Pin It to Win It

While putting more of an “emphasis on mental preparation,” according to Head Coach Nolan Laux, the Hastings High wrestling team had their first meet on November 30, 2023, against Kearney at home.

“Practice always starts with a quick rundown of what practice will look like, what is expected, and then a quote of the day. After that, we do our warm-ups and then usually get into drilling our takedowns. After that, depending on if it is a pre-meet day or not, we might show new techniques or we may just revisit past ones so we can get reps in and get better,” Assistant Coach Matt Geiger said.

Wrestling is a martial art and combat sport that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset.

“I like how wrestling is extremely demanding. The discipline required truly reveals the character of athletes. There are times that wrestling can be extremely cruel and heartless, and I think as a coach it is extremely rewarding to help athletes through those times and teach them how to persevere and be resilient,” Laux said.

Laux has been wrestling his whole life and took his first head coaching job in 2018.

“I have been involved in wrestling my entire life. I grew up around this program since I was very little. I would travel to high school meets and watch my dad coach and see what wrestling was all about. The opportunities to help high school students grow is what intrigues me most. This is my sixth year as a head coach (my fifth at HHS). I was an assistant coach off and on for a few years through college, but took my first head coaching job in 2018-19 as a senior in college,” Laux said.

There are a few things Laux likes about wrestling, and he enjoys helping high schoolers through some of its characteristics, such as how demanding it is.

“I like how wrestling is extremely demanding. The discipline required, truly reveals the character of athletes. There are times that wrestling can be extremely cruel and heartless, and I think as a coach it is extremely rewarding to help athletes through those times and teach them how to persevere and be resilient,” Laux said.

For Geiger, wrestling has run through the family for multiple generations. This will be Geiger’s sixth year coaching, with him starting in 2018.

“I have been involved with wrestling for as long as I can remember. My whole family wrestled. I had uncles who I would watch wrestle, and I have wrestled since I was maybe five or six years old. So when the opportunity came up to be a coach, I couldn’t say no. I have been coaching at HHS since I started teaching here back in 2018, so this will be my sixth year. Wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Geiger said.

Even though Geiger teaches physical science, he doesn’t always get to see his wrestlers throughout the day so having a connection with them is important.

“The thing I like the most about coaching wrestling is making those connections with students [and] athletes that I don’t normally interact with day to day. You see them in the hall and can have a conversation with them rather than the awkward ‘good morning’ we sometimes have in passing,” Geiger said. “It also gives a lot of students a sense of belonging to be part of a team and that really helps with their high school career. I love being part of that.”

This season, the coaches would like their athletes to “overcome hurdles they face during the season and keep working on team culture” according to Laux.

“Exposure Equals Expansion. For a wrestler to grow and become better, they must expose themselves to new things, new competitions, and new boundaries of what they think they are capable of. From there, they can grow and expand their knowledge and boundaries of their abilities,” Laux said.