John Nash 26 December 2009 Wrestling 1,139 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I just wanted to share a little story with you from last week.

While at Wednesday’s wrestling match between Wilton and Staples, there was an incident near the end of the 171-pound match between the Warriors Terrence Reedy and Staples’ Michael Giunta.

It was an intense finish with Reedy trying to pin Giunta to earn some extra points for his team.

As the seconds ticked down in the third and final round, a Wilton female manager stepped out on to the mat to count down the closing seconds for the referee.

Between the sound in the old cave (aka the Zeoli Field House) and the referees positioning away from the manager, he did not hear the manager say “Zero” and there was a little extra action before the referee realized the match was over.

The Staples coaching staff — already intense and angry at their wrestling being behind and nearly pinned — erupted, firing off their anger at the poor Wilton manager as she walked off the mat and went back to her seat.

I’m talking red-faced, out-of-control anger — two grown men, yelling and screaming at a teenage girl who has volunteered her time to be a manager for a sport all coaches should be promoting, not embarrassing.

Almost immediately, Wilton wrestling coach John Foldeak leaped up off his own chair and moved toward the Staples bench, reminding the Wreckers coach in so many words to never, ever, EVER speak to one of his managers like that again.

He also offered off some other opinions, but his point was plain and simple. It doesn’t matter if you’re 103 pounds, 285 pounds, or a manager on his team, Foldeak is going to have your back and you’re going to be treated with the respect you deserve by being a part of the Wilton wrestling program.

Now for some full disclosure: At least one of the Staples coaches did apologize to the manager a few matches later and also tried to apologize to Foldeak following the Warriors win over the Wreckers.

While Foldeak didn’t escalate the situation any further, it didn’t look like he was embracing the apology either. He knew how wrong it was and he was going to make sure the Staples coaches knew it.

Foldeak is a young coach who is working his tail off over the last three seasons to build up the Wilton program into a competitive team.

It’s been a slow process, but the numbers are up and he’s got a young team with just one senior.

But any Wilton athlete who wants to compete for a coach who will have his back can’t do much better than John Foldeak, who will protect his players and his managers no matter what.