Will there ever be another 4x DD Champ

[Inquiry from the bleachers]

Now that Justin Smith has moved on. Will there ever be another 4 X DD Champion? The kid did make history this year by achieving such an accomplishment. I hear there are a few kids coming in at Potfalls, BRun, & Dominion that might have a chance of dupilcating what Smith did. Let me know what you think DD. Please keep it clean.

[coachnagy]

This is a very interesting question to think about. The answer is clearly yes there will be another 4Xer... forever is a long time, but the question is...how long will we have to wait to see it. Honestly I believe it is a lot harder to do in the Dulles District than most, if for no other reason than there are no middle school programs in Loudoun County. There are indeed club programs in this county but there is a difference between a club program that practices a couple of times a week and a middle school program that practices daily. The kid that does it is going to have to pretty considerable wrestling experience and will likely start his career at 103 or 112.

Here is an interesting stat for you though... last year the number of Freshman District Champions-0
Freshman District Finalists-0
Freshman District Place Winners-0

This is a pretty astounding stat and should tell you the level that the district was at a year ago... I don't expect the last stat to remain the same this year, someone will likely break through.

Hope that everyone is having a good start to the summer and are ready to work hard

Coach Nagy

[Inquiry from the bleachers]

Thanks coach Nagy for the facts but, this is also a very interesting fact. Smith came out of a club program (Chantilly WC, Herndon Rattlers, and Loudoun MatMen) and he made big strides in the sport. He also had a few good coaches along the way to contributed to his success as well (Tim Ryan Herndon Rattlers/NOVA Mat Dawgs, Bruce Hall South Lakes H.S., Scott Hawk Loudoun MatMen, Chuck Hoskins Westfield H.S., Matt Bartlett Dullles Mat Club, and the list goes on). The point I am making is that you can have some kids in these clubs with a lot of talent and potential to be good; what they need is a good coach to work with them to bring out that talent / potential. So, you don't necessarly need to be in a middle school program to be successful in the sport. It would not hurt to be in a MS program to get the extra time on the mat, but in this Northern VA we have work with what we got. Case & point Coach Nagy look at what your doing with your kids in the off season (Good Job by the way). You have a club that is investing into some up & coming talented wrestlers in this area. Once again all it takes is the coach to invest into these kids and also it take some kids who are well to have a coach invest in them, now if we could get that same type of coach / kids with this same mentality at the MS level. Think of what could be achieved in the sport.

[nwwrestler07]

It is tough to win districts 4 times in any district, Not only does it require great skill, but also durabilty, stamina, not getting injured or burnt out, etc. You have to be better than everybody in your weight class which is tough. Not even Derrick Borlie was a 4 time district champ, so that has something to say on the amount of work it takes..

[coachnagy]

I definitely agree with you about Justin and the strides he made over the years. I have been in the Dulles District for only the past two years but remember Justin from his Freshman and Sophomore years when I was coachinig at Lee. I think that Justin has improved tremendously over the past two years though. He developed from "The guy with the bear hug" to being a genuinely respected technical wrestler as well. I was honestly believe that he was the best 125lber in the state this year, but just had a bad match at the wrong time.

Now as to the whole middle school debate thing, the reason that I said middle schools give an advantage is in large part due to the fact that as a District we haven't been producing the level of state champions that we would all like. Scanlan, Wheaton and Powers are the only three that come to mind (I could easily be wrong)... and they haven't wrestled in quite some time. Last year the highest finish of any Dulles District Wrestler was Stevens(LC) at 6th. I personally know Rich Pollock who is the head middle school coach at Christiansburg, he was a former high school head coach and a former Olympic Alternate back in the day. Having coaching like that at that age is a huge advantage for a bunch of kids that get to work out every day. I also grew up in the Shenandoah Valley where almost all of the schools including Turner Ashby have solid middle school programs, along with Sherando/Jameswood, Orange and Louisa... all of which have been producing state champion quality kids over the past ten years.

However, you are correct with a lot of hard work and some good direction it isn't impossible to overcome not having a middle school program. Hard work is a tough thing to combat, when it is focused in the right direction. A good club team can really make a difference in a wrestler, especially if that is the only option available to those kids. As you of course know I am a huge supporter of club wrestling and I truly believe that offseason wrestling will lead to championships... for example I know that Joe Sheptock wrestled Ormsby of Chancellor at South County today. Ormsby finished 4th in the state at 145 this year and beat Joe at states. Today Joe beat him 9-2. Not bad for a kid that didn't start wrestling until 9th grade.

In conclusion, I think you are absolutely right there is nothing that will beat a great work ethic, I guess I just wish that our kids had the same advantages as everyone else. Until they do... we will do the best we can and see if we can't get a few on the medal stand next year.

Thanks for the feedback though
Coach Nagy

[Inquiry from the bleachers]

I think things will improve in this area as coaches continue to contribute to the sport. I know for a fact that the Loudoun MatMen & Ranger WC are making major strides to improve the level of wrestling in the Loudoun County area.

I think with the club program if they would add another day of practice time vs just going 3 days a week it would make a big difference. Also, if some of the High School coaches would get involved in some of the club programs that would be a great help. Since, the club programs are the only feeder system (if you can call then that) for the H.S. programs it wouldn't hurt (just food for thought).

Thanks Coach Nagy & the Guru for the positive feedback.

[Guest]

I know a few wrestlers have done it in the past such as Will Powars but I dont know how long it will take for another one to happen. Like coach Nagy pointed out once we see a freshman win the district title again, then it will be time to start watching. There are a few local clubs for elementary wrestlers such as the Sterling mat club. But it would be nice to see more