Who are the wrestling aides? What do they do? According to the wrestling assistant coach and science teacher Nick Wilcox, they are “the behind the scenes people.” “There are a lot of things that happen in a wrestling tournament or dual that spectators may not see,” shared Mr. Wilcox. Wrestling aides have responsibilities such as filming matches, keeping track of stats, and cleaning up blood at home meets. Filming is a huge responsibility for the wrestling aides so the wrestlers can watch their matches so they can see what they need to improve on. 

Stats are also important to keep track of because it helps to have accurate stats for the wrestling team.  Mr. Wilcox shares an example of how wrestling aides keeping track of stats helped the wrestling team. “There was a semifinals match not long ago at a tournament where this came into play,” Mr. Wilcox shared. According to Mr. Wilcox, the wrestling aides were doing a great job of keeping track of stats and it really helped the wrestlers and “it saved the match for us in a way.” Another responsibility for wrestling aides to do is to be the DJ at wrestling practices to make “sure the energy in the room is right.” 

Mr. Wilcox has been coordinating the wrestling aides for eight years. “This is my 12th year at Schuyler and I’ve helped with wrestling every year,” Mr. Wilcox commented. His first two years were as a wrestling assistant coach to Coach Wemhoff at the middle school and after those two years he has been a wrestling assistant coach at the high school. He was first an assistant wrestling coach to Coach Kasik and then to Coach Hlavac. 

“I decided to be a wrestling aide because I didn’t want to spend my winter doing nothing and I like helping out with anything,” returning wrestling aide and sophomore Maria Genchi shared. Maria is a second year wrestling aide because she enjoys getting to see the boys wrestle.