Parent / Athlete Handbook
Important Contact Information
Coach Eggert, Head Varsity Coach
(847 899-5279, dale.eggert@att.net)
Wrestlers who are absent for a practice or meet must contact Coach Eggert, either through text or email before the time they have to be there. The only exception is if another coach is responsible for taking a team to a meet for the day of the practice, generally Coach Weppler for the JV, Coach Cleary for the sophomores, Coach Henneberry for the frosh.
Other Libertyville Wrestling Coaches’ phone numbers
Coach Jiuditta, Varsity Assistant Coach (847 812-2590, vjiuditta@comcast.net)
Coach Strychalski, Varsity Assistant Coach (847 206-0596, tstrychalski@gmail.com)
Coach Bystol, Varsity Assistant Coach (847-212-5490, matt.bystol@gmail.com)
Coach Weppler, JV Coach (847 951-2317, sean.weppler@gmail.com)
Coach Henneberry, Freshmen Head Coach (847 757-5413, dan.henneberry@d128.org)
Coach Cleary, Freshmen Assistant/Sophomore Coach (317-910-1911, ryan.cleary14015@gmail.com)
Coach Schinto, Freshmen Assistant Coach (815 354-9186, scott.schinto@d128.org)
Coach Bernard, Volunteer Assistant Coach (847 997-7366, bernardb5@comcast.net)
Coach Seeger, Volunteer Assistant Coach (847 530-3836, rseeger@americanescrow.com)
School Numbers
Mr. Woods, Athletic Director(847 327-7063, A.D. Fax: 847 327-7175)
(john.woods@d128.org)
Kim Kirk, Athletic Department Secretary (847 327-7065)
(kimberly.kirk@d128.org)
Libertyville High School Main Office (847 327-7800)
LST A-F (847 327-7210) LST G-P (847 327-7026)
LST Q-Z (847 327-7230)
2023 Libertyville Wrestling Coaching Staff
Head Varsity Coach: Dale Eggert (46th year in LHS Wrestling, 37th as Head Varsity Coach)
Coach Eggert is a 1974 graduate of Libertyville High School. He wrestled for the LHS team and also participated in football and baseball. He graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale majoring in Health Education and competed for the SIU-C Wrestling team. He retired from teaching at LHS in 2012 after 33 years of teaching Health Education following the 2012 school year.
Coach Eggert is also a faculty sponsor of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group at LHS and is the Head Freshmen Football coach. He has also coached soccer, baseball, and softball in the past.
Varsity Assistant Coach: Vinny Jiuditta (8th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Jiuditta is a 1989 graduate of Libertyville High School. He participated in wrestling and football. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with a degree in Communications where he was a member of the football team. He currently works in construction. He previously coached wrestling at Libertyville in 2004, this being his second stint back. He will be a Freshmen Football Assistant Coach this fall. He has coached in the past at Lake Forest, Vernon Hills, Mundelein, and Antioch. He had been the head wrestling coach at Lake Forest and Mundelein. He is in his second year as line coach for the JV football team.
Varsity/JV Assistant Coach: Ted Strychalski (11th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Strychalski is a 2006 graduate of Libertyville H.S. and was a member of the wrestling and cross country teams. He graduated from Indiana University majoring in business. He is a full time coach for Built By Brunson Wrestling Club.
Volunteer Assistant Coach: Matt Bystol (4th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Bystol is a 2010 graduate of Libertyville High School. He was a member of our wrestling and soccer teams. He graduated from Columbia University and was a member of their wrestling team. He works in sales for Image Apparel Solutions.
Varsity/JV Assistant Coach: Sean Weppler (16th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Weppler is a 2001 graduate of Libertyville H.S. and was a member of the wrestling team. He got his undergrad degree at Western Illinois University in business and his law degree from Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan. He currently works for the Weppler Law Group.
Head Freshmen Coach: Dan Henneberry (9th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Henneberry is a 1996 graduate of Libertyville H.S. He was a member of the football and wrestling programs. He graduated from Trinity University majoring in Elementary Education. He coached Oak Grove Junior High Wrestling for 11 years before joining our staff. He is also coaching in the LHS football and lacrosse programs.
Varsity/JV Assistant Coach: Ryan Cleary (3rd year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Cleary is a 2017 graduate of Libertyville H.S. and was a member of the wrestling, football, and lacrosse teams. He is currently a full-time sub at Grayslake North.
Freshmen Assistant Coach: Scott Schinto (9th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Schinto is a 1980 graduate of Glenbrook North H.S. He was a member of their soccer program. He graduated from Illinois State University majoring in Education. He was a member of the ISU Soccer team. He has been a physical welfare teacher at LHS since 1994. Throughout his time at LHS he has been coaching in the soccer program, both boys and girls. He is a past head coach in both programs, currently working at the freshmen levels.
Volunteer Assistant Coach: Brian Bernard (35th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Bernard is a 1974 graduate of Mundelein H.S. and was a member of their wrestling team. He attended the College of Lake County and graduated from Illinois State University majoring in Mathematics and Elementary Education. He began teaching at Rondout School in 1979, retiring after the 2014 school year. At that time he moved from a full time wrestling coaching position to a volunteer position.
Volunteer Assistant Coach: Roy Seeger (16th year in LHS Wrestling)
Coach Seeger is a 1981 graduate of Lake Forest High School. He was a member of our wrestling and football teams. He graduated from Northern Colorado University and was a member of their wrestling team. He in his fourth stint as an assistant coach in the Libertyville Wrestling program (1992-1993, 1999-2001, 2005-2012, and 2021-present). He has been the head coach at Lake Forest (1994-1998) and Mundelein (2002-2004). He was an assistant at Mundelein from 2013-2019.
Practice Guidelines
Practice Times:Practice will run from 3:50-6:05 on school days for Varsity/JV practices. Off day practices will run from 7:30 to no later than 11:00 for the Varsity/JV.
Practice Dress: Practice dress is light; t-shirt, shorts, socks. Wrestlers must have clean workout clothes everyday. Have a clean set of clothes in your locker along with a sweatshirt and sweatpants everyday. Wrestlers may not wear both a long sleeve shirt and long pants during a practice, just one or the other. Headgear must be worn during all wrestling activities; live wrestling, drilling, conditioning. All wrestlers must have a filled up 64 ounce water bottle and show it at the start or practice.
Practice Attitude: Team members are to show good character on the mat as well as off. Foul language will not be tolerated. Childish stunts, which includes but is not limited to hazing, will not be tolerated (tricks, picking on guys . . .). Hustle in and out for all demonstrations. Get to work right away after being instructed to. Break any potentially dangerous hold in the middle of a live wrestling session. It’s not worth scoring if it risks hurting a teammate.
Once practice begins, wrestlers are not to sit down. During demonstrations, wrestlers may take a knee or stand up. Once live wrestling begins, wrestlers must stay on their feet. If you are sitting I will ask you if you are done for the day.
If there is blood on the mat it needs to be taken care of right away and properly (spray it, wipe it, then put the used paper towel in the hazardous waste bucket – red).
During practice, stay close to the area designated for your size; big guys to the back, little guys to the sliding door.
Locker Room: Have your own locker and make sure it is registered on the Locker Chart on the cabinet outside the weight room. Don’t sign up for a locker until your lock is on it. Keep your stuff locked up at all times. The Locker Room will not be locked. If you forget your lock, bring your bag to the wrestling room and put it against the outside wall. If you lock your stuff in someone else’s locker, know the combination.
Contagious skin rashes: If a wrestler has any kind of skin rash, he must bring it to the attention of a coach. Before a wrestler will be eligible for competition, he needs to give a doctor’s clearance note to Coach Eggert who will show it to the official if asked. Covering a rash for competition is not acceptable, it has to be cleared. An official has the right to overrule a doctor’s note. Before going to the doctor’s office, pick up an IHSA Skin Form for the doctor to fill out. The IHSA form is the only note the officials will accept.
In order for the note to allow a wrestler back into competition, the IHSA note must say the following: 1) The note must say the rash is not contagious upon the examination (they can’t say it will not be contagious in 4 days, they don’t know if you will use the medication). 2) The note must describe where the rash is. 3) The date the rash was treated must be written down. The note is valid for two weeks from the treatment date.
In order to do everything possible to prevent the spread of skin rashes, it is a must that wrestlers shower as soon after practice as they can with plenty of soap. The best type of soaps are the ones that have a moisturizer in it like Dove or Ivory. Wrestlers must have clean workout clothes everyday, including knee pads, wiping down your headgear with disinfecting wipes. At the end of practice, wrestlers should put their used workout clothes in a mesh or plastic bag that night to carry home. Do not put used clothes in a bag that will be bringing clean clothes back the next day, it will infect the clean clothes.
If a wrestler had a skin rash in the past they should keep their medication cream and apply it whenever they see a potential skin rash developing. If they have never had a prescription cream, they should get an over the counter anti-fungal cream such as Desenex, Lotrimin, anything that says it cures Athlete’s Foot, and apply it as soon as possible. Over the counter cream isn’t anywhere near as powerful as prescription. If you have prescription cream and the ringworm keeps recurring, you will need to go back to the doctor for an oral medication prescription.
Grooming Guidelines: The IHSA Wrestling Rule has taken out any rule on hair length beginning for the 2021 season. They do say your hair may not have greasy substances in your hair and you may not have facial hair unless you wear a facemask.
However, our program says you may not have hair over your eyes while competing or during a team picture. You may braid your hair back so it will not come into your eyes during the competition or team picture.
Practice Absence Procedures: If a wrestler is going to be absent from practice on any day, both the wrestler and a parent must contact Coach Eggert through e-mail (dale.eggert@att.net) or text (847 899-5279) and leave a message that your wrestler will be absent and explaining why the wrestler will be absent before the practice begins. A wrestler cannot excuse themselves alone. If a wrestler is getting extra help with a teacher they must text me before our practice begins to let me know they will be coming late, with a pass from the teacher. Parents do not have to contact Coach Eggert for a wrestler getting help after school, just have a pass when the wrestler comes back to practice.
If a wrestler goes home from school sick, can’t make practice, they must text me their situation, then make sure a parent excuses the wrestler when the wrestler can get a hold of them.
If this procedure is not followed, the absence is unexcused and the absence will cost the wrestler post-practice conditioning and perhaps some competition time. They will definitely make the “Sheet”.
Prearranged absences: If you know you will have to miss a practice for an appointment or family function, you and a parent text or e-mail me in advance of the absence. Telling me verbally isn’t enough.
The only absences that can be excused are illness, medical appointments, family vacations or functions. Absences not excused are for work or vacations where parents are not involved (a ski trip with friends would be an example).
Injury Policy: If you are injured, you are still required to attend practices, dress for practice, and do what you can (learning moves, drilling, pushups and rope climbs, whatever conditioning you can do, help other wrestlers with their moves). If you feel your injury is so severe that you can’t practice, see me before practice and we’ll discuss it. We will still need you there to run errands or help out younger wrestlers with their moves. You can get a lot out of watching videos.
If you feel you need to see the trainer, you must dress for practice, see Coach Eggert, attend the team warmup, opening messages, watch videos, then go to the trainer. Never go to the trainer for any reason (including ice or tape) unless you have talked to Coach Eggert first. You must come back as soon as you are done being treated. If you go to the trainer and no trainer is in, you must come back immediately to practice rather than wait for him.
If your injury is a season ending injury, you are free to not come to practice any more. You will still be considered part of the team and eligible for an award if you come to every home meet and every Friday night away meet and help out running the meet.
If your injury is major, and you will be out for a while, but you still hope to come back to competition before the season ends, you must continue to be at practice everyday. If you aren’t able to do anything in practice, you can bring homework into the wrestling room and do it during the live wrestling part of practice. During technique demonstrations and during video sessions, you must be giving your full attention.
Snow/Cold Weather Days: If school is called off for either snow or cold weather, stay tuned for what we will be doing that day. It is possible we might have a varsity practice if it appears the roads will be clear by 3:00. If so, varsity starters must come, anyone else is encouraged to come but not required to attend. It's also possible any possible practice will be cancelled, thus the reason for staying tuned.
Meet Guidelines
Home meets: Home meets are treated like practices. Unless you are involved with another level at an away meet, you must attend the meet from start to finish. You will be assigned to a mat moving crew; either before, after, or both. We will always have a meeting in the bleachers after each mat moving session to make sure everyone stays with their assignment the entire time. During the meet, even if you don’t have a match, there’s plenty you could do; keep score, videotape, cheer your teammates, learn, get motivated, . . .
Away meets: If you are not in a starting lineup for an away meet, you may or may not be required to attend this meet. If it is a Friday night away meet, you will be required to go. For Saturday tournaments, if you are not in the starting lineup, you will not be required to attend the meet, although most of the tournaments will take extra guys if their weight class has an open spot, we hope you will want to try to get added to the tournament.
*In order to wrestle at an away meet, you are required to ride on the bus unless previous arrangements have been made.
*Any wrestler who comes to an away meet on the bus, must go home on the bus. The only exception is if your parent comes up to a coach after the meet and says they will take the responsibility to take you home.
*You may not go home with another parent unless it is prearranged; your parent texts or e-mails your coach saying you have their permission to go home with another parent, and the other parent checks with a coach before leaving saying they will be responsible from this point on.
*If you do go home with a parent, you may not leave until the last LHS match is finished unless previous arrangements have been made (a parent texts or e-mails your coach before our bus leaves LHS saying you can only stay to a certain time whether your match is completed at that time or not.).
*For an away meet, be in the wrestling room 10 minutes before the scheduled bus time. If you are not there and we are expecting you for an away meet starting lineup, you will be getting a phone call (it will be very early on a Saturday morning).
*Few schools have towel services like our school does. Get in the habit of bringing a towel with you to the meet.
Weigh ins: Weigh ins for a meet are 1 hour before the meet (5:00 for a 6:00 start). We go in order of weights. If you’re a 145 pounder, be ready when we are on 138. If you’re not ready when your weight class is called, you lose your opportunity to weigh in and compete in that meet.
When you weigh in, you must be stripped down to your underwear or gym shorts, no socks, no t-shirt. The reason – - they want to weigh you to make sure you also make the minimum weight for your class. Extra clothes would throw off your exact weight. Also, they want to inspect you for skin rashes.
After weigh in, you are free until 15 minutes before the meet begins (but you may not leave the school – wrestlers may not leave the school where a competition is held at any point from the time the bus arrives there until the time the bus leaves!). We will usually have a team meeting 15 minutes before the meet begins. Everyone must be dressed in their meet uniform and be on the mat. After weigh in, it is important that you have something to drink. The less you eat the better.
Meet Dress: Your dress to meets should be neat. While in uniform . . . Anything you wear in addition to your singlet (shirt, shorts, sweatshirts, sweatpants) must be orange, black, white, gray. If you wear a t-shirt or shorts that say anything, it must be Libertyville oriented. Socks must be of our colors. Some kind of undergarment must be worn under the singlet, but it may not stick out from underneath (like biker shorts). The exception is if they are tights that have feet stirrups. Your shoes must be tied up to the top eyelet. Earrings and other jewelry may not be worn while in uniform.
Your shoes must either have Velcro to cover your shoe laces, or have your shoe laces taped. If you show up to the scoring table without your shoes complying to the standard, it costs you a point and one of your two injury timeouts.
Meet Procedures: While the meet is in progress, you must be in the gym supporting your teammates.
*When it is time for your match, you must check in at the scoring table. You must be ready to wrestle at that time, headgear snapped, shoes tied, sweats and t-shirt off. You must go straight from the table to the center of the mat. You may not go over to your coach after checking in, you must go straight to the center of the mat and stay there. It costs you a match point and an injury time if you don’t show up to the scorers’ table ready to wrestle, or if you don’t go directly to the center of the mat after checking in at the scorers’ table.
*2nd or 3rd period choice: When it is your choice at the start of a period, always look over to the coach. You should consider what your coach says, however, you can do whatever you feel is best. In the second period you will most likely defer your choice, but not always! If it is deferred to you, you would like to be able to choose down. But that may change from match to match.
Post-Match Procedures: After the match, you are required to give your opponent a firm handshake; win or lose. You cannot slap his hand, you can’t use your left hand. If you say anything to your opponent or the referee during the handshake that is negative, it is considered unsportsmanlike conduct.
At the start of the season you have the choice to shake the other coach’s hand immediately after your match or not. Whatever you decide you must do it every match during the season unless you tell a coach in advance of a match that you would like to change your decision. You cannot decide to change at the conclusion a match.
Whether you shake the opposing coach’s hand or not, you are required to come over to your coach’s corner and shake his hand. Guys on the bench must stand up and greet you as you “walk the line” after seeing your coach. After the meet is over, we are to all line up and shake our opponents’ hands. Then before talking with your friends, we are going to have a brief meeting. If it is a home meet, we may have mats to move.
Tournaments: Most tournaments have an award stand ceremony for each weight class after the final match at each weight. If you have earned a spot on the award stand, you are required to able in the stand area when they call you up (usually about halfway through the finals match after yours). You are required to be in a Libertyville uniform, including your pullover if you are varsity, or at least a Libertyville Wrestling sweatshirt. After the presentations and you pause for all pictures, shake the other award winners’ hands, or at least the hands of wrestlers you wrestled during the tournament.
Exhibitions: If you are not in a starting lineup for a dual meet, we still are going to do everything we can to get you an exhibition match if you want one. After each level is finished weight in, the coaches get together and see who we can match up with wrestlers from the other team. Sometimes, even after we said we couldn’t get a match, we’ll get one. If you want to wrestle – stay ready!
Lineup determination: On the freshmen level, if there is a clear cut starter, he will be used in the lineup during all conference and tournament situations. If there are two even wrestlers, they might split time for the duals and have a “challenge” match for the tournaments. Backup freshmen wrestlers will have plenty of opportunities to compete in non-conference matches, especially in the quads, and in exhibition matches.
The varsity lineup is determined for each meet by several factors, success in competitive practice situations is just one factor. Other factors include practice concentration and cooperation, effort in practice, practice attendance (even excused absences may affect the lineup). Perhaps the biggest factor in determining the varsity lineup is who the coaching staff feels has the best chances for success in a particular meet as well as performances against a common opponent on the other team.
On the JV lineup, we try to make sure all JV wrestlers get one match before any JV wrestler gets two. The exception is if there is a tournament that weekend, the starter will go the to the tournament, where he will get multiple matches, but he will not have priority in getting a match for the Friday night dual (although Friday night duals are basically “best matchups”).
Meet Curfew: On the night before a meet, our program has a 10:00 pm curfew unless previous arrangements have been made. Violations of the 10:00 pm curfew will make a wrestler ineligible for competition the next meet as well as other possible consequences. If the curfew violation is not discovered for a while, the ineligibility will go in effect the next occurring meet.
Award Criteria
All wrestlers who finish the season in good standing will receive an LHS Athletic Award at the Winter Sports Awards Night . Wrestlers of all 4 grades are eligible to receive a varsity award. The regular dual meet season ends Saturday, June 12. After this meet, underlevel wrestlers have the option of ending their season or continuing to practice with the varsity wrestlers through the post-season tournaments. If a wrestler ends his season January 27, or any time before the varsity season post-season tournaments end . . .
*if he is a freshman, he will receive a freshmen award.
*if he is a sophomore, junior, or senior, he will receive a junior varsity award.
For a wrestler who practices through the post-season tournaments and attends all varsity post-season tournaments, to receive a varsity award, one of the following criteria will need to be met . . .
*he wins 3 varsity matches and is a State Series Team member.
*he wins 1 varsity match, is successful in JV competition (several JV invitational titles), and is a State Series Team member.
A freshman who practices through the post-season tournaments and attends all varsity post-season tournaments will receive a junior varsity award if one of the following criteria is met . . .
*he wins a varsity match, is successful in JV competition, and is named to the State Series Team.
A freshman will not earn a junior varsity award based on how many junior varsity matches he wins. It comes down to contributions to the varsity effort.
Academic Help
Wrestling is an educational activity that we feel teaches the wrestlers valuable lessons about hard work and commitment. We realize it isn’t as important as an athlete’s academic record. However, we feel an athlete can keep his commitment to both. If a wrestler needs extra help in a class, we want him to get it. But we don’t want him to miss practice. We want him to see his teacher and see if they can work out a time before school or during a study hall to get together. If this isn’t possible, we will allow him to go to the teacher after school. When he is finished with his session with the teacher, we want him to get back to practice as soon as possible with a pass from the teacher. He needs to text me before the 3:50 practice start time.
A wrestler may not miss a practice because he needs to go home to do homework. If a wrestler feels he is getting overwhelmed with homework, he needs to get dressed for practice, bring his homework to the wrestling room, and begin to work on it. When he finishes, he can join in with the practice. If he needs the entire practice time to work on his homework, he will still join in during the near the end of practice conditioning.
If the wrestler says he needs to go home to do his homework, a parent will need to text or e-mail me to confirm this. They will not be allowed to take a starting lineup from a teammate for the meets on that particular weekend.
Academic Eligibility
Each Thursday, an academic eligibility sheet is sent to all coaches with the names of their athletes who are receiving D’s of F’s listed. To be eligible for weekly competition, an athlete must be passing 5 classes. If an athlete is not passing 5 classes for that week, he will be ineligible the following Tuesday through the next Monday. If the athlete has 5 academic classes and he fails one class, he is ineligible for a week. If an athlete has 6 academic classes and he fails two classes, he is ineligible. With 7 academic classes, he is ineligible if he fails 3.
Semester Eligibility: In addition to the weekly eligibility concerns, there is the semester eligibility. At the end of the semester, if an athlete does not pass 5 academic classes for the semester, he is ineligible for the next semester. The only exception to this is if he did not pass 5 classes in the spring semester, he would be eligible for the fall sport season if he earned enough credit through summer school or extension courses to equal 5 passing academic classes for the spring semester. He would be out of luck for spring semester sports if he did not pass 5 during the fall semester. We encourage athletes to take 6 academic classes each semester so if they are having trouble with one class, but doing well in the other classes, they would still be eligible to participate.
Varsity Lineup Determinations
The following is a guideline we will be following for determining our lineups for the entire varsity season, and to some respects with the JV lineup. There will most likely be special situations that will have to be dealt with. The bottom line is the coaching staff is going to do anything we need to do to get the best lineup on the mat - with minimal rank matches.
During the first week of practice (beginning Monday, November 7) we will be having 2 and a half hour practices focusing on the fundamentals with some live wrestling near the end of practice followed up by a solid conditioning session.
Thursday of the second week of practice (November 17) we will begin rank matches halfway through the practice (4:45). We may even begin some matches on Wednesday if we have some huge weight classes. On Saturday of the first week (April 19), we will have our parents meeting at 12:30 followed by a session in the gym with certified officials that will officiate the final rank matches beginning at 1:15. Be prepared to wrestle a second match if need be.
If we still need to finalize a weight class, we will do it on Monday, April 21 since our first meet is Wednesday of that week (November 23, the day before Thanksgiving).
For two guys competing for a varsity spot, they will wrestle a two out of three series in the pre-season (provided the first match was close), continued on to the second week if injuries prevent us from completing the series. The winner is considered the starter for the first couple weeks.
If rank matches were close, and the backup continues to appear to have varsity potential, there may be a second series of rank matches. In order for the backup wrestler to unseat the established varsity starter, he needs to beat the starter twice in a row. If the starter maintains his spot, and he had beaten the backup three straight rank matches during the season, he will most likely not be challenged again. But if all the matches were close, or the backup won a match at some point, there may be more rank matches. An upperclass backup will get more consideration in getting a future rank match over an underclass starter than would an underclass backup over an upperclass starter.
The rank match system can be altered any week the coaching staff feels the backup is wrestling as well or better than the starter. But he has to beat the starter at some point. If you are the starter, you may be challenged any (and every) week if any of the following are true (but not of the backup) . . .
*You do not show the conditioning to wrestle intense the entire 6 minutes.
*You are not showing the ability to score from any position on the mat. You are not showing offense.
*You are not reacting to your opponent’s shots and are constantly being taken down by leg attacks.
*If your opponents gets a leg attack up in the air you are not getting into the proper counter position and getting taken down.
*You are sitting on your knees and pausing after missed shots and either wasting time or getting scored on defensively.
*You are constantly getting your wrist trapped on the bottom, getting flattened, and getting pin moves applied on you.
*You are getting reversed on top, especially getting reversed to your back.
*You are getting pinned, especially if it appears you gave up.
*You are not a good practice wrestler, you are not self-motivated. Coaches have to get on you to get to work.
A starter may be taken out of their starting position at any time by showing poor sportsmanship, poor attitude, poor practice attendance, insubordination to coaches and/or teachers, poor teamwork . . .
A backup wrestler that has shown the ability to win on the varsity level may be put in the lineup for a spot match at any time (multiple dual meets), especially if the coaching staff feels the backup matches up with the opponent better than the starter. There will be plenty of communication on lineup changes.
Weight Control
Wrestling competition is one of the most fair of all sports because the contestants are paired up with their opponents according to weight. Despite this selling point of the sport, it also presents some drawbacks. A team may have two strong wrestlers on their team at the same weight. One of the wrestlers could either go up to the next higher weight class, or drop weight to get down to the next lower weight class to be a starter. Quite often, wrestlers would prefer to move down to the next lower weight class by losing some pounds. Not many wrestlers like the idea of giving up weight to their opponents by going up in weight class.
Our feelings, especially with the freshmen, is for our wrestlers to compete at the weight they are at. If they are not the starter at their weight, but could be at a lower weight, we encourage the wrestlers to train hard enough so that they may lose some weight without dieting. This takes time, extra effort, proper nutrition, and patience. If done properly, and a wrestler has weight to come off, he will still lose no more than about 1.5% of his body weight in fat a week. There’s no quicker way to do it! We will be training hard. For a wrestler to be able to meet the demands of our training, dieting is not the way to do it. We want the wrestlers to be concerned about the quality of food they eat, but not the amount. They should eat 3 meals a day. Any snack should be food with nutritional value.
On the other hand, if a wrestler is a couple pounds over a weight class, he could adjust his diet a day to a day and a half before the meet and lose this weight. This will not be done until the hard training for the week is over (starting no sooner than Wednesday after practice of a Friday night meet). When the weekend meets are over, he will go back to his normal eating and get back to his natural weight.
Even if a wrestler is totally committed to losing this weight, the coaching staff has the final say on whether the wrestler can go down or not. We have a much bigger problem on our team with wrestlers being upset about not being allowed to go down in weight than we do about wrestlers feeling pressured by the coaching staff to go down.
Even if a wrestler wanted to go down in weight, and we agreed to let him, there are some things that must never be done to lose this weight. If they are, the weight loss program must be immediately curtailed . . .
*He takes a drug for stimulant purposes, several over the counter dieting pills are stimulants. Caffiene is a mild stimulant. Although it isn’t necessarily a danger signal if he uses caffeine, it would be better if he lost his weight without it.
*He takes a laxative.
*He eats a large meal, then purposely forces himself to vomit.
*He takes a drug called a diuretic, designed to make him lose water.
Although the signs below aren’t necessarily a sign of danger, it a wrestler tried to lose weight doing any of the following, he is not doing the weight loss properly. He is making the process a lot harder on himself than he needs to and we need to have a conference with him . . .
*He eats junk or sugar foods in place of a meal. Eating foods like this after a meal is okay, though not a good idea while a wrestler is getting down to his weight class. But if these are eaten before a meal, they confuse the appetite mechanics and make the wrestler feel he’s eaten enough. Then he will miss out on valuable nutrients which will lead to over stressing his system.
*He tried to sweat excessively, or avoids drinking fluids, except within 12 hours before a weigh in. The weight cutter will need some understanding the night before the meet. Although he still needs to take in some carbohydrate calories (he can do that with fruit juice or hard candy), he does need to cut back on other foods. After a Friday night meet when he needs to weigh in the following morning, he may not be able to eat anything. Since he was able to eat something after the Friday night weigh in, going to bed without something to eat that night would be fine. Also, don’t be surprised if your wrestler trying to get off a couple of pounds, asks to come to the school an hour before the bus leaves, or weigh in for a home meet, to get a workout getting the last bit of weight off.
LHS Athletic Code
Athletes and their parents must sign a form before their first LHS athletic season saying the athlete and parent understands the Libertyville High School Athletic Code of Conduct and the penalties for the violation of it. Here is the LHS Athletic Code that appears on page 32-35 of the Student Handbook . . .
No member of a Libertyville High School extracurricular student activity will . . .
a) Knowingly use, attempt to use, possess, sell, or assist any other student in the use of the following:
i. Tobacco/tobacco products
ii. Alcoholic beverages – some examples may include but are not limited to, transporting alcohol or drugs/drug paraphernalia in your car, under the influence, consumption of alcohol.
iii. Any form of controlled substance (drugs, look-alikes, drug paraphernalia) other than those prescribed by a physician for that student.
b) Exhibit gross misconduct or behavior/citizenship that is considered detrimental to his/her activity or school. Student behaviors must be in compliance with acceptable standards of conduct as per the current edition of the Student Parent Handbook. Some examples of inappropriate behavior may include, but are not limited to illegal acts, theft, fighting, vandalism, aiding and abetting, insubordination, lying to school officials, falsifying information/signatures on permit or permission forms, unsportsmanlike conduct, hazing, bullying, or intimidating acts. Maintaining or being identified on a blog site which depicts illegal or inappropriate behavior will be considered a violation of this code.
For procedures and consequences of violating the LHS Athletic Code, see pages 33-35 of the LHS Student Handbook.
There are several reasons why the LHS Athletic Department has this Athletic Code, all looking out for the athletes’ best interests . . .
*Alcohol and other non-prescribed drugs affect an athlete’s nervous system and drains the body of energy. Over the course of a season, the athlete who uses alcohol and other drugs will have his body wear out rather than get stronger. If an athlete tries to compete fatigued, he is less likely to perform well and is more likely to become injured or sick.
*It is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to use alcohol.
*Accidents are the No. 1 leading cause of death in teenagers, particularly accidents where one or more of the drivers had been drinking alcohol.
*The younger a person is when they begin to use chemicals, the greater the damage the chemicals can do to a developing body.
*The younger a person is when they begin to use chemicals, the greater the chance and the shorter the time it might take for someone to become dependent on these chemicals; both physically and psychologically.
Why is it important to bring this to the attention of the athletes’ parents?
It has been shown that a leading criteria for determining whether a high school student will drink alcohol and to what degree is what they feel their parents think about their drinking. Also, high school athletes use alcohol to a slightly higher percentage than the overall high school population.
We feel if the parents express their desire for the students to abide by the Athletic Code, the coaching staff expresses this same desire, and the athletes are informed of these chemicals negative effects; if an athlete still uses chemicals, either they are not interested in being part of the team or they have a chemical problem that needs to be identified for help.
In addition, we’d like to express our interest for wrestlers to be involved in some type of athletics, conditioning, and strength training year round. Studies have shown that when high school athletics are out of athletics, they are a higher risk of using chemicals.
“The Athletic Code gives an athlete a reason to say ‘No’ when pressured to use chemicals by their peers.”
State Tournament Information
At the conclusion of the wrestling season, including the Varsity Post-Season Tournaments, the Illinois High School Individual State Wrestling Tournament is held at the University of Illinois in Champaign on Thursday/Friday/Saturday, February 15/16/17. It is an incredible sports spectacle, ranking with any high school, college, or professional sporting event. It doesn’t take a die hard wrestling fan to appreciate this. Any serious wrestler would enjoy seeing this event. The Coaching Staff strongly encourages our wrestlers to attend this meet because it is one of the best goal-setting mechanisms there is.
The Coaching Staff will not be chaperoning wrestlers who come down to watch because we will be responsible for the LHS wrestlers who will be competing in the tournament. What we recommend is for parents to come down with their wrestlers early Saturday morning. The tournament begins Thursday afternoon. But there is plenty of action on Saturday, definitely enough to make the trip down in one day worth it.
Saturday’s action begins at 9:00 with a round of consolation matches. The semifinal wrestlebacks follow at 11:00, the 3rd and 5th place matches at 1:00. The championship matches begin at 5:30 and end about 9:30. The trip to Champaign is around a 3 hour trip.
LHS had 5 State Qualifiers last season, two that earned All-State honors, one that won the state championship. We hope to have at least one State Qualifier this year, hopefully more. But we believe your wrester will find this competition interesting and motivating whether there are LHS wrestlers competing or not.
Directions to the State Farm Center (Assembly Hall) in Champaign: Rt. 176 (east) to the Tollway (I-94). South on (I-94 to the I-94/I-294 split. Stay right after the split and get on I-294 south. Stay on I-294 to the south suburbs. Exit I-294 at I-57 south. Stay on I-57 south to I-74 just north of Champaign. East on I-74 to Prospect Ave. Exit at Prospect Ave., and go south to Kirby St. Make a left on Kirby and go east to the State Farm Center (Assembly Hall), which is on the right hand side.
State Qualifier Information: Wrestlers qualifying for the State Tournament will be leaving Wednesday, February 14, to make the trip to Champaign. We will first check into our hotel (I-Hotel, 1900 S. 1st St., Champaign, 217-819-5000). Thursday’s competition will begin at 5:00.
Hotels: For parents who may want to reserve a room at Champaign, you need to start early. Trying to get a room the week of the State Meet is a long shot. You can always cancel it later.