Back Points

We’re here today with David Bragg, the 120 pound state champion from Oscar Smith High School – he spends 20 minutes talking to us about his journey to a title! Let’s roll!

Coach Bryan Hazard started coaching the Robinson Rams in Fairfax, Virginia in 1996, and since 2010 the team has finished either first or second in the state of Virginia eight times.

Today, he will share about:

• What he thinks wrestlers should focus on in the off-season,
• Why you should never have a goal of having your kids go undefeated,
• Why coaches shouldn’t be overly negative, and
• How he builds confidence in his athletes.

Coach Donald Motley became head coach of Oscar Smith High School wrestling team in 2014, and six years later he led them to their first ever state championship, with three individual champions. 

Chris was a 2x state champion, first as a Virginia AAA state champion in 1993, and then he moved to Pennsylvania, where he won another state title. He then went on to wrestle for Michigan State, where he was a 2x All American. He now coaches as the head coach for his alma mater, TC Williams in Virginia. 

Paul Bjorlo won the Virginia State AAA Wrestling tournament in 1999 for South Lakes High School. He went on to wrestle for UVA, where he won an ACC title. He talks about the mental component of losing his sophomore year, and how that fueled his victory as a junior, and he also spoke of the challenge of being a defending state champion, and how that may have inhibited his performance as a senior. He currently coaches at West Springfield High School in Virginia. 

Stacy Woodhouse wrestled for Great Bridge High School in the 1990s, where he was a 3x state finalist and 2x state champion. He talks about the many coaches in the Great Bridge room, including Steve Martin, Wayne Martin, and Billy Martin. He talks about getting a scholarship to American University before the program was cut. And he talks about how wrestling has helped him in his post-wrestling life.

Wade Schalles wrestled for Clarion University, where he was a 2x NCAA champion in 1972 and 1973, and he won the outstanding wrestler award in 1972.

He holds Guinness world records for the most pins of any wrestler, and also for the wrestler who pinned the greatest number of world champions. He is considered the "father funk wrestling" by many.

Today, he talks about how he helped design the Grundy High School wrestling program from its origins as a tiny program, to a dominant Virginia wrestling school with national recognition.