By Robert Elkin
Here in Brooklyn, the main sports on the scholastic level are basketball, baseball and football and to an extent hockey in certain neighborhoods. There is another activity which is less popular-wrestling and not too many schools field such a team. From the Catholic schools in this borough, Xaverian of Bay Ridge is the only institution that possesses this grappler sport. It has been in existence since 1973 when it started as a club. A year later a team was formed. During the 1980s the team was very successful and captured city and state championships. However., the program somewhat fell by the way side until 2004 when it became successful once again through the efforts put in by Sal Ferrara, Jeff O’Brien and Mike Wilson. At press time, these Clippers have a 3-3 record in dual match league competition, defeating St. Joseph-By-The-Sea, Salesian and Iona Prep and losing to Msgr. Farrell, Fordham Prep and Xavier. Individuals are entered into tournaments. Even last Sunday, Xaverian hosted a city-wide Catholic High Schools Athletic Association Junior Varsity Tournament. The Clippers staged their own tournament at the beginning of the year. The Clippers are young with a lot of good and promising first year wrestlers on the squad. The Clippers rely on a team effort, headed by seniors Joe Trovato, who has an overall 16-3 record, including competition in the CHSAA, in the 170-pound weight class, and by Nick Iacono, in the 112-pound category. “Wrestling is a tough sport and the competitors must be very dedicated and careful, if they want to succeed in this activity. Some of the better students are striving for a college scholarship.” For Trovato, he even stayed in shape during the off season as he attended a wrestling camp for the past two summers. Two other seniors also went to summer camp to better prepare themselves for the regular season. “We’ve been working hard in the off season and (of course, now during practices),” said Trovato, in his fourth year on the team. Credit also must go to head coach Mike Wilson and assistant coaches Robert Bongiorno and Dom Coppola. Travoto, who quit the football team to concentrate on wrestling, is also President of the Student Body as elected by the students at Xaverian. His duties include organizing school functions and doing any job to make the school better. Then there is Iacono, who at 20-2 in the 112-pound class, has the best record on the squad. “Besides dedication, being on the wrestling team is rough,” Iacono added. “But it’s fun at the same time. After I used to play soccer, I gave it up to concentrate on wrestling. I started at this sport in my sophomore year and improved.” Then there is senior Victor Guadnigno, a four-year wrestler, who is also a returnee. He started as an outside linebacker on the football team. “Our strengths are in the 112, 160 and 171 pound weight classes with our three seniors Iocono, Guadnigno and Trovato wrestling on the team for three seasons I’ve been coaching here,” Wilson went on. “They are doing very well. Most of them have winning records and have competed in 15 to 20 matches this year. They are our captains.” The toughest part of our program is getting a location for practice. “This is our only weak point,” Wilson contined. “Even though we don’t have depth on our roster, the prospects who we have are terrific. The biggest drawback here is that we don’t have a facility for our guys to be able to work out. We lost our weight room when I first got here and as a result we struggled getting into the cafeteria until we get a wrestling room for ourselves (within the school).” “If we do get a wrestling room within the next two years, you’ll see our name around here a little more,” Bongiorno said. The boys are dedicated and work very hard. Home matches are held in the gymnasium and practices are held at what ever place the school could obtain, including the cafeteria. They have to share the gym with the baseball and sometimes the track team. Whenever the coaches call for practice, the boys themselves take out the mats, move the tables and chairs around, and workout in the cafeteria. In the near future, the school will bring back a wrestling room, which they used to have, until the administration decided to use it as a storage room. Some schools have an extra gym for other activities besides basketball. Wrestling as a sport is unlike any other one because it is more of an individual activity. “It’s nice where you can pass the ball to somebody else,” continued Wilson, who is also on the committee for the Chris Hoban road race in September. “An individual is out there by himself for six minutes (unless there is a pin). Wrestling gives the boys a lot of discipline, and they are in good shape, probably the best shape of anybody else in the school.” The highlight of the schedule was defeating St. Joseph’s and Iona Prep in close matches. The immediate goal is for the boys to perform extremely well in the CHSAA Intersectional and New York State championship meets on February 10, and 18-19, respectively.
