Coaches with 'cred'

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

In sports, playing for a coach with credibility goes a long way.

When I was in high school, I played club soccer in Deltona. My club coach was Mike Menard. He was also the head boys soccer trainer for Pine Ridge High School.

Menard was a highly recruited soccer talent in high school and attended Old Dominion University.

While he was attending ODU, he was involved in a freak accident. As a result, he was paralyzed from his waist down.

That didn’t stop him from being involved in the game he loved and had so much passion for. He was always demonstrating drills by maneuvering his wheelchair to show us the proper angles on defense. He would use his hands to show us how to properly turn away from pressure. He’d use magnetic circles on a clipboard to teach us formations and attacking styles.

Aside from my father, Menard was the greatest coach I ever had. He knew all the technical and tactical aspects of soccer. He cared about his players. He wanted to win.

In coaching, there is the group of coaches who didn’t play at the highest level of their respective sport. But that doesn’t stop them from winning. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick played center and tight end for Wesleyan University, a Division III school in Middletown, Conn. Still, he’s won five Super Bowls and was named NFL Coach of the Year three times.

Locally, there’s a coach who is pushing himself to the limit to set an example for his athletes. He’s an example of a coach with “cred.”

Tyler Hurry, assistant wrestling coach at Matanzas High School, recently competed at the 2012 Pan-American Games, in Irvine, Calif.

There, Hurry won the gold medal in the lightweight class.

Hurry missed the PanAms last year because of a serious neck injury. This was the first time he competed as a lightweight, weighing in at 163 pounds.

At the competition, Hurry submitted his first four opponents in less than six minutes combined. In the finals, he won by a 7-0 decision. He didn’t get scored on during any match, as he beat opponents from Brazil, Argentina, Japan and the United States.

Hurry said he has plans to compete in other high-level tournaments later this year, starting in July with the Gi World Championships, in Brazil.

“There is no doubt you need a screw loose to do these competitions, and I’m OK with that,” Hurry said. “It is nothing but appealing and motivating to try and keep winning the tournaments at my belt level.”

More importantly, though, is that Hurry can be a great role model to his Pirate wrestlers. They know that he knows what it takes to win.

“As a local coach, I like knowing that my kids will not expect me to push them any more than I push myself in accomplishing success and trying to be the best,” he said.

Hurry said his sponsors — which include his chiropractor, Wellness One; Waterside Pools and Atomic Tattoo — have helped give him the ability to travel the world and compete in such elite tournaments.

Matanzas sends eight weightlifters to states
The Matanzas High School weightlifting team will officially send eight weightlifters to the state meet, which will take place Friday, April 20, in Kissimmee.

Check www.PalmCoast Observer.com for updates.