In Their Eyes

In the Eyes of Ricardo Rios-Bolanos

My experience at the state tournament was definitely an eye-opener. It opened my eyes to the facts that I really enjoy the sport of wrestling because watching all the other wrestlers made me want to get out there and wrestle too. It also opened my eyes to the commitment I need to make in order to be successful in this sport. I was watching a lot matches that went into overtime and a lot of the wrestlers were not even tired. I know that at this point, I would not be in that condition. I also saw the guys that were my weight class. I thought they were 160 pound wrestlers, but it turns out that they were the 145 weight class. I guess the experience at the state tournament also made me a little bit depressed because I know that to get to the level that all those guys were at, I need to work very hard. The atmosphere of the whole arena was electrifying. I heard cheers from my left, from my right, from behind me, and right in front of me. It must feel good to have a large group of people behind you wanting you to win something. I think the best and worst part of it was when I saw everyone win their state championships. It made me feel bad because I really wanted to be that person that wins a state championship. It also made me feel good because I know the feeling that someone gets when they win a state championship must be overwhelming and I have a chance to possibly feel that. The experience did not only open my eyes to where I need to be, but it also made me realize how good it feels to be part of an actual team. We all went to places together and it felt good to have that connection with everyone and I just want to feel that a lot more. We’re not a bunch of strangers that hate each other and are just together because we like to wrestle. We’re actually friends that like to hang out with each other and do things outside of wrestling together.

In the Eyes of Jordan Fearrington

When I began wrestling as a freshman, I didn’t know what to expect. I really wasn’t even sure what wrestling was. Actually, even though I had been in school for a semester, I had no idea where the wrestling room was.

After the football season, my coach saw that I was disappointed with my playing time. He asked me if I wanted to get better and I told him that I did. He told me to meet him after school in the gym the following Monday and then left. At this point, I am thinking that he is going to get me on an intense weightlifting workout, and I guess you could say that he did.

I met him in the gym then followed him down stairs to a metal door. He opened it and inside there were mats on the floor. He said, “Welcome to wrestling, Jordan.” Then he gave me an old flimsy pair of shoes and left. I changed clothes and went to the bathroom.

When I came back, there were about 25 kids running around and tackling each other. I expected to see ropes and a canvas, but there were just mats. Just then, somebody came up from behind me, slammed me on the ground, and began to wrestle me. Just as soon as it had begun, a whistle blew and everybody ran to the wall. I was still in the middle of the floor.

A new coach, Coach Davanzo, was standing over me. He said, “Alright, listen up. We have the football players. This is Jordan. Now start warming up.” Everybody then started jogging and I followed in. I quickly learned that this was a sport where you either caught on quickly or you suffered at the hand of your teammate.

Wrestling was challenging and I loved that. I had never been involved in a sport that took so much out of you every day, yet, I enjoyed coming into the room and having someone better than me beat me up. After practice, they were always happy to share what they did to pin me or take me down. This helped me a lot and I learned from my mistakes more quickly that way.

As the season progressed, I became a better, more confident wrestler. I even gained a spot on the varsity line up at 119 pounds. I was extremely excited and ready to prove myself on the mat. The rest of my freshman year was ok. I finished the season with a record around .500, but I had found a new passion.

The next two years, I continued to practice and work on developing my skills. I learned new moves and tilts; I improved my strength and stamina; I even gained more confidence and experience on the mat, but my goals were still eluding me. No matter how hard I practiced during the season, I didn’t seem to be getting much better than everyone else. I became frustrated with my wrestling and began to just go through the motions.

At the end of a disappointing junior year, Coach Roberts told me something I will never forget. He told me:

“Everybody works hard during the season, so everybody gets better during the season. You have to do the work that nobody else is willing to do. You have to train when nobody else is willing to train. You need to wrestle during the off season.”

I took his advice and trained for hours on the mat and in the weight room during the off season. I stopped comparing myself to others and began to try and out do myself. When I returned to the mat senior year, I saw the difference that Coach Roberts talked about. I was better conditioned that my opponents. I was stronger than my opponents. I was also more confident than my opponents. I found myself with my hand raised more often and I liked how that felt.

In the Eyes of Co-Captain Andrew Anderson

“Summer Training”

Andrew Anderson

I'll admit, when Coach Davanzo asked me to start journaling my thoughts about practices, I was a bit skeptical. I couldn't help but telling myself, “this appears to be a waste of my time.” Knowing Coach like I do though, I knew it had to have some higher purpose. So, I began writing in my journal and after a couple days I realized what the purpose of it was. The Purpose was to help me stay focused on my goals and to set forth a plan to achieve them. By writing in it everyday, I was able to find out what I needed to work on and what was going through my mind at the time. Knowing what you need to work on before practice means you can emphasize it more because its already in your mind. I can tell myself to lower my level before practice and then during practice ill be thinking about it and therefore I can take better shots without having to have coach yell at me as much.

Later in the summer, I went to Jeff Jordan's State Champ Camp with Ricardo, Jordan, Bryson, Connor, William., Dylan, David, Umair, Hai, and Blake. The technique was not the main focus of this camp. This camp was aimed more to teach us how to train to be state champs. We learned that technique should be learned from March to October and that we should only go live and drill during the season. The level of intensity I saw here was unparalleled by anything else I've ever seen. This camp was brutal to us but we all made it through and I believe we are a better team for it. Coach Davanzo always say a quote that “Where you find success, you will find sacrifice.” and now I see it because we all gave up almost a month of our summer vacation by attending Jeff Jordan's Camp and the Duke Wrestling Camp(I went to Bruce Baumgartner's Heavyweight school as I knew this would benefit me more than the Duke Team Camp because as a heavyweight, I use slightly different techniques that don't usually get shown at a team camp.) We also had three hour a day practices for four days a week the two weeks prior to the Jordan Camp. At times, I felt that wrestling was boring but I quickly try to get myself out of this mindset because it negativity effects my performance and concentration. Also, if Iam moping around and kind of going through the motions , then other people will feed off of this negativity and the whole teams performance could suffer.

Another thing that stood out to me in my summer training, was when I helped with the Duke Children's Wrestling Camp. When you are teaching a move, you are actually helping yourself get better too by thinking about the right way something should be done and then trying to show it your best so that a lot of kids can learn it. It didn't seem like a lot of them were learning much but, I believe that the experience of wrestling will stay with them the rest of there life and that they will like it. I believe that if they just spend time on the mat they usually try there own moves instead of the ones you show them but this is a good learning technique of trial and error. Helping out is also rewarding because it makes you feel like you did something good and that feeling never gets old.

Coach Irving Shares His Story of Struggle and Success

Posted on: http://dukewrestlingblog.blogspot.com/

I was born in Rockledge Florida in 1980, and up until the age of 5 had a normal childhood. My father worked as a mechanic at Kennedy Space Center and my mother worked as a teacher’s assistant. In 1985, however, my life was drastically changed. My father was accused of a robbery and decided to take me, my two older sisters and younger brother, to South Florida in order avoid being arrested. Our family moved into our grandfather’s house. I had trouble adjusting to the new neighborhood and constantly got into fights. To make matters worse, in 1987, my jealous uncle hired someone to set fire to our family’s new home with us in it. We spent the next year homeless, living with different family members and staying in hotels.

In Middle School, I began wrestling but never took it seriously. I only practiced occasionally and continued to slack in my training; even more so in my school work. At the end of my freshman year, I had missed 40 days from school, had a 0.7 GPA, and a 1-7 wrestling record. During my sophomore year, I began to realize that I had talent, both academically and athletically. I simply needed to attend to be successful. That year, even though I got into trouble outside of school, I managed to finish my sophomore year with a 2.7 GPA and qualified for the Florida state tournament. At this point, I decided to change my life. I began to study and train harder than ever before and made it to the state semi-final match. I finished my junior year with a 3.0 GPA and 27-3 record. I spent the next summer training, intent on winning a state championship. Eventually I ended up training at the Seahorse wrestling club, where I met Steven and Jonathan Williams, the men who would eventually change my life. Up until that point, I hadn’t given much thought to the future and what I would do after high school. The Williams brothers got me thinking about going to college. The next year I transferred to the high school where these two men coached. That year, I went undefeated and won a state championship.

Later, I went on to college, where he became a 4X All-American and won a National Championship. After college, I went back to Florida, where I taught high school and wrestled on a part-time basis. I experienced some success, placing 2nd at the Sunkist International Open, 7th at the U.S. Open, and 5th at the World Team Trials. Even with this success, however, I did not feel as if I was reaching my full potential as a wrestler. I then made the difficult decision to resign from my job and move to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO, in order to pursue my dream of Olympic Gold.

In 2007, for family reasons, I decided to leave the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co and move to the Triangle. I took a job teaching at a high school in Durham, NC and initially planned on training at all three of the universities located in the Triangle (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC State). However, after meeting Coach Anderson and the Duke athletes, I decided Duke would be my primary training facility. It has been an honor working with Coach Anderson because of his experience in the sport and his strong commitment to his Christian faith. I also teach wrestling at a local high school and consider Clar a role model for how I coach my own athletes.

Posted by Duke Wrestlingat 11:27 AM

Ricardo Rios~Bolanos

What words can I use to describe my first year of wrestling? The best words would probably be brutal and intimidating, although that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I remember the first day of practice; I couldn’t wrestle because I failed my hydration test but watching everyone else wrestle just got me fired up. I knew I wanted to be a part of that and when coach Davanzo said that was one of the best practices he’d ever seen, I just felt disappointed that I couldn’t be a part of that. The next day I came in to practice ready to wrestle, and then I realized that this was nothing like middle school wrestling. For the next few weeks it was a challenge alone finishing practice. I always felt so tired, but I always felt so good inside because I finished practice. Our first match was an intra-squad match. The coach split the team up into two smaller teams and we wrestled each other. I wrestled twice and lost both of my matches, the first one against Nick Pluta and the second to Shaeed Nu’Man. I felt disappointed not because I lost, but because I knew I could keep going and I just stopped. I didn’t get a starting position until a few days later. I had to wrestle Nick again because one of our wrestlers got injured. I ended up beating him 10-9 and I was so happy I nearly cried. I never got a starting position in eighth grade and I just felt so good knowing I got a starting position. That was probably the second happiest moment I had that wrestling season. We went to tournaments and I just couldn’t seem to win a match. Every match I had, I lost. Whenever we took on other schools, I lost. I felt as though I just couldn’t seem to get better or win. I decided not to cry about it and do something about it. In practice, I was much more intense and I just kept practicing until I couldn’t go anymore, then I did it again. Even though I was practicing harder, I still kept losing, but I didn’t let that bring me down. I knew even though I was losing, I was still improving as a wrestler and I didn’t care whether it showed or not. It wasn’t until our last match of the season, against Chapel Hill, that I finally got to prove how much I improved. I got to wrestle in a junior varsity match and I ended up beating the guy by one point. I felt so good after winning that much because I just proved to myself that working hard really does help you no matter what you’re doing. I feel so proud to be in the Jordan wrestling program because it’s thanks to coach Davanzo and all of my teammates that I learned that I could really bring out the best in myself as long as I worked hard.

Sincerely, Ricardo

Co-Captain Bryson Roberts

This Off-Season…

At the beginning of the summer I wasn’t really looking forward to doing any kind of wrestling. Mostly because I disappointed myself this past season, only making it to the quarter finals of the regional tournament. But I knew what I had to do to make myself a harder worker and a better wrestler. So I got to work lifting in the gym and getting as much mat time in as possible.

This summer Team Jordan had an amazing opportunity to join Fitness World at a discount price. So you better believe I took advantage of it.

My brother, who plays football for UNC, hooked me up with their lifting program and it was TOUGH. This wasn’t your average lifting schedule, like alternating upper body and lower body every day. With this schedule you only lifted every other day, but you worked every part of your body during the workout.

Not only did a join Fitness World and lift, I went to some camps that have really changed my work ethics in the wrestling room.

One of the camps I went to was the one at Duke. This camp pushed me a lot because I haven’t wrestled in a while and I wasn’t in the best shape. But this was the first time ever I felt like I worked harder than anyone in the camp. I say this because, not only was I working hard during the scheduled sessions, but I was making plans with Duke wrestlers to workout in between sessions! At first I thought I was going crazy, but then I noticed that this is what it was going to take to be the best in the state.

Another camp I attended, with Team Jordan, was the Jeff Jordan State Champ Camp (tongue twister!). And all I have to say about that is WOW.

The ride to Ohio was very interesting. We were in the car for about 8 hours and for every hour that past we seemed to be getting further and further away from life on earth. Every turn we took in Ohio there was another barn and 5 more corn fields. At that point we all knew that wrestling was going to be our entire life for a whole week.

The Jeff Jordan camp has not only changed the way I see the wrestling world, and how dedicated you have to be to be the best, but it has also changed my work ethic in a huge way. Every time we had a session there you we either going hard or being threatened to be sent home. These Ohio boys ain’t no joke. You either went as hard as you can, or you go home!

And that’s the way wrestling needs to be. Its not a pretty boy sport. You have to be tough as nails and be ready to rip some ones head off whenever you have the chance. The last thing you need to have to be a successful wrestler is the mentality of a warrior.

When it comes to wrestling, this summer has been the toughest thing I’ve ever done. But it has taught me how to push myself and train properly. And now I’m ready to work my butt off and work to becoming a state champ.

In The Eyes of Senior Co-Captain William Cocker

As an rising Senior this was my last summer before my last season of being a part of the Jordan Wrestling family, and I have found myself putting more work into it than any other off season. In the beginning of the summer I immediately joined a gym and was going there six days a week to start lifting weights. I went in the mornings, the afternoons, it didn't matter when I went or how long I stayed there, but was usually for longer than an hour, which made it overall more comfortable being there. Also being completely unsuccessful in finding a job let me have no time restrictions, a job would be nice though.

I find that my mentality is in the right spot during the off season, and for some reason its never carried over into the four months when it counts. Every time I wrestled live let it be at Duke Camp or at Jeff Jordan it was against guys I did not know, or have ever wrestled before and I took it to them everyday. I was more aggressive and was trying new things but more importantly, I believe, was that I was having fun.

The attitude that I have seen myself display recently with all of the wrestling I have done in the off season was a very mean attitude.

Sometime I would just be like I really want to hit this mug. And hit him hard. It was fun. I think that is the attitude we need for everyone, we cannot be afraid of getting in a fight, because each of us is a bad dude, we just need to believe it.

The trip to Ohio was not something I was looking forward to doing. It was probably the car ride that made it unappealing. But that did not turn out bad either because we ended up finding ways to entertain ourselves in our sweet matching outfits. No homo.

"We're not getting out until you put the shorts on Hai."

However the experience in Ohio has not necessarily opened my eyes, but reminded them, and really has put a goal in front of me that I NEED to complete this year. To be an All-American.

I think the well water in Ohio has also given me a cough which I still have a week later...

My favorite part of the my entire off season was when I was wrestling some guy at Duke Camp. Now this guy was just ridiculously strong, if we tied up he could just throw me around. So the second he reached to tie up I lowered my level and hit a nasty blast double and ran him across the room. It felt so good. Its playing in my head all the time.

An Introspective Reflection From Coach Davanzo

The following was written as a reflection over the past three years at Jordan High School. Please realize it may offend some and it is long!

So I am sitting on an air plane heading to Seattle, Washington for the night and then will proceed to drive, with my best friend from high school, to Utah for a few days and then head to San Francisco for a few; before flying back across the country to head into Wilmington for my cousins wedding on Saturday, August 2, 2008. I have always asked the guys and other people to reflect on things, yet I have never asked myself to do so. So, here it goes: I really hope that this does not end up being a wicked boring; which makes people fall asleep.

Three years ago my dream had come true! Finally, after so many frustrating years as a club coach and volunteer assistant coach, I had my first head coaching job. Low and behold it is in Durham, NC. When I was at Millbrook I vowed I would never teach in Durham. I guess that’s the same type of thing that I did in high school; I vowed never to be a teacher. It’s kind of funny how what ever higher power you believe in works.

Anyways, again, after years of applying for job after job and getting turned down it came true! I remember the day vividly: I just got my keys to my classroom and the wrestling room. The first thing I did was walk into the wrestling room, sat there and pumped my fists in celebration! I had my own wrestling room, granted it was no larger than half of a mat, but it was mine (and I didn’t have to share it with anyone).

This celebration was short lived because I knew I had so much to do in order to build a program to where I wanted it to be. I knew I could do it, to! Heck why not, I was able to help do it at Millbrook in just four years of being there. We had just went from terrible to fifth in the state with three place winners (one of which was a state champion and I had another state champion whom I trained personally for three years).

Just as I got my keys and had my own room, I got a phone call from Greg Frey of Morehead High School. A perennial power that eats, sleeps, and drinks wrestling wanted me to come and be groomed to take over their program. I went on an interview and fell in love. However, I am too loyal to the people that gave me an opportunity!

I had a few goals, most of which had to do with winning! That was my focus, winning and nothing else! My goal was to be State Champions with in five years of taking over a program! This was a huge goal! Man was I in for a rude awakening.

My first year was terrible! Fortunately, I had met an amazing person that helped me through it. However, I felt like the most hated person in the world! I would get nasty email after nasty email from the parents. They thought I was too hard on their sons, they thought because they were middle school conference runner ups that they should be able to breeze through high school. They thought they were going to coach their son from the side lines. They thought that they could just pick up and take off for vacation during the middle of the season. It was so bad that parents were spreading rumors in the stands and at the bars about me; and then had the audacity to be kind to my face. Each time they failed to see the big picture! What I was doing was changing the culture at Jordan High School. But, how dare some darn 25 year old yankee come in and do such at thing! It was so bad; that I had parents be so blatantly two faced it made me sick and tore me apart!
It was only that when their sons had a little success and achieve their goals did they start to realize the big picture. It’s funny how you help a person obtain their goals, and all of a sudden does the parent realize that it was all worth it. However, that is short lived as those parents continue to bad mouth me and our program to this day (saying that we are too hard on kids and that we do not care about individuals: Despite almost losing my job battling for their son!). We will discuss this in a few!

My first off season was terrible, no one committed to do training in the off season, except one person; and that’s because his father forced him to. The second season came about and I was met with the same types of things: Parents sitting in the stands bad mouthing our program; and trashing me while being extremely nice to my face. We had some success as we were conference runner-up (in our conference that’s wicked hard, especially without a returning state qualifier). We had a state qualifier again and I was named conference coach of the year.

Because of the way I was raised in wrestling (not by my parents), I became a wicked arrogant person. I didn’t think that I could be taught anything and that I was always right. I really believe that’s why I didn’t get some earlier jobs. However, once I took over Jordan I was going to change that. Sure enough I did. We had already had a state champion, but I said it wasn’t me, it was all him. We were conference runner-up not because of me, but because of the boys and the coaching staff. I told myself I wasn’t a good coach and deflected all sorts of praise for some time now (even at Millbrook) because I didn’t want to be known as an arrogant person (which I really am not).

Then the parents, again, had stuck a knife in my back when our returning state qualifier had decided to transfer to a rival high school. His buddy was getting in trouble and I was trying to help him out, however, the son was never to blame. It was always Coach Davanzo’s fault! I just didn’t like the kid in the eyes of the entire family.

Year three rolls around. During the off season we had a few work out, but not much. Perhaps, we were heading in the right direction. We had the largest number of athletes participating in preseason fitness and conditioning. We had hired a stud assistant coach, which he was chasing his dream of making the Olympic Team. The guys working harder than I have ever seen a Jordan team work; however, there was one problem: they were all freshman or first year wrestlers. I knew it was going to be a long year.

It was a long year, we got our butts handed to us and there I was, again, doubting whether I was a good coach or not. However, this was a tremendous team! For the majority of the time they worked very hard. And, you know what? Two wrestlers did not return for this season and we had a great work ethic in the room. We had another state qualifier, so that made five in three years, with one State Champion. However, going into next season we are faced with no returning state qualifiers, but we have like 8 regional qualifiers back!

The key was the off season, which I had been preaching all season. I enlisted a parent (imagine that) to help coordinate the off season and camps. Len Roberts has done a tremendous amount! Our guys were going to the Duke Club twice a week, hitting tournaments, going to Duke Camp and another camp. It appears they have made the commitment.

During the Duke Camp something big happened. I don’t know what it was; perhaps the pre-session drilling that I made them do. Or whether I made them go every where as a team, perhaps it was the bond they formed with John Barone, Anthony Jorge, and Robert Holbrook of Duke. I don’t know what it was, but here I was watching 11 wrestlers (12 if you include one that was at another wresting camp) transform in front of my own very eyes.

We were now facing an out of state camp that was going to be a butt kicker. We trained hard for eight days leading up to the camp without one single complaint. At one time, the guys had all stayed an extra forty five minutes on their own and worked out. Again, I was witnessing something awesome.

During the trip up, the eleven that attended began to bond as Team Jordan! They began to take ownership of their team! Not Coach Davanzo’s team, but their team. They were making decisions for the betterment of the whole. They led their own round table discussions on how to improve Team Jordan.

When we arrived at camp, we were some what laughed at by other teams because each wrestler had on the same identical thing (Team Jordan shirt and Jordan Wrestling shorts) and each had the same team bag! We are only has good as the whole! No individuals on a team.

We got to work and we worked hard. The coaches and counselors of the camp were impressed. We got our butts handed to us each day. However, we never broke! We got up and kept on slugging away. We did our pre-session drilling again! We jelled even tighter as a group. We began to hold ourselves and each other accountable for our training and actions.

At the end of the last session of camp, we wanted more. The guys ran off the mat and asked for more! However, it was over and there was no more training. So we did the next best thing, we helped the staff break down mats, put them away, and help clean up.

I had the ability to spend some time with the head coach and camp director. I was able to pick his brain and listen to how he does things. It was truly remarkable to hear that we were doing pretty much the same identical things. Our philosophy of training and technique are very similar. It was awesome to see the boys figure this out on their own and figure out what they were missing.

I now know that Philip Davanzo has been doing it the right way the entire time! And it’s about time that I realize it, I am a good coach! I love these guys and will go to war for them. I have opened my home for them, helped feed them when they had literally no money to eat, stayed wicked late when their parents refused to come get them, and so much more! I care so much it sent me into a clinical depression because I wanted these guys to be the best overall human being as possible.

I now know (or am realizing) that all of the community service we do, the preaching of making the right choices, the toughness/accountability placed on the wrestlers, the discipline that is instilled and so much more is right on track with the number one team in the country!

I also know that these 11 (12 because one would have been there if he could have) would go to war for me! They realize that they may not want to do something, but I have their best interest at heart and therefore will do it! My dream of building a hard working, disciplined, civic and scholarly conscious human is coming to fruition. Once we have achieved this, winning will be a direct by product of this!

I am so proud of these 11 (12) guys because they have bought into the true meaning of Falcon Style: It’s a way of living! It’s a life style! Hard work, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice: And I can not wait to get home from vacation to start training with them! It’s going be a great journey. If you are not on board, make the choice to either get on or get out of the way because these guys are pocessed and have raised the bar higher than I could ever have imagined at Jordan High School!

Falcon Style

2008-2009 Team Jordan

“Tradition in the Making”

2010-2011 Season
Season Record: 0 - 0
Conference Record: 0 - 0

COMING UP

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Weight Management for Wrestling


Jordan Wrestling Roster Staff History In Their Eyes Sponsors Links Community Outreach Bull Durham Holiday Classic World Wide Sports Supply Champions Clinic Jordan Podcasts/Falcon Vision Wrestling Technique Where Are They Now Jordan Apparel Gallery	In Their Eyes In the Eyes of Ricardo Rios-Bolanos My experience at the state tournament was definitely an eye-opener. It opened my eyes to the facts that I really enjoy the sport of wrestling because watching all the other wrestlers made me want to get out there and wrestle too. It also opened my eyes to the commitment I need to make in order to be successful in this sport. I was watching a lot matches that went into overtime and a lot of the wrestlers were not even tired. I know that at this point, I would not be in that condition. I also saw the guys that were my weight class. I thought they were 160 pound wrestlers, but it turns out that they were the 145 weight class. I guess the experience at the state tournament also made me a little bit depressed because I know that to get to the level that all those guys were at, I need to work very hard. The atmosphere of the whole arena was electrifying. I heard cheers from my left, from my right, from behind me, and right in front of me. It must feel good to have a large group of people behind you wanting you to win something. I think the best and worst part of it was when I saw everyone win their state championships. It made me feel bad because I really wanted to be that person that wins a state championship. It also made me feel good because I know the feeling that someone gets when they win a state championship must be overwhelming and I have a chance to possibly feel that. The experience did not only open my eyes to where I need to be, but it also made me realize how good it feels to be part of an actual team. We all went to places together and it felt good to have that connection with everyone and I just want to feel that a lot more. We’re not a bunch of strangers that hate each other and are just together because we like to wrestle. We’re actually friends that like to hang out with each other and do things outside of wrestling together. In the Eyes of Jordan Fearrington When I began wrestling as a freshman, I didn’t know what to expect. I really wasn’t even sure what wrestling was. Actually, even though I had been in school for a semester, I had no idea where the wrestling room was. After the football season, my coach saw that I was disappointed with my playing time. He asked me if I wanted to get better and I told him that I did. He told me to meet him after school in the gym the following Monday and then left. At this point, I am thinking that he is going to get me on an intense weightlifting workout, and I guess you could say that he did. I met him in the gym then followed him down stairs to a metal door. He opened it and inside there were mats on the floor. He said, “Welcome to wrestling, Jordan.” Then he gave me an old flimsy pair of shoes and left. I changed clothes and went to the bathroom. When I came back, there were about 25 kids running around and tackling each other. I expected to see ropes and a canvas, but there were just mats. Just then, somebody came up from behind me, slammed me on the ground, and began to wrestle me. Just as soon as it had begun, a whistle blew and everybody ran to the wall. I was still in the middle of the floor. A new coach, Coach Davanzo, was standing over me. He said, “Alright, listen up. We have the football players. This is Jordan. Now start warming up.” Everybody then started jogging and I followed in. I quickly learned that this was a sport where you either caught on quickly or you suffered at the hand of your teammate. Wrestling was challenging and I loved that. I had never been involved in a sport that took so much out of you every day, yet, I enjoyed coming into the room and having someone better than me beat me up. After practice, they were always happy to share what they did to pin me or take me down. This helped me a lot and I learned from my mistakes more quickly that way. As the season progressed, I became a better, more confident wrestler. I even gained a spot on the varsity line up at 119 pounds. I was extremely excited and ready to prove myself on the mat. The rest of my freshman year was ok. I finished the season with a record around .500, but I had found a new passion. The next two years, I continued to practice and work on developing my skills. I learned new moves and tilts; I improved my strength and stamina; I even gained more confidence and experience on the mat, but my goals were still eluding me. No matter how hard I practiced during the season, I didn’t seem to be getting much better than everyone else. I became frustrated with my wrestling and began to just go through the motions. At the end of a disappointing junior year, Coach Roberts told me something I will never forget. He told me: “Everybody works hard during the season, so everybody gets better during the season. You have to do the work that nobody else is willing to do. You have to train when nobody else is willing to train. You need to wrestle during the off season.” I took his advice and trained for hours on the mat and in the weight room during the off season. I stopped comparing myself to others and began to try and out do myself. When I returned to the mat senior year, I saw the difference that Coach Roberts talked about. I was better conditioned that my opponents. I was stronger than my opponents. I was also more confident than my opponents. I found myself with my hand raised more often and I liked how that felt. In the Eyes of Co-Captain Andrew Anderson “Summer Training” Andrew Anderson I'll admit, when Coach Davanzo asked me to start journaling my thoughts about practices, I was a bit skeptical. I couldn't help but telling myself, “this appears to be a waste of my time.” Knowing Coach like I do though, I knew it had to have some higher purpose. So, I began writing in my journal and after a couple days I realized what the purpose of it was. The Purpose was to help me stay focused on my goals and to set forth a plan to achieve them. By writing in it everyday, I was able to find out what I needed to work on and what was going through my mind at the time. Knowing what you need to work on before practice means you can emphasize it more because its already in your mind. I can tell myself to lower my level before practice and then during practice ill be thinking about it and therefore I can take better shots without having to have coach yell at me as much. Later in the summer, I went to Jeff Jordan's State Champ Camp with Ricardo, Jordan, Bryson, Connor, William., Dylan, David, Umair, Hai, and Blake. The technique was not the main focus of this camp. This camp was aimed more to teach us how to train to be state champs. We learned that technique should be learned from March to October and that we should only go live and drill during the season. The level of intensity I saw here was unparalleled by anything else I've ever seen. This camp was brutal to us but we all made it through and I believe we are a better team for it. Coach Davanzo always say a quote that “Where you find success, you will find sacrifice.” and now I see it because we all gave up almost a month of our summer vacation by attending Jeff Jordan's Camp and the Duke Wrestling Camp(I went to Bruce Baumgartner's Heavyweight school as I knew this would benefit me more than the Duke Team Camp because as a heavyweight, I use slightly different techniques that don't usually get shown at a team camp.) We also had three hour a day practices for four days a week the two weeks prior to the Jordan Camp. At times, I felt that wrestling was boring but I quickly try to get myself out of this mindset because it negativity effects my performance and concentration. Also, if Iam moping around and kind of going through the motions , then other people will feed off of this negativity and the whole teams performance could suffer. Another thing that stood out to me in my summer training, was when I helped with the Duke Children's Wrestling Camp. When you are teaching a move, you are actually helping yourself get better too by thinking about the right way something should be done and then trying to show it your best so that a lot of kids can learn it. It didn't seem like a lot of them were learning much but, I believe that the experience of wrestling will stay with them the rest of there life and that they will like it. I believe that if they just spend time on the mat they usually try there own moves instead of the ones you show them but this is a good learning technique of trial and error. Helping out is also rewarding because it makes you feel like you did something good and that feeling never gets old. Coach Irving Shares His Story of Struggle and Success Posted on: http://dukewrestlingblog.blogspot.com/ I was born in Rockledge Florida in 1980, and up until the age of 5 had a normal childhood. My father worked as a mechanic at Kennedy Space Center and my mother worked as a teacher’s assistant. In 1985, however, my life was drastically changed. My father was accused of a robbery and decided to take me, my two older sisters and younger brother, to South Florida in order avoid being arrested. Our family moved into our grandfather’s house. I had trouble adjusting to the new neighborhood and constantly got into fights. To make matters worse, in 1987, my jealous uncle hired someone to set fire to our family’s new home with us in it. We spent the next year homeless, living with different family members and staying in hotels. In Middle School, I began wrestling but never took it seriously. I only practiced occasionally and continued to slack in my training; even more so in my school work. At the end of my freshman year, I had missed 40 days from school, had a 0.7 GPA, and a 1-7 wrestling record. During my sophomore year, I began to realize that I had talent, both academically and athletically. I simply needed to attend to be successful. That year, even though I got into trouble outside of school, I managed to finish my sophomore year with a 2.7 GPA and qualified for the Florida state tournament. At this point, I decided to change my life. I began to study and train harder than ever before and made it to the state semi-final match. I finished my junior year with a 3.0 GPA and 27-3 record. I spent the next summer training, intent on winning a state championship. Eventually I ended up training at the Seahorse wrestling club, where I met Steven and Jonathan Williams, the men who would eventually change my life. Up until that point, I hadn’t given much thought to the future and what I would do after high school. The Williams brothers got me thinking about going to college. The next year I transferred to the high school where these two men coached. That year, I went undefeated and won a state championship. Later, I went on to college, where he became a 4X All-American and won a National Championship. After college, I went back to Florida, where I taught high school and wrestled on a part-time basis. I experienced some success, placing 2nd at the Sunkist International Open, 7th at the U.S. Open, and 5th at the World Team Trials. Even with this success, however, I did not feel as if I was reaching my full potential as a wrestler. I then made the difficult decision to resign from my job and move to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO, in order to pursue my dream of Olympic Gold. In 2007, for family reasons, I decided to leave the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co and move to the Triangle. I took a job teaching at a high school in Durham, NC and initially planned on training at all three of the universities located in the Triangle (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC State). However, after meeting Coach Anderson and the Duke athletes, I decided Duke would be my primary training facility. It has been an honor working with Coach Anderson because of his experience in the sport and his strong commitment to his Christian faith. I also teach wrestling at a local high school and consider Clar a role model for how I coach my own athletes. Posted by Duke Wrestlingat 11:27 AM Ricardo Rios~Bolanos What words can I use to describe my first year of wrestling? The best words would probably be brutal and intimidating, although that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I remember the first day of practice; I couldn’t wrestle because I failed my hydration test but watching everyone else wrestle just got me fired up. I knew I wanted to be a part of that and when coach Davanzo said that was one of the best practices he’d ever seen, I just felt disappointed that I couldn’t be a part of that. The next day I came in to practice ready to wrestle, and then I realized that this was nothing like middle school wrestling. For the next few weeks it was a challenge alone finishing practice. I always felt so tired, but I always felt so good inside because I finished practice. Our first match was an intra-squad match. The coach split the team up into two smaller teams and we wrestled each other. I wrestled twice and lost both of my matches, the first one against Nick Pluta and the second to Shaeed Nu’Man. I felt disappointed not because I lost, but because I knew I could keep going and I just stopped. I didn’t get a starting position until a few days later. I had to wrestle Nick again because one of our wrestlers got injured. I ended up beating him 10-9 and I was so happy I nearly cried. I never got a starting position in eighth grade and I just felt so good knowing I got a starting position. That was probably the second happiest moment I had that wrestling season. We went to tournaments and I just couldn’t seem to win a match. Every match I had, I lost. Whenever we took on other schools, I lost. I felt as though I just couldn’t seem to get better or win. I decided not to cry about it and do something about it. In practice, I was much more intense and I just kept practicing until I couldn’t go anymore, then I did it again. Even though I was practicing harder, I still kept losing, but I didn’t let that bring me down. I knew even though I was losing, I was still improving as a wrestler and I didn’t care whether it showed or not. It wasn’t until our last match of the season, against Chapel Hill, that I finally got to prove how much I improved. I got to wrestle in a junior varsity match and I ended up beating the guy by one point. I felt so good after winning that much because I just proved to myself that working hard really does help you no matter what you’re doing. I feel so proud to be in the Jordan wrestling program because it’s thanks to coach Davanzo and all of my teammates that I learned that I could really bring out the best in myself as long as I worked hard. Sincerely, Ricardo Co-Captain Bryson Roberts This Off-Season… At the beginning of the summer I wasn’t really looking forward to doing any kind of wrestling. Mostly because I disappointed myself this past season, only making it to the quarter finals of the regional tournament. But I knew what I had to do to make myself a harder worker and a better wrestler. So I got to work lifting in the gym and getting as much mat time in as possible. This summer Team Jordan had an amazing opportunity to join Fitness World at a discount price. So you better believe I took advantage of it. My brother, who plays football for UNC, hooked me up with their lifting program and it was TOUGH. This wasn’t your average lifting schedule, like alternating upper body and lower body every day. With this schedule you only lifted every other day, but you worked every part of your body during the workout. Not only did a join Fitness World and lift, I went to some camps that have really changed my work ethics in the wrestling room. One of the camps I went to was the one at Duke. This camp pushed me a lot because I haven’t wrestled in a while and I wasn’t in the best shape. But this was the first time ever I felt like I worked harder than anyone in the camp. I say this because, not only was I working hard during the scheduled sessions, but I was making plans with Duke wrestlers to workout in between sessions! At first I thought I was going crazy, but then I noticed that this is what it was going to take to be the best in the state. Another camp I attended, with Team Jordan, was the Jeff Jordan State Champ Camp (tongue twister!). And all I have to say about that is WOW. The ride to Ohio was very interesting. We were in the car for about 8 hours and for every hour that past we seemed to be getting further and further away from life on earth. Every turn we took in Ohio there was another barn and 5 more corn fields. At that point we all knew that wrestling was going to be our entire life for a whole week. The Jeff Jordan camp has not only changed the way I see the wrestling world, and how dedicated you have to be to be the best, but it has also changed my work ethic in a huge way. Every time we had a session there you we either going hard or being threatened to be sent home. These Ohio boys ain’t no joke. You either went as hard as you can, or you go home! And that’s the way wrestling needs to be. Its not a pretty boy sport. You have to be tough as nails and be ready to rip some ones head off whenever you have the chance. The last thing you need to have to be a successful wrestler is the mentality of a warrior. When it comes to wrestling, this summer has been the toughest thing I’ve ever done. But it has taught me how to push myself and train properly. And now I’m ready to work my butt off and work to becoming a state champ. In The Eyes of Senior Co-Captain William Cocker As an rising Senior this was my last summer before my last season of being a part of the Jordan Wrestling family, and I have found myself putting more work into it than any other off season. In the beginning of the summer I immediately joined a gym and was going there six days a week to start lifting weights. I went in the mornings, the afternoons, it didn't matter when I went or how long I stayed there, but was usually for longer than an hour, which made it overall more comfortable being there. Also being completely unsuccessful in finding a job let me have no time restrictions, a job would be nice though. I find that my mentality is in the right spot during the off season, and for some reason its never carried over into the four months when it counts. Every time I wrestled live let it be at Duke Camp or at Jeff Jordan it was against guys I did not know, or have ever wrestled before and I took it to them everyday. I was more aggressive and was trying new things but more importantly, I believe, was that I was having fun. The attitude that I have seen myself display recently with all of the wrestling I have done in the off season was a very mean attitude. Sometime I would just be like I really want to hit this mug. And hit him hard. It was fun. I think that is the attitude we need for everyone, we cannot be afraid of getting in a fight, because each of us is a bad dude, we just need to believe it. The trip to Ohio was not something I was looking forward to doing. It was probably the car ride that made it unappealing. But that did not turn out bad either because we ended up finding ways to entertain ourselves in our sweet matching outfits. No homo. "We're not getting out until you put the shorts on Hai." However the experience in Ohio has not necessarily opened my eyes, but reminded them, and really has put a goal in front of me that I NEED to complete this year. To be an All-American. I think the well water in Ohio has also given me a cough which I still have a week later... My favorite part of the my entire off season was when I was wrestling some guy at Duke Camp. Now this guy was just ridiculously strong, if we tied up he could just throw me around. So the second he reached to tie up I lowered my level and hit a nasty blast double and ran him across the room. It felt so good. Its playing in my head all the time. An Introspective Reflection From Coach Davanzo The following was written as a reflection over the past three years at Jordan High School. Please realize it may offend some and it is long! So I am sitting on an air plane heading to Seattle, Washington for the night and then will proceed to drive, with my best friend from high school, to Utah for a few days and then head to San Francisco for a few; before flying back across the country to head into Wilmington for my cousins wedding on Saturday, August 2, 2008. I have always asked the guys and other people to reflect on things, yet I have never asked myself to do so. So, here it goes: I really hope that this does not end up being a wicked boring; which makes people fall asleep. Three years ago my dream had come true! Finally, after so many frustrating years as a club coach and volunteer assistant coach, I had my first head coaching job. Low and behold it is in Durham, NC. When I was at Millbrook I vowed I would never teach in Durham. I guess that’s the same type of thing that I did in high school; I vowed never to be a teacher. It’s kind of funny how what ever higher power you believe in works. Anyways, again, after years of applying for job after job and getting turned down it came true! I remember the day vividly: I just got my keys to my classroom and the wrestling room. The first thing I did was walk into the wrestling room, sat there and pumped my fists in celebration! I had my own wrestling room, granted it was no larger than half of a mat, but it was mine (and I didn’t have to share it with anyone). This celebration was short lived because I knew I had so much to do in order to build a program to where I wanted it to be. I knew I could do it, to! Heck why not, I was able to help do it at Millbrook in just four years of being there. We had just went from terrible to fifth in the state with three place winners (one of which was a state champion and I had another state champion whom I trained personally for three years). Just as I got my keys and had my own room, I got a phone call from Greg Frey of Morehead High School. A perennial power that eats, sleeps, and drinks wrestling wanted me to come and be groomed to take over their program. I went on an interview and fell in love. However, I am too loyal to the people that gave me an opportunity! I had a few goals, most of which had to do with winning! That was my focus, winning and nothing else! My goal was to be State Champions with in five years of taking over a program! This was a huge goal! Man was I in for a rude awakening. My first year was terrible! Fortunately, I had met an amazing person that helped me through it. However, I felt like the most hated person in the world! I would get nasty email after nasty email from the parents. They thought I was too hard on their sons, they thought because they were middle school conference runner ups that they should be able to breeze through high school. They thought they were going to coach their son from the side lines. They thought that they could just pick up and take off for vacation during the middle of the season. It was so bad that parents were spreading rumors in the stands and at the bars about me; and then had the audacity to be kind to my face. Each time they failed to see the big picture! What I was doing was changing the culture at Jordan High School. But, how dare some darn 25 year old yankee come in and do such at thing! It was so bad; that I had parents be so blatantly two faced it made me sick and tore me apart! It was only that when their sons had a little success and achieve their goals did they start to realize the big picture. It’s funny how you help a person obtain their goals, and all of a sudden does the parent realize that it was all worth it. However, that is short lived as those parents continue to bad mouth me and our program to this day (saying that we are too hard on kids and that we do not care about individuals: Despite almost losing my job battling for their son!). We will discuss this in a few! My first off season was terrible, no one committed to do training in the off season, except one person; and that’s because his father forced him to. The second season came about and I was met with the same types of things: Parents sitting in the stands bad mouthing our program; and trashing me while being extremely nice to my face. We had some success as we were conference runner-up (in our conference that’s wicked hard, especially without a returning state qualifier). We had a state qualifier again and I was named conference coach of the year. Because of the way I was raised in wrestling (not by my parents), I became a wicked arrogant person. I didn’t think that I could be taught anything and that I was always right. I really believe that’s why I didn’t get some earlier jobs. However, once I took over Jordan I was going to change that. Sure enough I did. We had already had a state champion, but I said it wasn’t me, it was all him. We were conference runner-up not because of me, but because of the boys and the coaching staff. I told myself I wasn’t a good coach and deflected all sorts of praise for some time now (even at Millbrook) because I didn’t want to be known as an arrogant person (which I really am not). Then the parents, again, had stuck a knife in my back when our returning state qualifier had decided to transfer to a rival high school. His buddy was getting in trouble and I was trying to help him out, however, the son was never to blame. It was always Coach Davanzo’s fault! I just didn’t like the kid in the eyes of the entire family. Year three rolls around. During the off season we had a few work out, but not much. Perhaps, we were heading in the right direction. We had the largest number of athletes participating in preseason fitness and conditioning. We had hired a stud assistant coach, which he was chasing his dream of making the Olympic Team. The guys working harder than I have ever seen a Jordan team work; however, there was one problem: they were all freshman or first year wrestlers. I knew it was going to be a long year. It was a long year, we got our butts handed to us and there I was, again, doubting whether I was a good coach or not. However, this was a tremendous team! For the majority of the time they worked very hard. And, you know what? Two wrestlers did not return for this season and we had a great work ethic in the room. We had another state qualifier, so that made five in three years, with one State Champion. However, going into next season we are faced with no returning state qualifiers, but we have like 8 regional qualifiers back! The key was the off season, which I had been preaching all season. I enlisted a parent (imagine that) to help coordinate the off season and camps. Len Roberts has done a tremendous amount! Our guys were going to the Duke Club twice a week, hitting tournaments, going to Duke Camp and another camp. It appears they have made the commitment. During the Duke Camp something big happened. I don’t know what it was; perhaps the pre-session drilling that I made them do. Or whether I made them go every where as a team, perhaps it was the bond they formed with John Barone, Anthony Jorge, and Robert Holbrook of Duke. I don’t know what it was, but here I was watching 11 wrestlers (12 if you include one that was at another wresting camp) transform in front of my own very eyes. We were now facing an out of state camp that was going to be a butt kicker. We trained hard for eight days leading up to the camp without one single complaint. At one time, the guys had all stayed an extra forty five minutes on their own and worked out. Again, I was witnessing something awesome. During the trip up, the eleven that attended began to bond as Team Jordan! They began to take ownership of their team! Not Coach Davanzo’s team, but their team. They were making decisions for the betterment of the whole. They led their own round table discussions on how to improve Team Jordan. When we arrived at camp, we were some what laughed at by other teams because each wrestler had on the same identical thing (Team Jordan shirt and Jordan Wrestling shorts) and each had the same team bag! We are only has good as the whole! No individuals on a team. We got to work and we worked hard. The coaches and counselors of the camp were impressed. We got our butts handed to us each day. However, we never broke! We got up and kept on slugging away. We did our pre-session drilling again! We jelled even tighter as a group. We began to hold ourselves and each other accountable for our training and actions. At the end of the last session of camp, we wanted more. The guys ran off the mat and asked for more! However, it was over and there was no more training. So we did the next best thing, we helped the staff break down mats, put them away, and help clean up. I had the ability to spend some time with the head coach and camp director. I was able to pick his brain and listen to how he does things. It was truly remarkable to hear that we were doing pretty much the same identical things. Our philosophy of training and technique are very similar. It was awesome to see the boys figure this out on their own and figure out what they were missing. I now know that Philip Davanzo has been doing it the right way the entire time! And it’s about time that I realize it, I am a good coach! I love these guys and will go to war for them. I have opened my home for them, helped feed them when they had literally no money to eat, stayed wicked late when their parents refused to come get them, and so much more! I care so much it sent me into a clinical depression because I wanted these guys to be the best overall human being as possible. I now know (or am realizing) that all of the community service we do, the preaching of making the right choices, the toughness/accountability placed on the wrestlers, the discipline that is instilled and so much more is right on track with the number one team in the country! I also know that these 11 (12 because one would have been there if he could have) would go to war for me! They realize that they may not want to do something, but I have their best interest at heart and therefore will do it! My dream of building a hard working, disciplined, civic and scholarly conscious human is coming to fruition. Once we have achieved this, winning will be a direct by product of this! I am so proud of these 11 (12) guys because they have bought into the true meaning of Falcon Style: It’s a way of living! It’s a life style! Hard work, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice: And I can not wait to get home from vacation to start training with them! It’s going be a great journey. If you are not on board, make the choice to either get on or get out of the way because these guys are pocessed and have raised the bar higher than I could ever have imagined at Jordan High School! Falcon Style 2008-2009 Team Jordan “Tradition in the Making”	2010-2011 Season Season Record: 0 - 0 Conference Record: 0 - 0 COMING UP Downloads Bill Gates Talks To High Schoolers Jordan Wrestlers Pin Down Books Nutritionist Helps UNC Eat Right Physical Form Physician Release Skin Infection/Prevention PPT Sumo Diet Taking Pride In Being A Wrestler Weight Management for Wrestling
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