Why is Rockford Underated?

[Cry Wolf]

I hope I am doing this right because it is my first thread. My question is why is Rockford so underated? We have all of these single A schools surrounding Rockford that just kick butt. Rockford is the third largest city in Illinois yet we can't produce a whole lot amongst all of the schools. Any theories on why that is?

[cradle54]

I graduated in 2006 and Rockford was not very good... but they used to be Very good in the 90's and had a good team in 2001, and 2002.. things go in cycles im talking about rockford east idk much about the other schools in the area.

[Cry Wolf]

I know but when you look at the large number of schools and population of the city, they should be producing more outstanding wrestlers than they are. I know Rockford-Harlem had a football team in the 90's that couldn't win a game if it was handed to them. I always wondered why they were so bad. The 90's Rockford would produce one or two state qualifyers from each school. Jefferson would always have a couple but not of lately.

[majks4]

There are several reasons why rockford is not a powerhouse the public schools cannot contend because of
1. stronger academic rules c average or better
2. a school choice system
3. the perception that the rockford public schools are terrible hence driving everybody to private schools or schools such as hono.
4. boylan a private catholic school does not see wrestling as a priority so they dont recruit for wrestling they see basketball and football as their meal ticket
5. a lack of help from football coaches as a rule except guilford /auburn where the football coach is the wrestling coach he made all the football players go out for wrestling the football coach says weight lift get strong dont cut weight etc so the good athletes dont go out for wrestling esp true harlem etc.
7. as a rule we are not doing a very good job recruiting kids in grade schools etc there was a time when the club coach recruited got kids into wrestling now we expect them to come to us by the time it is junior high or high school etc it is too late
8. I do think you have to consider cost how much does it cost to wrestle it is a very expensive sport if you wish to be successful
9. I think the coaching is exceptional here jamie cal gene the people in hono. mark marino from boylan, chad vandiver and his dad bob we have great coaches who know their stuff are willing to go the extra mile for their athletes spend their free time etc i just think they have it harder then the suburbs farming communities and if we dont do something as a sport we will lost inner cities/urban areas

[varsitymatman05]

Originally Posted by majks4

There are several reasons why rockford is not a powerhouse the public schools cannot contend because of
1. stronger academic rules c average or better
2. a school choice system
3. the perception that the rockford public schools are terrible hence driving everybody to private schools or schools such as hono.
4. boylan a private catholic school does not see wrestling as a priority so they dont recruit for wrestling they see basketball and football as their meal ticket
5. a lack of help from football coaches as a rule except guilford /auburn where the football coach is the wrestling coach he made all the football players go out for wrestling the football coach says weight lift get strong dont cut weight etc so the good athletes dont go out for wrestling esp true harlem etc.
7. as a rule we are not doing a very good job recruiting kids in grade schools etc there was a time when the club coach recruited got kids into wrestling now we expect them to come to us by the time it is junior high or high school etc it is too late
8. I do think you have to consider cost how much does it cost to wrestle it is a very expensive sport if you wish to be successful
9. I think the coaching is exceptional here jamie cal gene the people in hono. mark marino from boylan, chad vandiver and his dad bob we have great coaches who know their stuff are willing to go the extra mile for their athletes spend their free time etc i just think they have it harder then the suburbs farming communities and if we dont do something as a sport we will lost inner cities/urban areas

I disagree its not that rockford has other concentrations in other sports its the fact that the school systems in rockford are not good and have gotten worse over the years. We are not seeing kids (exception of boylan) making higher academic goals we are seeing kids fail to make standard school policy academic expectations to participate. I would think wrestling should be the sport of choice with some of the more aggressive kids living in that area. This simply isnt the case and wrestling has gone down in those areas. we see guys like joel powers, jordan kolinski, chad vandiver, and andrew dorn coming out of that system and becoming successful in the IHSA and beyond but something needs to be done to insure that wrestling in the rockford area stays alive long enough to produce more top kids. The whole beauty of rockford being huge is that they dont need to recruit top kids and I dont think any school should . In my opinion rockford can raise their own studs. I do agree that there shoudl be more kids clubs but I believe that with every area inside illinois. rockford has all the tools to be a wrestling hotspot it just needs to clean up a little bit.

[justafan21]

It looks like there is an answer. Joe Williams, current world team member, is starting a school/club type thing in the area. Joe has moved to the area and from what I have heard plans on sticking around. A friend told me about it and I checked out the website - www.northernillinoiselitewrestling.com - (Look under Club Information and Forms in the bottom left of the page) Joe has Cal Ferry and Chad Vandiver, two local guys with some decent credentials, on his staff. I'll try to post again if I find out anything else, but from what I can see this is a great opportunity to raise the overall level of wrestling in the area with some high level instruction along with different/skilled training partners.

[Cry Wolf]

Maybe this is the reason as to why he is no longer at NIU. Nothing like the all mighty dollar =motivate someone. Now he can train in Rockford where he lives and works and make money while doing it. Still, it is an awesome opportunity for Rockford.