Bumgardner Takes Over Wawasee Wrestling Program
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Bumgardner, who has been teaching at Wawasee Middle School his entire career, said he stepped down from the Whitko position because the travel became an issue. He had coached the Wildcat wrestlers for five seasons.
“The reason I resigned from Whitko was I am teaching at Wawasee Middle School, and the travel situation was hindering me from being as involved with every level of the program as I wanted to be; while trying to be the family man that I want to be also,” he said via e-mail. “I not only value being a wrestling coach, but I believe being a family man needs to take precedent and I hope to instill that mentality in every one of our wrestlers.
“While I immensely value the lessons the great sport of wrestling can teach you, I believe one of the greatest lessons it can teach us is how to be a respectful and responsible human being.
“I was fortunate enough to be placed at Wawasee Middle School for my student-teaching my last year of college, and was even more fortunate to be offered a teaching position for the very next school year. I spent last year teaching at Wawasee Middle School and coaching at Whitko High School, and unfortunately that situation was no longer best for me or the Whitko wrestling program.
“I was strongly considering getting involved with the Wawasee wrestling program as soon as I knew I would be returning to teaching here, and when I was contacted about coaching in the Wawasee program it did not take long before I knew it was the right decision.”
Bumgardner also brings experience in developing a wrestling program, rather than just a one-year team, to the training table.
“I’ve coached at the high school level, as well as assisting at the middle school level; I have also been responsible for organizing and coaching the elementary program for the last five years at Whitko, where we were regularly having 20-40 kids at every practice,” he said.
In terms of what to expect from the Warrior team in his first year, Bumgardner is still very much in the evaluation stage.
“As of right now I only know a few of the wrestlers returning from last year’s team, and have met them while they've been getting workouts in on their own, but I am very much looking forward to meeting the entire team and getting to work,” he said. “I know we currently have several wrestlers who have advanced in the state tournament series on multiple occasions, and after having discussions with those individuals, simply advancing to that same level again is not their goal. Instead, we need to exceed any accomplishments thus to date, and continually look to overcome any obstacles put in our way to be successful.
“As far as what I can bring to the program, experience within the sport as a competitor as well as a coach at multiple levels. I hope to bring a different mindset to this program that has such a rich history of success; as well as a vision to not only have our athletes be successful on the wrestling mat, but also help teach them how to be successful in life.”[[In-content Ad]]
Bumgardner, who has been teaching at Wawasee Middle School his entire career, said he stepped down from the Whitko position because the travel became an issue. He had coached the Wildcat wrestlers for five seasons.
“The reason I resigned from Whitko was I am teaching at Wawasee Middle School, and the travel situation was hindering me from being as involved with every level of the program as I wanted to be; while trying to be the family man that I want to be also,” he said via e-mail. “I not only value being a wrestling coach, but I believe being a family man needs to take precedent and I hope to instill that mentality in every one of our wrestlers.
“While I immensely value the lessons the great sport of wrestling can teach you, I believe one of the greatest lessons it can teach us is how to be a respectful and responsible human being.
“I was fortunate enough to be placed at Wawasee Middle School for my student-teaching my last year of college, and was even more fortunate to be offered a teaching position for the very next school year. I spent last year teaching at Wawasee Middle School and coaching at Whitko High School, and unfortunately that situation was no longer best for me or the Whitko wrestling program.
“I was strongly considering getting involved with the Wawasee wrestling program as soon as I knew I would be returning to teaching here, and when I was contacted about coaching in the Wawasee program it did not take long before I knew it was the right decision.”
Bumgardner also brings experience in developing a wrestling program, rather than just a one-year team, to the training table.
“I’ve coached at the high school level, as well as assisting at the middle school level; I have also been responsible for organizing and coaching the elementary program for the last five years at Whitko, where we were regularly having 20-40 kids at every practice,” he said.
In terms of what to expect from the Warrior team in his first year, Bumgardner is still very much in the evaluation stage.
“As of right now I only know a few of the wrestlers returning from last year’s team, and have met them while they've been getting workouts in on their own, but I am very much looking forward to meeting the entire team and getting to work,” he said. “I know we currently have several wrestlers who have advanced in the state tournament series on multiple occasions, and after having discussions with those individuals, simply advancing to that same level again is not their goal. Instead, we need to exceed any accomplishments thus to date, and continually look to overcome any obstacles put in our way to be successful.
“As far as what I can bring to the program, experience within the sport as a competitor as well as a coach at multiple levels. I hope to bring a different mindset to this program that has such a rich history of success; as well as a vision to not only have our athletes be successful on the wrestling mat, but also help teach them how to be successful in life.”[[In-content Ad]]
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