have appropriate workout partners, you may drop and have your tuition refunded.

Personalized wrestling-specific strength-training, with some work on flexibility and balance, in a small group. Personal limits will be measured at the beginning and end, and workouts will be tailored to a certain extent towards individual weaknesses. The exercises will be a mix of the conventional and the unorthodox; there will be a lot of variety, and we will work on core strength by de-stabilizing the workout environment.

This course is for ambitious athletes, not athletes with ambitious parents. If you’re not ready to attend regularly and work hard, don’t sign up.

This is an experimental course. We will work on physical skills useful for, but not specific to, wrestling. Balance, flexibility, speed, and strength will all be measured at the beginning and end, and enhanced in unconventional ways. There will be some relevant games, but more work than play.

This course is for ambitious athletes, not athletes with ambitious parents. If you’re not ready to attend regularly and work hard, don’t sign up.

This is a simplified version. For more detail, check the original (PDF).

Registration/weigh-ins for Greco-Roman, Freestyle, or Both Styles – 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM evening before tournament and 7:00 AM to 7:30 AM morning of tournament; wrestling begins at 9:00 AM

Registration/weigh-ins for Freestyle only – 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM; wrestling begins at APPROXIMATELY 12:00 Noon (but more likely 1 or 2 PM)

$5.00 per style for Kids and Open Divisions; $15.00 for one style or $20.00 for both styles for Schoolboy, Cadet, and Junior Divisions

For more information, read the original (pdf).

Angry Fish Jake Herbert capped a dominant performance at the 184-pound national championships, today, with a 6-1 win over Jake Varner of Iowa State. Herbert, a junior, was undefeated coming in to the tournament, winning the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the Big-10 Championships. He is Northwestern’s first national champion since 1990, and the second NCAA champion from North Allegheny High School.

Oklahoma State junior Coleman Scott lost a tough 3-2 decision to Matt Valenti of Penn in the finals at 133. Coleman, a three-time national champion for the Angry Fish, and a three-time state champion for Waynesburg High School, took 5th last year, and 7th in 2005.

Ryan Lang, from Northwestern, also made the finals. Lang was a four-time state champion in Ohio, and was the 2002 Junior National freestyle champion. Lang, who did not wrestle for the Fish in high school, began representing the club with teammate Jake Herbert in freestyle tournaments in college.

Phil Davis, a junior at Penn State, took fourth at 197 pounds. Davis was NCAA runner-up last year, and was a Greco-Roman National Runner-Up in high school.

Also representing the Fish at nationals were Mark McKnight of Penn State, Adam Frey of Cornell, Matt Hill of Edinboro, Matt Storniolo and Josh Weitzel of Oklahoma, and Kurt Brenner of West Virginia.

The PAWF has posted their spring tournament schedule. It should be noted that there are sometimes changes and additions, as the season progresses. In particular, it’s possible that tournaments may be added… we hope so, particularly in the west. If anyone in our neighborhood wants to hold a tournament, get on it! We’ll announce it here, and we’ll attend it.

March 18 – Benton Middle School
March 24 – Northern York High School
April 1 – Butler Intermediate School
April 6 – Washington & Jefferson College
April 14 – Brute Scholastic Duals
April 21 – Manheim High School
April 22 – Central Cambria High School
April 28 – Lewistown Middle School
April 29 – Wissahickon High School
May 5 – Haverford Prep School
May 6 – Connellsville Junior High
May 12 – Downingtown West High School
May 13 – Junior Club Duals – Delaware Valley College
May 19 – Clarion High School
May 20 – Stroudsburg Junior High
June 15-17 – PAWF State Championships at Blue Mountain High School
July 20-26 – Cadet & Junior Nationals

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It may be of some interest to the community that Johannes Philip Brinzer, son of Angry Fish coach Ray Brinzer, was born six weeks early in New York City, on February 2nd, at 12:32pm. He weighed 4 pounds, 14 ounces, and was 19½ inches long.

This has been the cause of various delays in the club, including updates to this site. A roundup of some very good news on how the Angry Fish have been doing in NCAA competition is overdue, and will hopefully be up soon.

On Saturday we had some major successes on different sides of the globe.

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Senior Rob Waltko of North Allegheny won the Pennsylvania High School State Championships at 171 pounds, beating A.J. Brentzel of Penn Trafford in the finals, 6-3. Rob, a two-time state finalist, will be attending Bucknell University this fall, on a full wrestling scholarship.

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Meanwhile, in Sofia, Bulgaria, Mike Rossetti took third place at 84kg (185 pounds) in the prestigous Ivan Iliev Junior Greco International. After losing to Pawel Polslad from Poland in the semi-finals, Mike defeated Bulgarian Ivan Blagoev in the consolation finals. Mike trains in Greco-Roman wrestling at the University of Northern Michigan, on a full scholarship.

Thanks to Sean McMahon of WVCD2.com for the pictures of Rob.