By. Londin Cooper
March 6, 2024
Walking up the stairs, and hearing the intense sounds of bodies hitting the mats. Looking in through the glass window on the doors and seeing the mirrors on the wall steam up from all the heat being let off to watching kids run the track to make weight. All the things you can expect when you sign up to wrestle for coach Trenton Holyfield.
With the retirement of Hamilton’s Gregg Stoel, it’s time for a man to fill his footsteps and carry the winning legacy in Hamilton Wrestling. Having Mr. Holyfield taking the head coaching job couldn’t be a better fit for the Hawkeyes. Being a former wrestler for coach Stoel, it’s safe to say that coach Holyfield has picked up some coaching techniques to help continue the winningest of the wrestling program.
When talking to coach Holyfield about being a former wrestler for coach Stoel, he said, “Coach Stoel was a great model for what kind of coach I should be.” Helping learn some different techniques and strategies that work in high school wrestling. Having a close relationship with previous coaches who’ve had success can be crucial when it comes to trying to win, “I find myself calling him often to bounce ideas off of and discuss challenges I face as a coach” coach Holyfield says when asked how his relationship with coach Stoel has helped him be a better coach.
Having a good year as a coach might be an understatement for Mr. Holyfield. Having just won Regional Coach of the Year, you might expect everything to seem easy when your wrestlers have such talent that Hamilton does. Coach Holyfield stating “The hardest part for me is everything about coaching that happens out of the wrestling room.” Staying dedicated and striving to be great even when things aren’t going well is what it takes to win at a high level.
Looking into the future for the program, having a wrestler just win a state championship just last year. Continuing to produce state level competition is now the expectation at Hamilton, winning is always fun but it’s just what’s expected of you when you wrestle for Hamilton. The biggest goal for coach Holyfield is “a high school team state appearance”, after getting knocked out by the reigning team state champions Lowell in the Regional Final. If coach Holyfield is going to reach that goal anytime soon, he’s going to have to make sure the numbers stay up in the wrestling program.
With Hamilton being a decent sized school with being stereotyped as the farm school because of all the fields surrounding our building, it might be hard to come by wrestlers who are willing to compete at Hamilton. It seems to coach Holyfield that he’s not worried about it at all stating, “I think the numbers will only grow more. We have a lot of people involved in our program. We have great coaches at all levels of our program.”
With the vibes not changing besides “the new coach letting the kids play music in the wrestling room.” coach Holyfield said, things keep getting better and better for the Hamilton Hawkeyes and the wrestling program. Expect big things to be done and won by the hard working wrestlers coached by a hard working guy, Mr. Trenton Holyfield