Head coach Eddie Hernandez is sending lines of his wrestlers up the steep hill at the back of the University City High campus nicknamed “The Death.”
\n“It doesn\u2019t help if you don\u2019t run it hard,” he urges some.
\n“I know you\u2019re tired, but it\u2019s like the third period and you\u2019re down by two points and I need you to score two points,” he exhorts others.
\nThe Centurions have won six of the last seven Western League titles, so something is working. Hernandez, in his fifth year, has led his team to championships in three of the last four years. Before that, UCHS won three in a row.
\nBack in the Activity Room behind the gym, 18 pairs \u2013 including the twins, juniors Rebecca and Vanessa Rogers \u2013 work on moves on each of their respective circles marked on the mat.
\nHernandez has two wrestlers demonstrate a move, then everybody claps once, “no talking,” and all 36 immediately move into practicing the move as pairs.
\n“Only so much can come from me,” Hernandez asserts in explaining the roles of senior captains Skyler Phillips and Kody Renly. “Skyler brings a lot of veteran leadership to our team. He\u2019s been injured. During that time, I don\u2019t want to say the team has been rudderless. (But) he\u2019s the heart. He feels the pulse of the team. He tells me, \u2018You\u2019re working them too hard,\u2019 or, \u2018You\u2019re not working them hard enough.\u2019”
\nBehind Phillips and Renly are a core of juniors: returning CIF placers Dusty Carr (112 pounds), Kevin Chen (184), and Tanner Kocher (105). Also, Jacob Figueroa (220), Matthew Fernandez (132), and Andres Miera (285).
\nRegarding Renly, Hernandez says, “He\u2019s very quiet. But when he says something, the others listen. He\u2019s the one the kids rally around.”
\nSays Kody, who wrestles at 195 pounds, “[I enjoy] the hard work. It really pays off. All the hours we put in during the week, then we show off on the weekends. Because we see the same wrestlers at all the events, so if we lose one week, we work during the next week on how to beat them, then we do it.”
\nSkyler, a 170-pounder whose goal is to serve as a policeman, says, “I\u2019m a hands-on learner. I have to do things over and over to learn. I do that in wrestling, and in ceramics class. I like being able to build stuff with my hands. It\u2019s relaxing, and (I like) being able to make things I can use. I\u2019m making a coffee mug right now. I made a whistle \u2013 an \u2018ocarina\u2019, domed with a flat bottom. It actually works. My ceramics instructor gave me the idea.”
\nPhillips describes the “inner game” on the mat: “Stay calm and focused, because if you go crazy you make mistakes. Wrestling is a sport of reactions. You\u2019re instigating. Depending on your opponent\u2019s reaction, you react. I get my opponent moving. You circle the opposite way to the (opponent\u2019s) foot you want to grab (example: move right to take his left foot). I time it, and take the shot.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Head coach Eddie Hernandez is sending lines of his wrestlers up the steep hill at the back of the University City High campus nicknamed “The Death.” “It doesn\u2019t help if you don\u2019t run it hard,” he urges some. “I know you\u2019re tired, but it\u2019s like the third period and you\u2019re down by two points and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":264944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"UCHS wrestling team running for success","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11600,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sdnews","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}