Robinson, Sunderland, Polz Gracie featured clinicians @NHSCA Sr. Nationals

by NHSCA

Posted on March 19, 2006

Senior Nationals High School Wrestling Championship and Convention
Pittsburgh, PA
March 23, 2006 - March 26, 2006

EASTON, Pa. – University of Minnesota head coach J Robinson, Penn State University head coach Troy Sunderland, National High School Coach of the Year Mike Polz of Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill. and world-class mixed martial-arts fighter Renzo Gracie of Team DoubleSport are the featured clinicians for the 17th annual National High School Wrestling Championships and Coaches Convention, the NHSCA announced today.

All events will take place at the event venue, the state-of-the-art Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. Over 1,000 wrestlers from every wrestling state will compete in the three events that comprise the National High School Wrestling Championships from March 23-26.

“J Robinson, Troy Sunderland, Mike Polz and Renzo Gracie are a major reason the Coaches Convention has become such an important component of the National High School Wrestling Championships experience,” NHSCA executive director Bob Ferraro said. “Our membership and the competitors will learn valuable lessons from their experience and their expertise.”

Robinson will present the clinic that precedes the Sophomore and Junior National Championships Monday, March 20 at 6 p.m. He will make a presentation about developing a philosophy of wrestling. His Minnesota squad won the Big Ten Conference title last week, crowning four conference champions, and heads into this weekend’s NCAA Championships with eight national qualifiers.

“Wrestlers today have more information than ever before,” Robinson said. “They know moves, they know technique. What many of them don’t have an understanding of is putting it all together and developing a philosophy of wrestling that works for them. That’s something that many coaches need to develop an understanding of as well.”

As a college coach, Robinson has an appreciation of what the Senior Nationals means both to wrestlers and to coaches.

“The Senior Nationals is especially useful to the kids,” Robinson said. “Many of them have been overlooked and been put on the shelf because they might not have gaudy statistics. They have a golden opportunity to showcase themselves and demonstrate how much they’ve improved in a year. We recruit at the Juniors (in the summer), and we get a second chance to recruit here. That’s the beauty of the Senior Nationals.”

Sunderland, whose Nittany Lions finished fourth in the Big Ten and also advanced eight individuals to the NCAA Championships, will share the stage with Polz, who has led Carl Sandburg to back-to-back Illinois Class AA titles, at noon on Thursday, March 23. They will discuss putting together a championship program.

Renzo (pronounced Hen-zo) Gracie will outline and demonstrate jujitsu techniques that can be incorporated into wrestling. Gracie has coached several wrestlers to success using this method. DoubleSport, Inc. is the title sponsor of the NHSCA Pre-Championships Banquet, which will be held March 23 at 7 p.m. and Marriott City Center Hotel.

Founded in 2005, DoubleSport manufactures state-of-the-art apparel for wrestling and other action sports. The company’s line recently was featured in a three-page front-cover spread in the New York Times Style section.

“We’re a lifestyle company,” said DoubleSport president Mario Mercado, a former Syracuse University wrestler who also competed for the New York Athletic Club. “We’ve designed our line to help put wrestling in the sports mainstream. We’re excited about the opportunity to present that concept to the high school wrestling community.”

For a complete list of Championships and Convention events, visit the NHSCA’s web site at www.nhsca.com.

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