The 2007 Bakersfield College wrestling team is starting fresh with a majority of new wrestlers.
“One of our strengths is that we have a good work ethic, we have a lot of youth and we have good potential for the future,” said head wrestling coach Bill Kalivas.
One of the weaknesses Kalivas mentioned was team maturity.
According to Kalivas, “[the wrestlers] are not a very mature or seasoned group of athletes because most everyone is fresh out of high school.”
Kalivas also mentioned that the team is fortunate that the biggest issue for the younger players is correcting their mistakes and trying to add to what they already have in terms of their skill.
“It’s just a matter of them learning the structure and organazation, how we do things,” said Kalivas. “We tell them that it is an adjustment. It’s probably different from what they are used to so it takes a little bit of time.”
According to Kalivas the Renegades have two place winners returning from last year’s team, they are Zack Johnson, and Eric Timson.
Other notable returners are: George Silva and red-shirt freshmen Christian Hernandez
Kalivas stated that the goals for this year’s team are to have a winning dual meet season and hopefully finish in the top 10 in the state tournament.