Listen up: Local wrestlers take direction on the mat

Wrestling is a unique sport in a number of ways, including the shouts of advice that grapplers receive smack dab in the middle of a match.

Those “suggestions” about what to do next come from coaches, teammates, fans and parents.

Imagine a basketball player driving to the basket and a coach yells, “Jump stop, spin and shoot,” and the player responds in kind?

In football, a receiver is eyeing a pass when a teammate instructs, “Watch the ball, keep both feet in, ignore that big linebacker.”

Or a golfer hears in mid-swing, “bring those hips through.”

To a less dramatic degree, that’s what happens in wrestling. During a match, there is often a steady roar from the crowd, with fans and coaches shouting out pointers, like during the recent state championship. Still, somehow, a coach’s instructions often cut through the din.

“I will always try to listen to their voices just in case there is something going on that I don’t realize,” said Belen’s Damion Gomez about his coaches’ directions. “Any time I hear them, I just try to do it.”

“I’m very vocal,” Joel Partridge, Socorro coach, admits, “Some kids don’t want to be yelled at, or it makes them more nervous. Sometimes I have to know when to bite my tongue.”

For a competitor, there is a lot going on during a match to try and pay attention to someone yelling, ‘do this, do that.’ After all, your opponent is working to twist you like a pretzel. However, Valencia’s Alexis Avis-Labus gets creative.

“If I’m stuck in a position where I know I need some help from my coaches, I’ll make sure to look at them and then I lip read.”

That makes sense, since a coach often uses hand signals, a form of sign language, to relay a message.

“Most of the time, it’s like real foggy and quiet,” said Ayden Cordova, Los Lunas 139 pounder. “But my coach’s voice, I can hear him yell out words. I do listen to him some or most of the time.”

Cordova’s coach at LLHS, Steve Chavez, yells plenty. However, his instruction usually focuses on basic information, what he calls mat awareness.

“Know where you are at on the mat. The score. The time. Don’t tie up. You’re losing. Better have a move in your pocket.”

Generally, Chavez stays away from barking out specific moves to try.

“You can only do so much as a coach,” during a match, Chavez says.

However, at the state championship, Chavez did tell the Tigers’ Treg Cradle in the heat of the battle to attempt a move called a cradle, “and he stuck the kid,” registering a pin.

Socorro’s Partridge believes, “Most coaches just rely on good hard drilling and practice in the room with the hope that with the cues we throw out there from time to time that the kids pick up on them.”

It may be unusual for a grappler to cypher through the yelling coming from the crowd, but Daniel Chilimidos, of Belen, concedes one voice is loud and clear.

“My mom.” Does he listen to her advice? “Yes.”