On behalf of the Douglas High School Wrestling team, I would like to respond to the letter from Kila Barker about the team and its status.
First of all, the reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated. We are not dead, dying extinct or even headed in that general direction. We have 17 active wrestlers - three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores, and eight freshmen. Several are first year wrestlers and only four are returners from last year's squad. We lost three to knee injuries in the off-season, two seniors and a junior. As you can see, we are a very young team.
Mrs. Barker claims that our program has undergone massive changes. We don't know what those might be, since she didn't elaborate, but we don't see it that way. Coach McCann did a good job as head coach, but he voluntarily resigned and moved on for his own personal reasons.
We now have two young coaches, who took the helm of our program last year, Justin Shine and Travis Lamborn. They are seasoned wrestlers and bring expertise, energy, intensity, resolve and commitment to our three-hour daily practices, to help make us better able to compete in our 4A league and tournaments. It is not our coaches' fault that they inherited a young, inexperienced team without a lot of depth and depleted by key injuries. We support our coaches and believe in them.
Don't be sad for us. We competed hard in our first two dual tournaments and we're getting better every day. On Dec. 15 we beat a heavily favored Damonte Ranch team in a dual matchup on their mat, 37-30.
However, there are some things to be sad about. It's sad that a parent of two graduated DHS wrestlers would find the time and inclination to take pot shots at the current coaches and wrestling team in a public forum. It's sad that in doing so, she denigrates not only the coaches and program in general, but also all of us as individual wrestlers. We work so hard every day. We believe that we work physically harder than athletes in any other sport, and there isn't a lot of glory associated with wrestling like there is with some other varsity high school sports. We don't deserve to have our team and ourselves disrespected by people who really don't know what we're doing every day.
Mrs. Barker hasn't been to any of our practices or wrestling matches this year. She hasn't spoken to our coaches. She doesn't really know what we are about. Her conclusions appear to be based on hearsay and rumor.
We have the support of our parents and our school. The DHS Boosters Club just agreed to buy us new warmups and gear bags. We will take our lumps this year, but we will not stop working as hard as we can or giving our all on the mat, in practice and during competition. We will all be better for the effort. Can't wait 'till next year.
