The first of our three contest winners, 10591, sent me his guest blog post, which I posted below. It should be noted that he almost didn’t win. His original picks only had 11 winners, but he went back and resubmitted a new ballot that had 12. So now 10591 has a chance to get something off his chest.
First of all, I am glad to be given the chance to write a small blog, since I picked the winners for the Section 1 championships for the Large School, and for those that are taking their time in reading this, thank you and I hope that what I write comes out correctly (I was not an English major in college), clearly and hopefully doesn’t leave any questions to be answered.
I am a Sleepy Hollow HS graduate from the mid 90’s, never wrestled, friends of mine in HS were not on the team, and really don’t follow it as much as some of your great bloggers do, but I do have one small problem that I read and hear about all the time and that is the talk of Sleepy Hollow wrestlers, the way they behave, that they are an embarassment to the school, their coach, blah blah blah.
Sleepy Hollow’s coach Brian Tompkins is one of the most respected men in Section 1 wrestling, there is no doubt about that. He has led the Horsemen for many many many years, which have gotten them an All-American, many state champions, many many many multi-year sectional champions and most important, he does an AMAZING job in the classroom with the kids that he teaches. Just because his kids show emotions before, during or after matches, is that a bad thing nowadays??? His kids train all year for that one special moment, which is, to get a chance to wrestle on the mat of the high school that they are representing. Some of these kids have been around wrestling since they could walk, this is all they have dreamed about, this is all they think about. Many high school kids show frustration in all sports—I’m sure there are Mount Vernon kids in bball that have done so, same thing with Rye for football or Yorktown/John Jay for lacrosse, and there is nothing wrong with showing emotion, because when it’s all said and done, it is emotion that these kids let out, after a great win, or even after a disappointing loss.
All that I want to say is that unless a Sleepy Hollow kid does something towards another school to provoke something in any way, please stop talking bad about them, it isn’t fair to them, to their teammates, to the coaching staff, and most important, to the school and the community.
I know that many, if not, all coaches of all Section 1 wrestling teams, including the officials, have nothing but great things to say about SH wrestlers, and to me as a SH graduate, that will ALWAYS be more important than what some bloggers say on this site or other wrestling sites, and being that we have a great teacher, educator and coach, Brian Tompkins leading the way for the Sleepy Hollow Headless Horsemen, I couldn’t be happier than that. The community of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown feels the same, and I’m sure that many in Section 1 wrestling do as well.
Good luck to all Section 1 participants (Large and Small School) at the NY State Championships. Do your best, represent your family and school, try to bring home a title, and do know, it is ok to show emotions during your wins and/or losses in the mat and in life.
21 Comments
I’m not hear to bash the kids of Sleepy and certain not hear to question weather or not the coach is a good guy or a good teacher but I will say this. Your explanation is really weak.
Every school has wrestlers that work hard, train all year and have dreamt about wrestling since they were little kids. occasionally you get a blow up from one player or another on every school. However there definately is a pattern of behavioral problems with the Sleepy team in general. Not just this year but over the course of several years. Coach Tompkins is probably a gerat guy, a great teacher, an outstanding motivator but obviously he struggles with getting the message across to his team that there needs to be a certain decorum and respect for the sport, win or lose. His team does not do that consistently. Not to paint the whole team with one brush stroke. Not all the kids act that way.
One thing for SURE, no Rye football player on Dino Garrs team would ever be allowed to disgrace his school or his teamates the way the sleepy wrestlers do.
Your gonna wish you picked a different topic to write on. Hopefully you don’t pick the winners in the State tourney.
I figured that there was enough of you to pick the winners at States, that i could and would talk about another topic. If i got to write a guest blog, i must of done something right with picking the winners for Section 1, so maybe i wouldnt do that bad in picking the winners for States, but i wont do that, what i will do and did in my blog was wish all of Section 1 the best of luck and represent ur family, school and community to the fullest.
This was just something that i needed to get off of my chest and you can say whatever you want about the topic, but i am glad that i was able to write about it.
Thank you JAKE
ghdjd,
I can understand what you are saying but you must remember everyone especially teenage kids will make mistakes I’m sure you had your share of them just like I did. There are plenty of wrestlers that have done some similar actions, some worst, some not as bad as to what you say the Sleepy kid’s have done. What I think is important is what 10591 said unless you know Coach Tompkins you are clueless. He pulled a kid off the mat in the 1st round of Sections for not acting appropiate. He then had a wrestler lose his cool in the wrestle backs and the kid went on his own at the end of the Friday Session and Apologized to the Ref. Alot of Tompkins wrestlers come bak in the room and they have alot of respect and credit him in a big way for their growth as they became Men. You have no idea what some of these kids come from and what a change he does for them. However I do understand your point but maybe you should meet Coach Tompkins and talk to him about it so he can tell you how he handles it. Or better yet be the man you seem to be and post your name so he can himself talk to you don’t use a fake name!
Let’s focus on what counts this weekend.
Good Luck to All SECTION 1 WRESTLERS AT THE STATE TOURNAMENT I WILL BE ROOTING FOR EVERYONE OF YOU.
lol 10591 i commend you on your bravery for this post, for very soon it is going to be ripped apart by the numerous blogger s who disagree, I myself remain neutral i am a wrestler, and i do know the feeling of how hard a loss hits a dedicated wrestler. i am also personally friends with a couple of SH wrestlers and one thing there not short on is dedication. So the way they do act sometimes is unreasonable, and unjustified, but is at times understandable. I unfortunately do think you wasted your post, which could have been used better discussing section 1 in states. This is a wrestling blog so lets stay with that.
aright blah blah now ill give my pick for a state champion i am pretty convinced Joe grippi will be successful at 130, many argue that James brundage has a good shot at 160, but unfortunately i don’t believe he will because of a Jr. named Jesse Barnett who cleanly pinned through the section 4 sectionals. After meeting this kid and watching him wrestle im not sure who will be able to stop him.
RE: its all for fun…..
That is exactly my point, i could of talked about the states and all that, but i didnt want to, i felt like i needed to write this and make ppl aware that SH kids arent what ppl say they are. I talked about thigns that i am comfortable and know about, unfortunately, my predictions for states wont be any good, so i am not going to bulls*it my way thru them, but i do think that Section 1 will have 1 championship, just not sure who it is yet, maybe Brundage, or maybe a lower weight class guy like Flamio
GUYS, SORRY BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS. SLEEPY HOLLOW WRESTLERS TEMPER TANTRUMS??? WHO CARES. 105WHATEVER, WHAT A BORING SUBJECT. BRACKETS PLEASE!! WHAT ARE THE SEEDINGS?? LETS TALK ABOUT 1ST ROUND MATCHUPS!! THIS IS OUR BEST TEAM GOING UP THERE IN A LONG WHILE!! LETS TALK ABOUT THE WRESTLERS. 105WHATEVER PLEASE DONT TAKE AWAY FROM THAT. EMOTION IS ONE THING, BUT SOME OF THE ANTICS PULLED OVER THERE AT SLEEPY WHERE JUST WRONG PERIOD.
I could not agree with Juan Torres more.
Without Sleepy Hollow Wrestling and Coach Tompkins I do not want guess what would happen to some of these kids.
I have know Brian for many years and he is a stand up guy and a great coach. He leads by example. Unlike many other section one coachs you very seldom ever see him jumping around at mat side and pissing and moaning at officials. Just because he does not choose to make a scene and puplically embarase a kid on the mat don’t think for one minute he lets misconduct go uncorrected. Sometimes it is best to wait until a kid calms down to correct him. I think after almost 35 years of teaching and coaching he knows what works and what doesn’t, show the guy a little respect.
And this coming from an Indian.
I can say that from what i have seen of the SH wrestlers, that they are disrespectful and have built a bad rep for their team and town. Now, 10591, i understand that these kids work very hard and their coach is a great guy, but that is no excuse for their behavior. Clearly, u have not seen these kids in action. I have as i am a wrestler in section 1 today and i witnessed their disgraceful behavior at sectionals. Most of these kids when they lost would throw a little fit like a little kid, cursing, throwing their clothes, and storming off making a scene. This was the typical reaction of a losing SH wrestler. However, there were other cases in which SH wrestlers actually yelled at and cursed at the rephs which is disgraceful. One match i saw the coaches had to cover the kids mouth while they dragged the kid off the mat. Now i know these kids work hard and are very emotional about the sport, but there is no excuse for this behavior. 10591, you even said yourself that you never wrestled and had no friends that wrestled. Have you ever even seen these kids that you are defending wrestle? If not then you should not be defending them.
First of all, I’d prefer to talk about Joey Grippi’s chances at states, which I think are very good. But I cannot ignore this. My name is Steve Lovas, my son Tyler wrestled for Fox Lane. I’ve known Brian since kindergarten. We both attended Transfiguration in Tarrytown. We played against each other in little league, and with each other in Jr. Highschool and high school at SHHS. We were both raised by Bruce Thomas, and Jack McCleery. Two of the finest men ever in Section 1. Neither of us condone unsportsmanlike conduct. Brian teaches the way we were taught, out work the opposition. Whilst I have seen unsportsmanlike conduct from many athletes in Section 1 and from SHHS, I know that Brian understands the situation when applicable and deals with it. My son wrestled in his room, knew his kids, and always spoke very highly of him. Nobody will throw him under the bus.
10591 …I have tried to stay away from this particular subject , BUT (there’s always that BUT)Here goes. All competitors are out there to win, most are very dedicated so why is it 99% of the kids know how to act and are disciplined enough to control themselves. I do feel this is one of, if not the toughest sport to be in but there is no place for seems to happen to often at S.H. matches.
Now maybe some of these kids have a harder way to go because of where they are coming from , I don’t know , but it’s still ugly when it happens. As a matter of fact on Saturday at sections a wrestler from Dobbs Ferry pulled a beauty, cursing the refs,pushing his coach and carrying on to the point where the crowd responded with BOO’S. At that point this kids friend (a fellow wrestler from S.H.) decided he was going to back up the other wrestler and turned to the crowd and said to shut the **** up. At this point another guy grabbed him and pulled him away.
No knock on Thompkins his guys are always prepared on the mat and i do not know what goes on in off mat life … 105 sorry you asked .
On the other hand I do believe they are young kids and we ALL make in our life especially young kids , hopefully they learn from mistakes or even read this blog and realize how much of an impression action make. There are worse things in life yet these are my thoughts and opinions
you suspend the kid for 2 weeks for an outburst, throw them off if it ever happens again. Tantrums will stop. The coach has decided that winning comes before sportsmanship. Its that simple. Sleepy has good wrestlers but the negative press overshadows this, its really unfortunate. Wish section 1 the best at states the seeding system hurt our guys like speno and grippi who meet rugirello and clenmente in the semi’s rather than the finals.
Well first of all never compare jjcr to YTOWN ever in lax they don’t even come close to us.
Now back to the topic on hand. I rather see a spiked headgear over a kid crying any day like some of our over privileged wrestlers. Ever team has got a kid who does not handle lossing well it just that coach Tomkines has a couple more and in all of my years in section one I have always seen the sleepy kid after an outburst come back to coaches and refs to apologize. So for those of you who can’t handle a lil emotion get off your high horse you have do idea what some of these kids go thru ever day. Until u walk in there shoes kid keep you soft ass mouth shut!
One
Some people on this blog really disgrace themselves with these posts. Not knowing, as an adult, when to use whether vs. weather or your vs. you’re is truly pathetic. Maybe a couple of you should try reading a book every five or 10 years instead of debating HS wrestling 20 hours a day.
WOW you are a geek. Stop lying you are a virgin.
I will not post my name because I believe in this situation my anonymity allows me to possibly help someone make a change. Sometimes coming from a stranger it sinks in.
Please read my post. I’m trying not to blast Coach Tomkins on this. He obviously is a very good coach and I’ll take your word that he is a tremendous person. Every coach has stregnths and weaknesses. He obviously is not communicating the importance of sportsmanship and respect to some of his wrestlers in a way that they understand. Yes, it happens to every team occasionally but happens at SH too often.
Almost all of the boys work hard and don’t tell me that I don’t understand where they come from. I have coached over 25 years in places that would make Sleepy look like Scarsdale. I have had to deal with these same issues and have succeded more times than failed and fortunately I have lost very few boys along the way. The boys that did quit were in the beginning and since then I have not lost many. They now understand before they get on my team that behavior problems will not be tolerated and that respect is what is most important, not the wins and losses.
AND TO WOW;
Your an A*8H*E I mean ur an A*SHE OR SHOULD I SAY YEWER AN A*SHE OR YA’LL AN A*SH*E.
Weather or whether or not I use the kerrect grammaar one thing is 4 shure——you are an A*SH**e!!!!!!!!!
Booch
I wrote all that and you summed it up in a few words. Nice job
mistakes are made and it is good that the SH wrestlers apologize but it is disrespectful for them to do the things they do… i know they have worked hard… and coach tompkins is a great coach, he helped me make all section when i wrestled in high school (i do not think he realized it but he did) but all he can do is teach the wrestlers the right thing to do, it then becomes the wrestlers’ responsibility to take what coach has taught them and use it on and off the mat. i worked hard and i always tried to exhaust my self to the max when practicing or lifting or what ever, but i knew that there was always someone working harder and thats just the way life is sometimes and it has to be accepted. at a clinic a coach once told us that no matter what happens on the mat, whether the guy has state champs through out his family or you got caught or the sky was falling or what ever the case may be, you look your opponent in the eye shake his hand and tell him good match because every wrestler in existence is bigger than winning or losing. wrestling is also a brother hood that is special and EVERY wrestler, not just SH wrestlers should remember that. every wrestler in the gym knows what it is to sacrifice to some extent that no one in the world could know unless they have wrestled. whether it be for th three months of the season or all year round, they have the guts to step on the mat, and that alone should have a wrestler respect their opponent because half of their friends… hell most of their friends wouldn’t step out on the mat for at least three months for all of the riches in the world. just keep that in mind and hopefully this sparks a light in someone’s head because this is something that all wrestlers need to realize and know…
have a good day and good luck to section one this weekend…
well said 96-285
COACH TOMPKINS IS THE GREATEST COACH IN ALL OF SECTION 1
I agree with FOX LANE PARENT, Steve Lovas.
I know Brian Tompkins in high school. He was a hard working, pricipled athlete (who could dive his ass off on a 3 meter board too)
His sports mentor, like mine was Bruce Thomas-who instilled pride, hard work and excellence in his players.
In the words of George Patton, I wouldn’t give a sh*t in shinola for a guy who lost, and was glad.
Scanlon, Potomac Maryland SHHS class of 1970
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