By Marielle Winuk

Cal Poly Humboldt welcomes Anthony Mancini as the new head wrestling coach. Mancini formerly coached the Gators at San Francisco State University after working as the assistant coach of the Puerto Rico national team at the U23 World Wrestling Championship. He also coached Team Philippines at both the U20 and U23 World Championships. From his international coaching experiences, he learned the importance of staying organized. 

“There’s a lot of moving parts within a program, whether it’s managing your roster, managing your athletes, or looking at traveling, moving as a team, and being ready to be successful,” Mancini said. 

If you haven’t been to a Humboldt wrestling match, Mancini describes his athletes as “guys who want to go out and get after it and put on a good show for the fans. And if you’re not familiar with what that would look like, it just means wrestling hard.” 

Mancini knows there are very few options for wrestlers to go pro. Therefore, his coaching philosophy is centered on personal growth and integrating the skills developed for wrestling into the athletes daily lives. 

“If we can continue to challenge ourselves to make a hard choice in every aspect of our lives, by the time you get done with your four or five years here, you’re going to be ready to succeed in whatever field you see fit,” Mancini said. 

Mancini also recognizes the challenges of adapting the athletes to a new program. “Wiith change, there’s always friction,” Mancini said. He is going to rely on previous members of the program like Nathan Aguilar to help integrate the athletes and make the transition smoother. Aguilar wrestled for Humboldt last year and ranked #16 in NCAA DII 141 weight class. Mancini also looks forward to connecting with his athletes on a personal level to help reach their individual goals in the program. 

To make sure you’re prepared, here are two chants you can pull out at the wrestling match. If the ref puts his fist up, it signals stalling, something you can yell at the match. This means a wrestler is avoiding combat, running away or failing to make an aggressive attempt to score. Secondly, a takedown is worth three points and it’s a wrestling audience favorite to yell three the moment an offensive wrestler brings their opponent down to the mat and gains control. 

Marielle is the layout editor and a senior with an interest in politics and sports. She can be contacted at mmw146@humboldt.edu