“Do something…anything…even if it is wrong.”
-Airmark Pools Mantra
Growing up my dad ran a company that built and maintained swimming pools called Airmark Pools and I spent most summers from middle school through college working for him. Due to the seasonality of swimming in New Jersey the work was a lot like farming in that you worked dusk until dawn while you could get the work in. The days were hard and long throughout the spring and summer months.
My dad is about as old school as they come. For example, he had a flip phone until they no longer really sold flip phones and now considers his new phone a “dumb” phone and not a “smart” one. He has never sent or read an email.
Considering his old school ways, when it comes to work, as one can imagine my dad’s philosophy was pretty simple at Airmark: if he is paying you by the hour, you should be working every second of that time. So during times when there was not much going on at work and someone was standing around doing nothing, or taking a break, my dad would quickly (half-jokingly) comment, “Do something…anything…even if it’s wrong.” Basically, his direction was to stop standing around, and get to work!
I think the saying came to mind at the CKLV in Las Vegas this week because I was getting tired of hearing the common cliche among current wrestling coaches, “we are working on getting better.” It’s easy to say, but how do you get better? Well, the short answer is you have to try things…even if it ends up being the wrong thing.
I also was a little frustrated with our most recent performance where we took a small group down to the Bakersfield Open. Generally, I felt we wrestled too tight and needed to try more stuff…even if it was wrong. It is incredibly hard to coach wrestlers to become better if they don’t try new techniques or approaches. Heading into Vegas I needed them to open up a bit more so we could get to the work of “getting better.”
While it may seem like a very dangerous thing to say to a bunch of 20 something males heading to Vegas, I decided to roll the dice (pun intended), and early in the week I told them at CKLV we needed them to, “Do something…anything…even if it is wrong,” when they were competing. The call to action was: create action and either score, or learn.
When the dust settled from the tournament the team finished 8th overall and we had 4 placers: Tyler Knox (5th 133), Jaden Abas (3rd 149), Hunter Garvin (6th 165), and Lorenzo Norman (2nd 174). While we placed lower than last year (7th), we were without the services of Nico Provo (1st 2023) and Daniel Cardenas (5th 2023).
How did the team do in relation to “doing something” in their matches? In most instances we were aggressive and trying to score, but we still need to increase our overall activity in matches, whether it be positionally (neutral, top, bottom) or for the duration of the match.
133- Tyler Knox- 5th place- 4 wins 2 loses. Generally, Knox tried a lot of different things and had quite a bit of success, with the exception of the Consi semi’s match, where he lost to Bouzakis of Ohio State. Knox has a funky style that is unique, and as he gets more matches under his belt I believe he is going to figure out how to pull his opponents into his strengths. He has to get better at competing better after a loss…fortunately, I don’t think we will get to work on that very often.
141-Aden Valencia-DNP- 0-2- Showed a lot of good fight, but probably could have done more in his matches. Aden landed in a tough spot in the bracket and lost to both the 7th and 8th place finishers in the tournament. Each match was close, and he had a few good attacks in his first match, but he needs to get to his offense more consistently. We have a good one in Aden and I am confident he will figure it out.
149-Jaden Abas-3rd Place- 5-1- Best focus I have ever seen from Jaden, which led to some of his best wrestling. Wrestled a great 6:45 minutes against the returning national champion and avenged an earlier season loss against another All-American. It was really a great tournament for Jaden and if he can get a bit more consistent he will do a ton of winning through the 2nd half of the season.
157- Grigor Cholakyan- DNP- 1-2. Grigor is the epitome of “do something…anything…” and it is going to allow him to be very good. Yes it will cost him some scores in the short term, but in the long term it will allow him to make adjustments that will take his wrestling to new levels. His losses were both very close, losing in overtime, to an All-American and a wrestler who finished in the round of 12 in the NCAA’s.
165-Hunter Garvin- 6th Place- 2-3 – Hunter is certainly figuring things out with each competition. Through his first competitions in the season he wasn’t wrestling full 7:00 minute matches, but at CKLV he wrestled hard through each match. Once he lost in the semis, he had a little trouble focusing in the consolation bracket, but his effort was great in all his matches.
174-Lorenzo Norman-2nd Place – 4-1- This was a great tournament for Lorenzo, and he is getting better every time he steps on the mat. He lost to Hamiti from Oklahoma State who was on an absolute mission in the tournament outscoting his opponents 62-9 in his first four matches. Lorenzo did a lot in the match through the first two periods, scoring the only takedown of the match, but was ridden in the third to lose the match. Even with the 2nd place finish at the toughest in season tournament of the year, we haven’t seen the best of him, and when he gets to March he will be in the conversation of winning an NCAA title.
184-Tye Monteiro – DNP-1-2- Tye continues to improve and is getting better with each competition. He was able to get some revenge for the 184 card contingent as he beat Uhlenhopp of Utah Valley, who was the Stanford destroyer in the first week of competition beating three of our wrestlers at the Menlo invite, including Tye.
197- Nick Stemmet – DNP -3-2- In arguably the toughest weight in the tournament Nick fell a round short from placing, falling to two wrestlers seeded above him. Nick was fairly aggressive in the tournament and very consistent, but needs to get past the hurdle of beating wrestlers in the top 10 ranking range. He is very focused this year and has improved quite a bit, but has to “let it fly” a bit more in competition to get the wins he needs.
285- Jackson Mankowski – DNP -0-2 – Jackson is working hard in the room, but not seeing the results in matches. At heavy weight it is a tricky game of tactics, and generally, doing too much can get you in trouble, but Jackson needs to open up a bit more in competition so he can make a quicker jump.
Overall, CKLV could have been better, but it could have been worse. We have a lot to work on, which is always the case, but because the majority of the guys went out there and “tried something…anything…even if it was wrong”, we can focus on getting them better in specific areas that will elevate their wrestling at a faster rate.
Next up: Midlands December 29 & 30
Check out the promotions for our home dual meets this season:
Stanford Wrestling 2024-2025 Home Match Promo Schedule
**All Home Matches are FREE ADMISSION this year**
1/19 Arizona State – Youth Wrestling Day
- 1:30-3pm: Book Signing Extreme Balance with Joe DeSena and David Sacks Ph.D. *Order your copy ahead of time as the number of books on hand that day will be limited.
- 3pm: Stanford vs. Arizona
- After the match: Free posters (while supplies last) and autograph line with Stanford Wrestling team
- 5:30pm: Special CWC Practice with Nyla and Aden Valencia! Free to Cardinal Wrestling Club members. Drop ins are welcome and can register here.
1/26 Virginia – Women’s Wrestling Appreciation Day (more info coming soon)
2/7 Virginia Tech – Military Appreciation Day (more info coming soon)
2/21 North Carolina – Alumni Day (more info coming soon)
Bonus: “Chalk Talks” with Coach Ayres 1 hour before the start of each home match
Best,
Coach Ayres
Stanford
Matt Gentry Head Coach of Wrestling
Twitter: @CoachOfTrees
Insta: @ayres157
