Just received the season intro email from Casey, here it is if you are not on the email list.
Penn State Wrestling Fans!!!!!!!!!!!
It is great to be back and ready to compete in a few short days. It has been almost 8 months since we have seen our starters go to battle and it has been longer than that since we have wrestled in front of sold-out crowds. That all changes this weekend as we head to spooky nook to wrestle two duals on Saturday night. There is limited chair seating, and it looks like it is sold out except for a couple hundred standing room only spots. The last time we had an update from the director of the event there were a still a few standing room tickets available. If you are not able to make it to the match it will also be on Rokfin live. If you already have an NLWC Rokfin account you will be able to watch it there or if you want to get an account here is the link. https://www.rokfin.com/NLWC After Saturday night’s event we will be right back in action next Thursday as we host Army for our first sold out crowd since the start of the Covid restrictions. It is going to be a great couple weeks of wrestling and we look forward to you joining us.
This past weekend several of our 1st and 2nd year guys competed at the Clarion Open and overall they fought hard and did some really nice things.https://gopsusports.com/news/2021/11/7/wrestling-eight-nittany-lion-wrestlers-compete-at-clarion-open-in-first-open-tournament-of-the-season.aspx We are excited about these guys and know that they will continue to improve as they get more collegiate competition under their belt. There will be several more opportunities for these guys to compete before the semester is over and a couple of them are also looking at competing in the Southern Scuffle at the beginning of January, but we will keep you updated on that going forward.
Here are a few questions that were sent to me so for the sake of the group I will try to answer them here:
We are excited to see many faces we have not seen in a while and look forward to our fans giving the officials and the opposing coach a hard time again when they need it. We are excited to watch our guys compete for the first time and to watch their progress. Lastly, we are excited we get to do it in front of the best fans in the country. See you soon.
Penn State Wrestling Fans!!!!!!!!!!!
It is great to be back and ready to compete in a few short days. It has been almost 8 months since we have seen our starters go to battle and it has been longer than that since we have wrestled in front of sold-out crowds. That all changes this weekend as we head to spooky nook to wrestle two duals on Saturday night. There is limited chair seating, and it looks like it is sold out except for a couple hundred standing room only spots. The last time we had an update from the director of the event there were a still a few standing room tickets available. If you are not able to make it to the match it will also be on Rokfin live. If you already have an NLWC Rokfin account you will be able to watch it there or if you want to get an account here is the link. https://www.rokfin.com/NLWC After Saturday night’s event we will be right back in action next Thursday as we host Army for our first sold out crowd since the start of the Covid restrictions. It is going to be a great couple weeks of wrestling and we look forward to you joining us.
This past weekend several of our 1st and 2nd year guys competed at the Clarion Open and overall they fought hard and did some really nice things.https://gopsusports.com/news/2021/11/7/wrestling-eight-nittany-lion-wrestlers-compete-at-clarion-open-in-first-open-tournament-of-the-season.aspx We are excited about these guys and know that they will continue to improve as they get more collegiate competition under their belt. There will be several more opportunities for these guys to compete before the semester is over and a couple of them are also looking at competing in the Southern Scuffle at the beginning of January, but we will keep you updated on that going forward.
Here are a few questions that were sent to me so for the sake of the group I will try to answer them here:
- We know you can’t be specific about the nature of injuries, but how would you characterize the overall health of the team? Obviously, we will not talk about specific injuries or illness but as of right now our team is in a good spot health wise and it should not affect our line up in most weight classes this weekend.
- Who would you characterize as leaders (not necessarily starters) of this year’s team? We have a group of leaders right now that work really hard, and they let their work ethic and how they wrestle in practice and competition lead the way. The majority of our team right now are guys that we have to hold back rather then trying to get them to work harder so that is a great place to be as a coaching staff.
- How, if at all, is NIL affecting recruiting? This new NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) is very interesting as it gives our guys an opportunity now to make money off selling T-shirts, endorsing a company, having the ability to run their own personal camp, etc. but was not necessarily intended to be used for recruiting purposes as coaches are not allowed to be involved with NIL deals. For a school like Penn State with 700,000 living alumni this could be a huge benefit for our guys as people learn what they can or cannot do financially to help their favorite program or favorite individuals.
- Do you anticipate using the same starters for both of the Manheim matches? Will there be any preliminary or post dual matches? We anticipate that we will wrestle the same guy for both of our matches on Saturday in most of the weight classes. We will also have guys wrestle on Sunday in the individual round robin tournament in the same venue. Six of our guys that do not wrestle on Saturday will be in the Sunday event. There will not be any pre or post-match matches that we know of.
- Can you share a bit about each of this year’s potential new starters? As we get going into the season we can share more on each individual guy as the lineup gets more solidified. We are excited about all our guys and as usual there will probably be some weight classes that might not be decided until later in the year.
- How much, if anything, has Covid-19 created training challenges for the wrestlers? There are always going to be challenges regardless of the year so the guys just adapt, do what they are suppose to do and keep working for their goals. This year is certainly more normal than the past couple years with there being fans in the stands and our guys being in person class so that is great.
We are excited to see many faces we have not seen in a while and look forward to our fans giving the officials and the opposing coach a hard time again when they need it. We are excited to watch our guys compete for the first time and to watch their progress. Lastly, we are excited we get to do it in front of the best fans in the country. See you soon.
