If a team was to have a shot at beating Danbury where would they start? Hire a coach...begin with a youth program...recruit wrestlers...and how long would it take? Anyone have a gameplan?

bump

it would be hard cause danbury does or has almost all those things right now,,,ill give it 7 years till danbury gets beat

it would take a town that is as dedicated as danbury.. Unfortunately I dont think there are any more of those in CT. The danbury kids are not massive strong raging wrestling freaks, just gotta find a town that is as dedicated to the sport as that town.

if bristol had 1 high school they would be dirtyy

There are many things you need to look at about danbury. One is that they have a good youth program. The second thing is that they are a fairly large town and they have about three middle schools with wrestling programs. This allows then tho have three or four kids in the same wieght and they can pick the best one for varsity matches. Finally, I think a team would need all 14 of their varsity wrestlers to do a massive amount of off season wrestling and conditioning to compete or even beat danbury. After all, why should your team have a chance of winning when they dont put as much work in as danbury

there are a lot of towns with good youth programs and we can't count on "if's" so, what you are saying is no one is as dedicated as them and they will never be beaten again! I want to know if anyone has a plan how to go about beating them in the future.

All an all it is going to take a down year from Danbury. It will take 8-10 kids making the opens and 6 or more placing. Also the system must have a lot of support not just a Coach and a plan. It is going to require supportive parents, wrestlers, administration,a very strong youth program and some Coaches who can maintain it all. I was once told that the hard part isn't building a strong team it is keeping it together and keeping it strong. How true has that been!!!

One of the best youth program in our State has been Colchester. While the high school team has and will continue to have success they haven't come close to Danbury, especially in the Opens.

Most teams excel when they are senior loaded, Danbury excels all the time. No other team in this State gets the support they do all accross the board, and deservingly so.

If I would pick the next closest to upset Danbury. I would say Ledyard. Not next year but maybe in two. They have the tradition, the toughness, and the Coach to do it. I was very impressed with them this year, I think they came out on fire at the M's and slowed down as the tournament went on. But I believe that was due to their lack of experience, they were a young team. Fairfield Warde had a good team last year too, but think they were one of those senior loaded teams if I am correct.

As I have been saying for awhile, team wise CT may not make too much noise next year, but as a State we should do very well come New Englands. We should be bringing home some gold hardware next year.

One last note!!!!
Don't know much about the Journeymen tournament that went on a week or so ago. But I was confused on why some of our kids wrestled each other. I was told it was because our clubs were put into the same bracket due to not having enough wrestlers to fill all the weight classes. But yet we had numerous clubs there. My opinion!!! Why don't we unite as a State for these kind of tournaments. You could make up an A team, and a B team that is full instead of an incomplete a,b,c, and d, team. I can see maybe one of out teams in that bracket but to have more than that is foolish. Our state isn't that big where we couldn't arrange to have a night of wrestle off's. The Coaches of each club could still Coach their kid. I just think it makea a lot of sense plus more competitive and the wrestlers would most likely get more out of it.

good start to answering the question, how will someone beat danbury. I think the biggest part of it may be in the first line of your reply. why say it is going to take them to have a bad year? lets come up with a plan to have a good year to beat them! CONFIDENCE MAY BE THE MISSING INGREDIENT!

Most of us didn't get to where we are by lack of confidence.

I would say that we were the closet to doing it, almost twice. One year we had some things go our way, but a scoring error occurred. A few years later I know we would of had the best team in the State, but 6 potential open qualifiers didn't come back out. We had a great youth program, a good middle school program and two Coaches at the High School level who were very motivated. We also had an AD who understood what we were trying to do.

The youth thing is the hardest thing to control. The difference from Danbury and most is that most youths are run by parents who have a vested interest "their Kid". While Danbury has that they also have coaches that have had their kids go thru and still contribute. That is huge!!! In most cases the youth HOPEFULLY gets passed on to a qualified Coach who has a vested interest. While I have a vested interest, "understanding that the youth will help my team in the future". I also found out the hard way most of us can not do both. It is hard enouh to find an Assitant Coach who can put int he time, let alone a youth Coach.

I would say that Southington has come the closest a few times to beating Danbury head to head in the last 8 years or so. RHAM had that State Open scoring thing where it had a shot.

ITS OUR WELL KEPT SECRET!!!!!!!!

last night i asked was it confidence. tonight i ask is it intimidation. SHOOK SPOKE! no one responded!!!

Without any disrespect to a true legend of a team, Coach Shook, I am sure you are well aware that in the last 4 or 5 years there are more than a few teams out there that have adopted what Danbury has done for decades. These programs are just now beginning to see the fruit of those seeds they planted. Expect the next four years to be a turning point in Connecticut Wrestling, not only in competition with Danbury, but in finally being recognized on the national stage. It takes level competition to excell a state as a whole and a truelly unselfish team such as Danbury knows this first and foremost (thank you Mark, for your comments and your dedication to USA Wrestling - Connecticut).

Lost 5 seniors. Return 9 starters and 5 L placewinners: Fraser (L runner-up), Rigilano (L runner-up), Mcallister L champ, Mcbreairty L 6th, and Delaney L 5th.

There is ONLY ONE way to beat Danbury...a team of clones of a particular blond 135-lb fairfield warde wrestler at each of the 14 weight classes would easily crush the almighty Hatters dynasty.

There is no other way.

You can hire me to run your youth program.

100K/year should do it.

LOL

Just kidding

in an earlier response to what would it take to beat danbury someone said it would take 7 years. i bet there is a town out there who would pay you 100k (over the next 7 years) to coach a youth / middle scool progam if you could guarantee a high school win over danbury.

I will not guess when Danbury’s success at beating Connecticut teams will end, however, I will explain how our town supports the kids.

First we have a youth organization, which raises a lot of money and supports our kids with new mats and coaching for our youth program. We have a board of directors that works very hard to provide these tools for Elementary, Middle School and High school levels. The board follows a set of By laws and follows a budget each year. The board is not self serving (raise and spend all the money they raise just on their Kids) and follows a tradition that they raise more money each year than they spend. I have watched this process since 1996 and we have had many great presidents from Any Levitt, Gail Marra, Ron Howe, Christine Smith and now Frank Peterson.

We have very committed parents, that get their kids to practices, help in all fund raising and socialize together. My wife and I have made some great friends while members of DYWA. You need dedicated coaches that are supported by the parents with minimal interference from parents. You need a head wrestling coach that is passionate about the sport and the kids he coaches. A coach that set high standards, goals and holds his kids to a high level of sportsmanship. Coach Shook is always looking to the future, he gets many of his JV kids 20 to 25 matches a year and several varsity matches during the multi match days.

You need hardship to challenge the kids and coaches. Danbury High School does NOT have a wrestling room. The wrestlers roll out mats every single day, they alternate practice times with the Danbury Cheerleaders (a club program at DHS). One week they have early practice and the next week they have late practice.

The last item I feel you need to have a very successful program is Tradition. Each year the captains make a pledge to their team mates and prior team mates to not allow a loss under their watch. This pride is a big part of the team and it is not arrogance, just a goal.

The following Danbury High School kids went to Maryland on Memorial Day Weekend to wrestle in the NHSCA duals, which were sponsored in part by USAWCT:
Charlie Costanzo 2 X Open Champion, Brian Jennings 2009 Open Champion and JD Damici 2009 3rd in Opens

Mark Cammisa

Thanks mark, if anyone knows how danbury got where they are today it is you! my question still remains the same, what would it take to BEAT danbury, does anyone have a a gameplan? Warde came as close as anyone, do they have a plan for this year or are they done?

Thanks Mark,

That is an outline to Danbury's success. Very nice, very impressive.

It is pretty obvious it isn't something that happens over night. And even if it happens once, can it another team continue on like Danbury has. I am not jealous at all, I am impressed. It takes alot of time and support just to have a decent team. It takes an army of great soliders to do what Danbury has done. Hats off, when you think you have a chance at beating them you hate the hatters, when you are able to step back and look thru different eyes you admire them.

i would say depth.and commitment to the program.

Warde is certainly not going to have a rebuilding year next season. We will come back just as strong, guaranteed.

i know that you guys are talking about connecticut teams....but you have to look at what other teams do farther north. for example. Mount Athouny close match (and sometimes beat them) also danbury didnt even place as a team in the Eastern States. WHAT CAN THOSE TEAMS BE DOING THAT WERE NOT?

bump

If you have been around Ct wrestling and this forum enough you wouldn't ask that question. Answer!! Many things that are beyond ones control. Start with goals that are reachable. Trying to compete with Danbury is a tall enough feat, going out of our State would be like trying dunk a basketball at 5 feet tall. Trust me I have tried, that is why I wrestled.LOL

i have to agree, totaly unatainable to beat them. however, lets back up to the original question. what would it take to beat danbury? i am asking all of you highschool guys out there who have any aspirations of coaching someday, what would your plan be. all i have heard from the current coaches is how good they are, how they got that way and how they will never be beaten again. can someone come up with a gameplan PLEASE!

I posted this higher up but here it is again. I don't think this is as unatainable as most here have displayed. There are more and more teams out there that have incorporated the philosophy of "sky's the limit".

Without any disrespect to a true legend of a team, Coach Shook, I am sure you are well aware that in the last 4 or 5 years there are more than a few teams out there that have adopted what Danbury has done for decades. These programs are just now beginning to see the fruit of those seeds they planted. Expect the next four years to be a turning point in Connecticut Wrestling, not only with an increase in good competition for Danbury, but in finally being recognized on the national stage. It takes level competition to excell a state as a whole and a truely unselfish team such as Danbury knows this first and foremost. Thank you Mark, for your comments and your dedication to USA Wrestling - Connecticut.

So for those that believe this is unatainable, then for you, it is. You are not ready to accept the dedication that is involved in evolving a team such as this.

For those that beleive it IS possible but have not yet put the philosophy that Mark put forth to use, keep in mind that this is a process. It's an evolution, and it will take time. Specifically the kind of time that it takes a young elementary school wrestler to debut in high school, providing that the program that supports them hadn't collapsed before that. And not even then will the reloaded high school team be at Danbury's level. After the first seeds enter Freshman year, it takes a constant flow of reload for atleast the next 4 years to realize the type of success that Danbury started seeing back in the late '80s. Keep in mind that Danbury had a youth program as early as the late 70's (this may have been their start, not sure). It was not until the mid to late 80's that Danbury was considered a state powerhouse.

it would take a youth program back in norwich to beat danbury, take back what was once ours if anybody has forgot.

okay im giving my guess on what it would actually take to beat "them"

COMMITMENT!!!

you would have to get as coach to coach elementary to middle school who is all for the kids with experience. you would actually have to mold the kids minds to do wrestling as their number one activity. (wrestling is a sport that you dont need natural ability and you can teach the technical stuff) however the coach would need to give kids a mental boost. (the best wrestlers arent always the most technical they are the animals in the weight class)

danbury beats teams becasue people are scarred of them. danbury kids are human. they have normal minds they are not bionic. if a team had a full team of kids with great mental stability and you would have to almost intimidate danbury.

also, if u look at danbury's roster last year they didnt have the most athletic kids however they were the most mentally ready team as always. they go into the match knowing that they are going to win. other teams go into the match saying to themselves "okay how many team points can we score against them so we dont get completley embarrased."

reguarding my last post i didnt say they werent the most athletivc to put them down. believe me i have complete respect for the danbury wrestling team.

You can tell from the posts who the high school guys are, who the rookie type coaches are, and who the veteran coaches are. When I first started coaching I thought it would be easy to develop a powerhouse. 4 years was all it would take. I thought my will and determination would guide a team to a championship. All I had to do was put all my energy into it and the team would become champions. That drive and determination is great for a team. It can really lead to improvement. However, I know a bunch of great coaches that have average teams. There are also some average coaches that have great teams. One factor people don't talk about is location. Danbury is a great place to have success. There are not many places that have the same population, parental support, diversity, money, and administrative support. They are the perfect storm. One poster mentioned that if Bristol had one high school that they could do it. I believe this to be true as well. That would be a similar situation to Danbury. Population, youth programs, middle school programs, club programs, and administrative support would be similar. I think location is probably the biggest factor for high school success. Granted, you must have good coaches that can make it happen. I would say there are only a handful of towns that could come close to this location factor, which to me is the single most important one. Nearly all the other factors rely on this.

now that we have a few more opinions on why danbury is unbeatable and i guess ALWAYS will be, does anyone want to come up with a plan on how to beat them? I would guess that there are a few youth program coaches out there who have solid game plans already in action and do not want to share them with us.

I did not say that it was impossible. Basically, based on what I said, one strategy is to find one of the biggest schools in the state and go from there. I think Mark laid out the blueprint for what needs to be done and how Danbury does it. Now you just have to find a town that has the numbers and the athletes. Additionally, I think it could be done by getting a great motivating coach and great on-campus recruiter to coach at a huge inner-city school. Then get the numbers and the athletes and go from there. Look at what South Dade did to Brandon. They stopped Brandon's dual meet streak at 459. Ask them what they did. What is your gameplan to beat them open2007?

i hear a lot of things about youth programs in this post. maybe it is about youth programs maybe its not.

danbury is a wrestling town. other cities have multiple sports they focus on. danbury basically does wrestling and running. could that be it? just focus?

Very well said cement. I learned alot along the way. We had great teams back in the early 2000's. Teams that would of competed with Danbury if we met head to head. I was the Assistant then. We had a great Youth team lead by someone who put in years, we had a good Middle School Team, we had Two young coaches who pushed and had the fire to compete. Most importantly we had kids that bought into us and wanted success as bad as we did. It all came, then in a blink of an eye it fell apart. I took over as Head Coach and was excited to do it again. Wile we may have climbed back into the mix we are not where we would like to be. The last two years my youth has been in shambles. This year I need to find a Coach to start it up again or it is going bye bye. While my numbers have increased by double if not triple, I fear for the future with out the youth. I can not do it all, nor can just one Coach. We would like to think we can but until you tried and failed you wouldn't know. I wouldn't take anything back from the road I took. I have learned alot along the way and it opened my eyes on all fronts. Most of us Coaches know what it takes to get to the top. Like I stated before it takes alot of help and support, doesn't happen over night, and if things are not lined up correctly will only last a short time, if at all.

“Right out of high school I never had the fear of getting beat, which is how most people lose.”-Dan Gable

could this be the quote danbury lives by?