Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Pep Talk: Phil Luna instructs some boys who are part of his Willow Glen Freestyle Program. The twice weekly wrestling sessions are open to kids ages 9-18. Luna, the head wrestling coach at Willow Glen High School, has been with the school for the past six years and has led the wrestlers to two league championships since 1999.
Wrestling Man coaches at WG High
Phil Luna has built a successful student wrestling team
By Amy Jenkins
Basketball, football, baseball and soccer are all sports that attract school attention, but it was Phil Luna's goal to gain the same amount of school spirit for the sport of wrestling. He has accomplished this goal.
When Luna, 31, started coaching wrestling at Willow Glen High School six years ago, there were only 10 members on the team. Today there are 29. Even though he is an off-campus coach and has a full-time job at Encompass in San Jose, he makes it clear that parent and school participation are important for the sport, he says.
One way he attracts school attention to wrestling is by giving special attention to the 10 stat girls who help the wrestling team. He makes the girls feel welcome by giving them flowers in between junior varsity and varsity matches, and in return the stat girls who are cheerleaders help bring crowds to the matches. There are generally between 150 and 200 audience members who come out to watch the matches on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Luna says.
"We have a senior night, where collages are made for the seniors and presented to them at the matches," Luna says. "Everyone gets their own attention, and it is nice for the parents and gets people excited about wrestling."
Wrestling is a unique sport because an athlete is alone with his opponent on the mat while they are in a match, Luna says. Because of this fact, Luna's coaching style is to yell at them while they are on the mat so that they know he is right there by their side. But in practice he is more of a disciplinarian, he says. His assistant coach, Vince Rodriguez, helps balance out his coaching style. Rodriguez is quieter and more motivated to win than Luna, so together they make a good coaching team, Luna says.
"Wrestling is a tough sport," Luna says. "Any kid can do it, but when you are on the mat by yourself with no one to protect you, people are watching, and you lose, you need a special kind of strength to be able to handle [it]."
Since Luna first began coaching in 1996, he has formed a special bond with his wrestlers. With no children of his own, he considers the athletes his children, he says. The team members were there for him when his wife passed away, he says. He also forms a special bond by encouraging athletes to set life goals and not just wrestling goals. In one exercise, Luna has his athletes list 50 of their goals. They then divide the goals into increments: where they want to be in one year, three years, five years and 10 years.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Giving Advice: Phil Luna talks to some of the boys who are part of his Willow Glen Freestyle Program. The twice-weekly wrestling sessions are open to any kids, aged 9-18 years. Luna, head wrestling coach at Willow Glen High School, has been with the school for the past six years and has led the wrestlers to two league championships since 1999.
"I am shocked by how many kids want to get a job and help their parents with income," Luna says. "I tell them to go to college and get a really good job so they can help their parents even more. I want them to look at the long term."
Luna stresses the importance of education and checks his athlete's grades on a consistent basis. He has had only had four students ineligible to wrestle during his six years as a coach, out of the 150 students he has coached.
Under Luna's supervision, the wrestling team has advanced to Division A in the Mount Hamilton Athletic League. The team is now in third place, behind Oak Grove and Silver Creek high schools. Now his goal is to get an athlete to qualify for a state tournament. He then wants a wrestler to place in a state tournament, he says.
None of the wrestlers had any prior wrestling experience when Luna began coaching at WGHS six years ago. Since Luna thinks it is important to begin coaching at a young age, he started a freestyle wrestling league for children ages 7 through 18. The freestyle league consists of 45 children, many of whom are from Booksin Elementary, St. Christopher and Willow Glen Middle School. The team is named Dogs of War and is sponsored by J & J Albany Construction. The team practices from December through June, during the high school team's offseason.
Many of the students Luna coached have gone on to wrestle in college. This makes him feel successful as a coach, he says. Several have even come back to help Luna coach the freestyle and high school teams.
"He is a very inspirational coach," says Henry Chavez, who was on the WGHS team from 1998 to 2001. He now wrestles at West Valley Community College and is helping Luna coach this year. "He helped me through a lot during my high school years."
Daniel Valadez, who also wrestles at West Valley, agrees with Chavez. "He was a good coach and always pushed me," Valadez says. "There was a point I was not doing too well and he didn't believe in me, so it pushed me to prove him wrong."
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
