A former Lake wrestling standout is now turning out a standout wrestling program.
Chris Minick, a 1993 Lake graduate, is now a wrestling coach at Field Middle School.
His team finished the season undefeated. The Field Middle School team outscored their opponents 1,430 to 366.
“The last time Field had an undefeated wrestling program was 1987,” said Chris. “My dad was the coach.”
His dad, Chuck, affectionately called "Pops" by the team, coached Chris as a kid. Now Pops, along with Paul Cotton and Tom Roehlig, coach alongside Chris.
“It’s all come full circle,” said Chris.
The undefeated Field season began seven years ago when Chris started a kindergarten through sixth grade youth program. “It’s so important to have a strong feeder system,” said Chris.
“I now live in Field and I wanted a good program for Field.”
The youth program started with nothing. No money. No gym. No mats. So Chris borrowed money from his mother, Sue, to purchase a mat. The youth program met in the cafeteria and started practicing. They conducted fundraisers to re-pay the borrowed mat money and to begin buying much needed supplies. “We aren’t funded by the school,” said Chris. The fundraisers are essential to the program.
Eleven of the 22 middle school wrestlers on this season's undefeated team emerged from the youth program.
“We have 16 weight classes. We knew what weight brackets we needed to fill and we told the boys, ‘We need kids that are this size’ and the boys went out and recruited their friends,” said Chris.
“Wrestling is a difficult sport,” said Chris. “It takes strength.”
So, six weeks before the practice season, the coaches had the kids in the weight room. They ran. They conditioned. They developed flexibility and strength.
“There’s a correlation between this sport and life,” said Chris. “It’s what I implement in my life - if you work hard, you'll be successful. Wrestling teaches you how to set goals and how to accept losses. And how we accept losses reveals character. In wrestling, when there's a loss, there’s no one else to blame. You can't say you lost because a teammate fumbled the ball or missed the basket. In wrestling you take a loss and you use it to get better.”
Chris said the harder the coaches pushed the seventh and eighth grade team, the harder the boys responded.
“All season they told me they would go undefeated,” said Chris. “I believed in them, but I knew our schedule was difficult.” Field took on opponents such as Springfield, Coventry, Manchester and Lake.
The coaches cut a deal with the kids. If the team finished the season without a loss, the kids would get a pass to the Kent State Rec Center. “One match after another, they kept stepping it up,” recalled Chris. “So, we’re working on those rec passes.”
Chris said more importantly than the wins, he was impressed with the way the boys supported one another. They cheered for each other. Parents and friends turned out to show support. “They meshed together and I've never seen anything like it.”
Chris garnered support from his former coach, Lake's head wrestling coach, Mike Mattingly and Wadsworth's coach John Gramuglia. “These guys have programs that I respect a lot. When I asked them for advice, they never hesitated to offer a helping hand.”
As the 2008-2009 wrestling season draws to a close, Chris is thankful for his assistants, his family and his employer, Ayers Insurance. “Coach Cotton deserves a lot of credit,” Chris said.
“He’s a thinker. He’s always one step ahead of everyone. He knows what we should be doing in practice. He's great.”
Chris said Tom Roehlig would devise workouts that caused the team to focus on their technique, strength and mental toughness.
Through the season, Chris was away from home many evenings. If he wasn’t coaching or attending meets, he was scouting other teams. “We're a wrestling family and my wife, Michelle, never complains. She’s supportive of this.” The couple have three children, Johnny, a member of the team, Tori and Joey, 5, who wears a singlet under his school clothes when the Field Middle School team has a meet. It's for good luck, Joey says.
