The Lodi wrestling program has long been a source of community pride, showcasing dedication and toughness among its wrestlers. It is prepared for another season filled with duels, tournaments, scrimmages, and practices after being overshadowed by other sports and hobbies. With new wrestlers and coaches joining, along with our senior wrestlers and coaches, there’s no doubt that this upcoming season will be memorable!
Lodi’s own wrestling team has a new coach named Coach Davidson, also known as Mr. Davidson in the classroom, who transferred from UW-Whitewater. Here are some of his goals for the season: “Helping people grow, this team has a lot of talent. I think we will take a huge step forward in the next year or two. We have a really good incoming freshmen class, some pretty experienced kids on the team already, so I think this team will surprise a lot of people as the next two years go on, for sure. So just keep growing, keep working, keep building every day.” We also want to recognize some of our previous coaches, who led not only the team but also each athlete to reach their goals, often going out of their way to ensure every Lodi wrestler’s needs are met. Without further delay, Coach Endres shares his goals for the upcoming season: “I want my goals to be aligned with what the team wants, especially our senior leaders, every year a different team, and I really want to make sure I’m helping those guys along with the rest of the coaches achieve what they want to do.” Coach Endres then went on to be more specific onto what exactly the standard for the lodi wrestling community is, “In this program, we always aim to contend for the team state title; that standard is not going to change, but I want to make sure our coaching staff’s goals are in line with what the team wants.” Among the coaches mentioned, we thank Coach Persike and Coach Garette for their dedication and contribution to the Lodi wrestling program over the years. Without them, the team wouldn’t be as successful as it is today.Coaches help wrestlers train to achieve their goals, and many wrestlers exemplify the team’s commitment to the sport. One of these wrestlers is Haydon-Struse Clark, a senior who has been wrestling for over seven years, has goals that many wrestlers have around the state, the goals in question being, “To qualify and to place at state.”
“Take pride in how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you can go. But don’t forget to enjoy the journey.”(Michael Josephson). This quote not only tells us to believe in ourselves for the future to come, but also has us reflect on the past. Not only that but to also take pride in how far you’ve made it throughout the struggles of life. The book “Chop Wood Carry Water” that takes inspiration from this quote, is heavily discussed by the coaches, but is also followed by a majority of the wrestlers at lodi high school due to its life lessons and preparation for adulthood. A coach that almost lives by this book is Coach Endres, “So many people, myself included as an athlete and as a coach we chase results, and unfortunately results are really fleeting, results come and go. So many people put their happiness based upon results and that’s just a horrible way to live. So just focus on the process, control what you can control, work hard, no matter the result you’ll be satisfied, you’ll feel really good about the time, energy and effort you put into whatever endeavor you want to.” The book “Chop Wood Carry Water” is about a boy fulfilling his dream of becoming a samurai archer, and as he begins his training he stops dreaming and aspiring to be an actual samurai archer. Instead he begins to fall in love with the process of becoming one, this was discussed by Coach Endres, but is also addressed by Coach Davidson, “Championships aren’t won when the GYM is full, championships are won every day, the little things, all the work you put in, the off- season workouts, the conditioning.” A quote that helps us imagine this is a quote from Mehmet Murat Ildan,“A master without students is like a tree with rotting fruits on its branches; on the other hand, a student without a master is like a tree that dries because it is not watered!”(Murat). With that being said, we have Haydon-Struse Clark who would like to share his quote with you on how he became so skilled at wrestling, “You have to be okay with inflicting legal pain to get the outcome you want.”
All people alike look at the past for answers, but we as wrestlers like to look at the past for our accomplishments and how we can improve. We would like to honor and share some of these accomplishments from wrestlers and coaches alike, on and off the mat.
Haydon-Struse Clark had some amazing accomplishments within even the past couple of wrestling seasons, when asked about his achievements, he said, “Making varsity my sophomore year, it was a huge wrestle off against four other guys to make varsity. It was a huge step in my wrestling career”. With a high bar set for achievements by Haydon-Struse Clark, Coach Endres’s greatest achievement was not our current wrestlers or any state or conference titles, but our past wrestlers coming giving back to the lodi wrestling community, “I think as a program, our biggest accomplishment is the relationship we have with our ALUMNI guys. You know that shows that these guys worked really really hard for four years and still value the program. They come back and they help, they give back, they think really really highly of lodi wrestling. Everybody likes to win, and in the short term, winning is the immediate goal. But long term, what relationships we have with those guys, and how much wrestling benefits their lives, I think you ask any coach in this program, that’s what we’re most proud of.” Coach Endres dives deeper than most coaches. Instead of listing his wrestling team’s goals, he thinks more long term, he thinks from a relationship standpoint and how we can better the world over time with the kindness and the helping of others in our community. Finally, coach Davidson, with his own greatest accomplishments as a coach before joining the Lodi wrestling team, “Qualifying for team state would be the biggest accomplishment because that was the most team oriented. We had a great season. We had 8 qualifiers for individual state, 1 state champ, and 4 other state medalists. The team state qualification was definitely the coolest part.” Coach Davidson’s experience with other teams like UW White-Water, will surely help our Lodi Blue Devils to not only individual states, but team states as well. There is no doubt that coach Davidson will bring our Lodi wrestling team to the next level with his knowledge and his ability to connect with our wrestlers as if they were family.
Lodi’s wrestling team has improved significantly over the years, historically producing wrestlers like Jack Reinwand. With a talented freshman class and new coaches such as Coach Davidson, this season is expected to be both challenging and promising. It is clear why wrestling remains one of the community’s great sources of pride.
