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Neshaminy takes home Three Gold Medals and One Silver from
the PAWF Freestyle and Greco-Roman State Championship 
The Kisselback boys brought home three gold medals and one silver from the Pennsylvania
Amature Wrestling Federation (PAWF) Freestyle and Greco-Roman State Championships held at Shippensburg University June 13th
& 14th. Due to an illness just prior to states, Noah dropped down to 132.
He looked like a giant at this weight, easily pinning his opponent in the finals of both freestyle and Greco tournaments
to win his first ever State titles. Noah hopes to carry over that success when he goes for a triple crown
next March by bringing home a PJW State Championship. Big brother Luke started the
freestyle tournament in the 177 lb class. He was surprised at weigh-ins when he discovered that he was
only one pound above the 162 lb class. Though extremely undersized, he stayed at 177 and wrestled well,
winning two matches, but had to eventually concede that sometimes size does matter when he lost to Tyler Dibert 1-0, 2-0 in
the championship match. Luke decided to go down to 162 on Sunday for the Greco tournament
and easily dominated everyone to take home Neshaminy’s third State Championship gold medal. Noah
got to go home after the tournament and bask in his glory, but Luke went right back to work.
At the end of the two day tournament, he checked in for the PA Schoolboy National Dual Team training camp and had his
first practice that evening at 7 PM. The camp was a hard three days causing most of the boys to drop about
10 lbs. followed by a long bus trip and a grueling four day tournament in Indianapolis against the best teams in the nation.
Luke Kisselback Undefeated in Greco at the National Duals & named to USA Wrestling’s Schoolboy National Team
Neshaminy wrestler, Luke Kisselback,
went undefeated for Team PA in the USA Greco-Roman Wrestling National Duals. Luke had
four pins, three shut outs, a tech fall, a decision, and one forfeit to go 9-0, conceding only one team point over the two
days. For his efforts, he was selected by USA Wrestling for the National Schoolboy Greco Team.
He remained a top performer for Team PA in the freestyle tournament, coming through when needed most,
but fell a little short in two matches, going 7-2. “It was the best of times;
it was the worst of times.” I have never seen a tournament grind kids down like the National Duals,
yet I’ve never seen kids so excited about being a part of something as they where there. Most of
the wrestlers faces looked like Rocky Balboa’s by the end of the week. Four where injured to the
point which they couldn’t continue, yet every single one said they can’t wait to do it again. I
cannot encourage you enough to get your kids involved in the international styles of wrestling next spring. They
will develop faster than their peers who stay with folk style, and will delay burnout, because they are exposed to a new sport,
which requires the same skills, but provides mental variety with a different scoring system.
The Marchesano Brothers Invaded NJ and
are Tearing Up the Great 8
  Shawn and Nick Marchesano
have yet to hang up their wrestling shoes. They have built on their first year success by crossing the
Delaware to wreak havoc on the NJ wrestlers. They are participating in a series of wrestling tournaments
called the Summer Great 8. Most of these tournaments are only about an hour away, along the Jersey shore
line. They provide a laid back environment and often end early, so there’s time to leave the tournament
and spend the second half of the day at the beach. That is exactly what Shawn and Nick
have been doing.
They started off their summer
series at Asbury Park in the Kick-Off Classic on June 7th. They both took second place in their
class. They where joined there by the Crookham brothers, Hunter and Ryan.
A week later the boys wrestled in the Monroe Township "Free For All"
tournament. Nick won two bouts, taking third, while big brother Shawn
pulled in his first championship with two pins and a 9-0 win in the Bantam 60 pound division. Round three for them occurred June 20th at the Mustang Mania in Brick, NJ. Little Nicky
took second, and Shawn kept his streak alive with three more pins to take home the gold. If
you would like to join them, more info about the Great 8 can be found at http://pollishore.com/2009summerlistings.html and satellite weigh-ins can be arranged with Coach Porter (215) 869-7084.
MAWA Eastern Nationals May 2
& 3, 2009 : Noah Kisselback 3rd
Place Junior 140 lbs
MAWA East Regional Tournament April 4 & 5, 2009 : Nick
Marchesano 6th Place Bantam 44 lbs Shawn Marchesano 5th Place
Bantam 65 lbs Noah Kisselback
2nd Place Junior 140 lbs Luke Kisselback 3rd
Place Intermediate 175 lbs
Palmerton
Area Round Robin Tournament April 18th Nick Marchesano 1st Place Peewee 45 lbs Shawn Marchesano
2nd Plcae Bantam 65 Lbs
Inter-County Wrestling League Open Championships (3/1/09)
On a snowy Sunday morning, the first day of March, 740 wrestlers from 44 different teams spread out
over multiple counties showed up at Conestoga High School to see who was the very best from our competitive league.
Neshaminy sent only eleven. Four of those eleven (Aiden Bradley, Timmy Lehman, and
Nick and Shawn Marcheshano) were from our first year/novice practice, but just wanted
to get some more mat time and push themselves to the next level. The remaining seven had sights on making it to
the final round. This was a lofty goal considering last year Neshaminy could only boast of one 1st, one 2nd, and one
4th. The goal was high, but the magnificent seven where up to the task.
Leading us off was Robert Lawlor
at Bantam 43. Four bouts earlier, Robert had pinned his first opponent in 15 seconds, but he decided
to go another way in the finals. Robert whirled around around like a dervish defeating his opponent
17-0 before the official stopped the match. We will have to watch the replay in slow motion to see exactly what
Robert did.
Then at 53 lbs, "Bam-Bam" Sam Hayes was our next Bantam tearing up the mat.
He extended his 22 seasonal wins to 25 going into the finals. He was a little out matched there, but still took
home a second. Not bad considering his first open tournament win ever was that morning.
At Midget 57, little Gus Natelli looked like a rabid wolverine all day, out for blood.
He ripped through three opponents with vicious intensity on his way to the finals and looked like he was going to do the same
to his final opponent. He shocked all of us when he sent his opponent soaring through the air with an arm spin (a move
we showed only once and worked on for about 20 minutes just for fun back in early January). Unfortunately, intense
emotions are often like a great wave. If you stay on top of them, they will propel you forward like a Hawaiian surf,
but when the wave of emotion becomes to strong, it overcomes you and you drown in it. This is what happened
to little Gus. It was a great job taking second, but as he matures as a boy and wrestler, he will
have to learn to be intense without being tense. This will be the key to many future victories. Noah Kisselback was our Junior 130 lb competitor. He put on a Greco Roman display
taking his opponents from their feet, through the air, and to their backs three times before his final match. He wasn't
able to get it done there though, and had to settle for second. Noah has improved tremendously
this year. If he is able to get focused, he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
JP
Fay continued his post season great performance with a third place in the 80 lb Intermediate division.
In the semi-finals, he lost a close match to Bensalem's Brady Riley. Their match during the season was lopsided
towards Riley's favor, but this time JP listened to the coaches and adjusted his style to emphasize
his strengths. The two were evenly matched. The bout could have gone either way, and would have ended in
a victory for JP if it lasted 5 more seconds, because he was reversing Riley to his back, but time elapsed,
and Riley held on to his victory. JP went down to the consolation bracket where he dominated the next
two matches winning third place 10-0.
Mark Farley competed as a 136
lb Intermediate. He had two impressive wins, but was out pubertied in his final match. Mark's
older, more mature opponent, tortured him with power halves for three periods. No one would have faulted Mark
if he rolled over and gave up, content with his second place award, but he showed true grit, never giving up no matter
what, and fighting to the end. He even caught his opponent towards the end and almost won by a fall, but just missed
it. I have seen Mark beat up numerous opponents through the years, but was most impressed
with this match. We don't wrestle for trophies, but for honor and our character. In this match, Mark
displayed his brightly.
We finished the day with Luke Kisselback who pinned everyone in the 160 lb Intermediate division.
Bensalem wrestler, Eric Gary, had been jibing Luke for weeks now, saying that he was hoping for
a rematch. Be careful what you wish for. The score was 9-0 before Luke put him on his back for
the fall.
The best part of the day, was not their individual successes, but their team victory. It was a long eleven hour
tournament, but no one grabbed their trophy and ran. Unless they where on a different mat themselves competing, every
Neshaminy wrestler was mat side, cheering on their teammate for every single match. We came together and left together
strong and proud.
http://www.eteamz.com/ICWL/
Wow! What a great weekend for Neshaminy Youth Wrestling.
PJW Area 11 East Sectional Championship (2/28/09)
You
were all initiated into the PJW (Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling) circuit through our tournament Saturday. There
is a big world of wrestling out there, and I wanted our kids to be a part of it. I could think of no better way
of exposing our kids to the very best wrestlers in South Eastern PA, than to invite them all to our house for a tournament.
There were several former state medalists in attendance. Some weight classes had multiple PA State and Eastern
Nationals medalists.
You could see at the beginning of competition,
that this level of wrestling was a shock for some of our kids, but it didn't take long for them to dig down and rise
to that same level. When the dust settled,
we had numerous medalists.
6 and Under: Ryan
Crookham and Nicholas Marchesano started us of with a pair of silver medals in the 40 and 45 lb
divisions. At 50 lbs, Aiden Bradley ran into a buzz saw and eventual champion in the first round.
He dropped down into the consolation bracket, but fought back like a man on a mission with three big wins for a third place
finish. Danny Fay followed his example by also taking home a bronze medal in the 55 lb division.
Then our Jr big men had two standing on the podium at the end of the day. Nathaniel Mervin
took home a bronze and his training partner, Joshua Hanisco, took the silver.
8 and Under: At 45 lbs, Robert Lawlor
faced of against long mat nemesis, Colton Jordan. He wrestled well, but still wasn't able to get the best
of him, and had to settle for a silver this time. The 50 lb bracket was full of studs, and Jarrett Browning
walked away with a fourth place medal, but due to the disqualification of an ineligible wrestler, he was moved up to a third,
and qualifies to compete at LaSalle HS for the Regional. At 60 lbs, Gus Natalie is one of our wrestlers
who was initially shocked by the level of competition and knocked into the consolation bracket, but he found what it took
to win, and fought back to the consolation finals where he won a battle in overtime.
12 and Under: Mark Farley had one of the toughest brackets and had to settle for a third place
finish in the 135 lb division.
14 and Under: At 82 pounds JP Fay is continuing to peak
at the right time, taking home a second. JP had only a 42% win record during the season, but won the
LBCL 9th grade tournament (as a 7th grader) and then took a second at the very difficult Southeast PA Middle School/Jr. High
Tournament in Quakertown. With a second at the PJW Sectional, and then a third at the ICWL Championship, he is coming
back into his own.
Our lone champion Saturday was Luke Kisselback. He was in
a small two man 167 lb. bracket, but his opponent was Germantown Academy HS varsity wrestler, Nick Grossi. Grossi had
defeated Luke exactly one year earlier in the ICWL finals. Luke got his revenge with
two consecutive victories over Grossi to secure his seed at the Regional.
Even
those who lost both their matches can be proud of their performance against our areas very best. It took guts, just
to step on the mat. Some found what they needed inside themselves and came out victorious; others learned what they
need to do in the off season to compete with the big dogs.
Enter content here
Thank
You to all who made the PJW Sectional Championship a Huge Success
As you discovered, hosting a tournament
is a gigantic undertaking. Conventional wisdom says, "If you are going to host your first ever tournament, make
it a novice one, so no one will know if you're screwing it up." Only a crazy person would take on a PJW State
Qualifier. If we slipped up at any point, there would be hundreds of experienced wrestling parents eager to loudly point
out our flaws both in person, and on the internet forums. So why did we do it? 1) We wanted to expose our
wrestlers to a whole new level of wrestling, so they would discover what they needed to become. 2) We wanted to do it
the day before the ICWL Championship, so they would take this new found intensity with them, as they peek for one tough weekend.
3) We wanted to raise enough money so that we could reward all our wrestlers with high quality team jackets.
4) We wanted to re-establish Neshaminy as a wrestling capital where other wrestlers come to find tough competition.
5) We wanted all the parents to get involved, so they would feel more ownership of their club as we move into the future.
And 6) We wanted to further strengthen the relationship which started this year between the youth club feeder program, the
High School wrestlers, and their booster club.
We can now declare a major success in all six objectives. This is your victory. It could not have happened
without your help. Not only did the parents of current active members step up and do what was needed, friends from the
past, like Joe Cianfarra and Adam Saba chipped in and helped get everything ready for
the event. Even parents, like Will Adams, Sean Green, and Johnny Ohler, whose
children weren't able to compete Saturday, came out to help. Greater Norristown's Terry Fennell
came down to keep us on track during the hectic weigh-ins, and was present all Saturday to help if any glitch arose.
We have received nothing but compliments, in person and on the web, about how smooth everything went and what quality competitors
participated.
Maple
Point Athletic Director, Skip Mason, and the school district was very accommodating and helpful. The
High School wrestlers did a great job all day. Smalley Sound Entertainment www.samlleysound.com provided the pre-event music and national anthem pro-bono, which was a cool touch. The Print Shop www.sportingdesigns4u.com/wrestling provided the art work for our custom shirts, and Print Masters www.JBS-PrintMasters.com printed out the signs with our logo. Ed Kisselback Jr. of Kiss Professional Photography
www.kissprophoto.com was on site taking action photos for our yearbook all day. Two of the mats we wrestled on were Team Apache
www.apachewrestling.com mats, provided at no charge by Coach Silimperi. This is the third time this year
we were provided mats by Coach Sil without charge. He is not only a quality instructor, but a quality
man as well and a long time friend of the club.
As a thank you to everyone who helped out and a reward to every Neshaminy kid who had the guts to wrestle, we provided
custom PJW Area 11 Sectional Championship T-shirts. If you didn't get your shirt, let me know and I will get it
to you. To all I say thank you. To our members I say thank each other and thank the businesses who helped us with
your patronage
On the Horizon...
MAWA's East District Qualifier, Upper Merion HS (3/7/09)
Besides the quest for States each year, your wrestler should also become familiar with the Mid-Atlantic
Wrestling Association, an off shoot of the AAU's. Each year they hold several District Qualifying events, followed
by a Regional Championship, and then the Eastern Nationals in Maryland (near Ocean City.) What is nice about MAWA's
is if you are on your young year for PJW's, you are on an old year for MAWA's and visa versa. It is easier to
advance in MAWA's, but your wrestler will still find quality competition and be exposed to a larger world. He will
compete inside bigger venues and become accustomed to, and therefore not freaked out by, wrestlers from far away.
There is a District Qualifier this Saturday
in Upper Merion. I will be in attendance with my boys, as will Alex Daeche and Sam Hayes. There are future qualifiers
as well. Robert Lawlor and Mark Farley are looking at going to Quakertown March 29th. (If several kids choose
that date, I may go up to coach.) If you are interested in the qualifier this Saturday, contact me immediately.
The deadline has past, but the director extended the date for us. The seeding meeting is tomorrow night, so he cannot
except any registrations after tomorrow afternoon. I will be faxing ours. If you get me your registration, I will
fax it as well. The club pays half the registration fee for whoever chooses to enter.
PIAA State Finals, Hershey, PA (3/7/09)
The PIAA State finals are this weekend in Hershey, PA. To the
rest of the world, Hershey is a place to buy chocolate. To the wrestling community it is their Mecca. This event
is the pinnacle of high school wrestling, and the one time of the year our athletes are treated as the gladiators they are.
Little kids are filled with awe to see thousands of people looking down watching wrestling. It is even more amazing
when they hear names they recognize being announced from the floor. If on your son's first trip to Hershey he is
the one on the mat looking up, the experience can be overwhelming. It is a good tradition to start now, that each
year he spends the first weekend in March at the Giant Center, believing that when he is older, it will be to compete.
When they drive two hours and see uniforms they recognize on the floor, they are both inspired and encouraged that it
is attainable.
The consolation finals begin at 6 PM, so we will be leaving around 3:45 PM. If anyone wants to
car pool, send their son with us, or meet at Hershey, let me know. There are showers available at Upper Merion,
so we were looking at leaving directly from the tournament once everyone was done. The club will pay the admission of
any NWYC wrestler who goes.
Post Season Training
We will continue to hold practice every Monday and Wednesday night from 7 - 8:30 PM for at least this
month, and take it week by week based on how many are still training. I will be there most nights and we have added
a new coach to our staff Wednesdays, Scott Porter. I believe the Biblical proverb, that "As iron sharpens iron,
so does one man sharpen another," therefore, both nights are open to other teams so that you guys can get quality competition
to push you, but if it becomes a room where outsiders are coming to Neshaminy to get better, but the Neshaminy kids are not,
we will shut it down.
There are other outside venues to get good training as well. For older kids, I will be at Upper
Moreland for the Bears Freestyle/Greco Club. This club will focus exclusively on Olympic style wrestling from day one
(3/10/09). It is faster paced, loose, less stressful, and focuses on ooh-lah-lah fun moves, while also emphasizing important
fundamental skills which are too often ignored in folk style such as lifting, arching, and back stepping. Freestyle
turns also translate into tilts in folk style wrestling. It is not important why international style wrestling produces
the very best folk style wrestlers, it simply matters that it does.
The downside is that the rules can
be very confusing to a wrestler or parent who is new to the sport, so the better option for our younger beginners is Coach
Silimperi's Apache Club, also starting 3/09/09. He is outstanding with the kids and brings in high quality clinicians,
including our own Dan Winter, weekly. He will start his session continuing with folk style to prepare kids for PJW's
and MAWA's and then introduce them to freestyle later in the spring. His warehouse is conveniently located close by
in Trevose, and the best wrestlers in the area and those who want to be are drawn there like a magnet.
For those who are torn between staying with me or going elsewhere in the spring, I thank you for your
loyalty, but encourage you to go elsewhere. It is important for wrestlers to learn different styles, especially
when taught by those with greater knowledge than me. That is why I am constantly brining in guest clinicians, and taking
my own kids to other coaches as well. I am simply willing to continue our room as a free option to those who cannot
afford to go elsewhere, or who want a little more one on one instruction. Either way, we will continue to communicate
about spring and summer tournaments and compete there together as a Neshaminy team.
Let me know if you are looking to go to either outside club, as we
may be able to arrange a group discount.
Inter-County
Wrestling League Novice Tournament (2/22/09)
400 wrestlers gathered in Methacton
on Sunday February 22nd hoping to walk away with a first place trophy at the 2009 ICWL Novice Wrestling Championship. At the
end of the day, few remained. Neshaminy only sent six wrestlers to compete, but after a long, tough tournament, half still
remained, the Marvelous Marchesano brothers and "Diesel" Demetrius Green.
Little Nicky started us off
winning a nail-biter to become Neshaminy's first ever ICWL Novice Champion. Big brother, Shawn was next. He dominated
his first three matches, but the finals looked like a barn yard brawl. The two combatants went back and forth for three periods,
but Shawn came up a little short in a 12-8 match and had to settle for second. Last up was our heavy weight, Demetrius. When
we looked across the mat, things didn't look promising. His opponent was obviously older, at least a head taller, and
looked determined to win. Our little Braveheart was undaunted, and systematically dismantled the larger wrestler to give us
our second ICWL Championship.
Not far away, Gus Natalie, battled it out in the Pennridge Open. He had an easy time
with his first two opponents, but his last match was far from easy. Gus took the match to triple overtime, but eventually
gave up an escape to lose 6-5, settling for second place.
Great job boys!
Let's stay on the war
path for another week. I expect that we will improve on last year's performance at the ICWL Open, and have multiple medalists
at our PJW Sectional Championship.
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