Working The Edge: High School Wrestling in Florida

On July 6, 2019, the high school wrestling and football world lost Colby Singletary to an auto accident.

Palmetto Ridge head wrestling Blaine Ison joins the pod to talk about how the team handled the tragedy and worked to remember Colby this season as best they could.

Ison discusses the ups and downs of the season that culminated with Trillyon Fils-Aime winning the 220-pound state title and honored his late friend in the FHSAA stat...

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted sports across the world. Tampa Prep assistant coach Jake Campbell joins the pod to talk about how wrestling has felt its effects.

We talk about ways to keep in shape during this time and how he's working with athletes in the Brawlers Wrestling Club in Tampa to keep sharp for when the sport returns.

We also discuss how the pandemic has affected national tournaments and camps in the spring and su...

Tenoroc head wrestling coach Anthony Cerullo joins the pod to talk about the challenge of building a program in lower income demographic ares and at schools that traditionally do not have success in athletics.

Last year, in his second season at Tenoroc, the wrestling team won district titles in both the state duals and individual tournaments. 

On this podcast, we talk with Anthony about how he has built the program and he offers so...

Ponte Vedra head coach Josean Gonzalez joins the pod to talk about his LinkedIn post "For New Wrestling Coaches: Building Relationships with Administration, Other Coaches, Parents, and Athletes."

You can read his post here.

We talk about how important it is to sell yourself and your program to school administrators and how crucial it can be to build strong relationships with other coaches and teachers at the school.

Building off o...

With so many open coaching jobs across the state, Suncoast head wrestling coach Dan Tria joins the podcast to offer some tips on how to start the process of building a wrestling program.

We talk about what he learned as an assistant coach and what has worked - and what hasn't for him at Suncoast. 

Dan also recaps his team's trip to J-Rob and how important camps can be in the growing on a program.

All of this and more on this episod...

West Orange wrestling coach Kristen Iannuzzi joins the podcast to talk about her experiences as a girl wrestling in the late 90s-early 00s.

She also speaks about being a female coach of a boy's team at West Orange and what she has learned in that role.

The one-time Orange County teacher of the year also talks about education and how important her role is in helping young men and women in and out of the classroom.

We also chat about...

Florida high school wrestling referee Mike Cipriano answers everything you wanted to know about officiating, including:

• Why he started and continues to love officiating
• How anticipation is one of the key components of being a successful ref
• Dealing with angry parents and fans
• How coaches can be most successful with questions during matches
• Keeping the emotional side in check and knowing how to officiate around them
• Stalling - ...

Rick Tribit and I finally get together to do a podcast as Working the Edge returns.

We talk about the state tournament in Kissimmee, what goes into making it happen, and what they have planned for this year.

We also talk about bringing coaches together through the Florida Wrestling Coaches Association and creating a tighter group to work together to better the sport here in Florida.

We touch upon some of his favorite topics in the ...

There are three duals to get the season started tonight but before I get to that -

If you haven’t checked out my season preview for the entire state of Florida, you can find it at OrlandoSentinel.com/wrestling.

It features capsules for all 400 teams in the state of Florida and is jam-packed with information and names in the sport.

I hope it’s the perfect way to get everybody ready for the season.

On the mats tonight, Eau Gallie vis...

Grant Aronoff, Anthony Artalona and Ben Goldin were all part of Penn's highly-regarded 2018 recruiting class.

Legendary Penn coach Roger Reina came back to lead the program last year and this is his first big class of recruits for his second stint in charge.

He talks about what drew him to the three Florida wrestlers, his experience recruiting the Sunshine State and how the sport - and how he himself - has changed since he was last...

Our Wrestling Discussion Series continues with Colonial head coach Andy Pitts joining me to talk about how he tries to market the sport at his high school.

We discuss how important it is to also market it to fellow faculty and administration and how every day is a day to sell the sport.

We look into the roll of social media in advancing knowledge and interest in the sport and how he tries to build up the numbers in his wrestling ro...

Dual meets are important to the sport of wrestling, but it's hard to fit them into a demanding and tight schedule.

We look at dual meets and how important they are for a wrestling program.

Dual meets can grow the sport for fans, wrestlers and for the programs themselves.

We also talk about how in-school dual meets have been so successful for his Titan program and tells a story about the best match he can remember taking place durin...

Suncoast head wrestling coach Dan Tria joins the podcast to talk about transfers in the sport of high school wrestling and in general.

We talk about how school choice initiatives have opened the playing field for easier movement and the decision making process that student-athletes go through in figuring out if a transfer is the right move.

We discuss the difference between public and private schools and look in-depth into limitati...

We catch up with SEU coach Javier Maldonado.

We look back on the three-year anniversary of his taking the job to lead the first scholarship program in the state in almost three decades.

We talk about the influences from his wrestling family at Kissimmee Osceola High School and his collegiate career at UT-Chattanooga. 

We also discuss the growth of high school wrestling talent in Florida, the importance of academics and how SEU's su...

I’m baaack. This is your high school wrestling update from the Orlando Sentinel for Monday, January 29, 2018 – My name is Brant Parsons – and my podcast did not win a Grammy last night.

We’ve hit the stretch run of the season and this past weekend gave us a showcase of big I-B-Ts.

Take a big inhale – and let’s go.

Let’s start with the Tri-County Invitational at Olympic Heights that saw Fleming Island come in and show the “tri-count...

As I continue to try to find the optimum audio settings for my podcast.  We'll get there..

Good morning, this is your high school wrestling update from the Orlando Sentinel for Thursday, December 7, 2017 – My name is Brant Parsons – and I wish I had more sound-engineer training.

Let’s see what happened last night.

In the big matchup on the night between Class 2A powers, Jensen Beach continued their early season gauntlet against Oly...