As fall is fading into winter and most of the fall sports are finishing up, there’s a group of students who are getting excited for the winter wrestling season. For some, the season never ended.
Since 8th grade, Sophomore Students Lachlan Burdy and Declan Fagan have been coming up with an idea to form their own wrestling club off of an inside joke. In the spring of 2025, this joke became somewhat of a reality. Although not an official club/team, For the Dog Wrestling Club has been to many off season tournaments and practices.
AJ Sachatello, a para at Waterford High School and an alumni student and wrestler, resigned from his assistant coaching position from the wrestling team this year. In the early spring AJ took over coaching the Waterford club practices three days a week. “It’s been really nice being able to see them wrestle after the season and give an outlet to have some fun and wrestle,” says AJ. Throughout the off season, the For the Dog idea grew, eventually turning AJ’s practices into “For the Dog” practice and naming AJ a head coach for the “club.” All of the members appreciate what AJ’s doing. Senior at Waterford High School Riley Montana says, “It’s great because I’m able to strengthen my mindset and skills while not in the season.”
With both AJ Sachatello and Zeth Nolda departing from the High School’s Wrestling coaching staff, what is the next move? “ Big losses without a doubt, two great coaches, two great role models and two great individuals who invested a lot into the program as wrestlers themselves and coaches,” says Chris Gamble, Waterford High School Wrestling’s head coach. But do not fear: “Luckily we have coach Karasevicz coming in who coached at the high school for nearly 10 years and is one of the most accomplished wrestlers in all of Waterford High School’s history,” says Gamble. Adam Karasevicz turned to coaching the youth after coaching at the High School. He has had the most impact on the youth yet, from having 10-12 kids wrestling in Waterford’s youth to almost 100. AJ Sachatello, although not being able to coach, is going to be a manager and still wants to be involved in what he can.
Leadership is not all about the coaches. Senior Luke Westkott says, “I believe we have a lot of potential as long as seniors are able to step up as leaders.” Coach Gamble had a mandatory wrestling meeting on November 5th. Gamble wants the freshmen to get to know the seniors, and wants the team to have a strong bond this season. With a few freshmen joining the team, a lot of people feel they will be a good addition. “We have new freshmen that we can use wisely with the weight,” says Westkott. Although they have potential it is not quite clear how they will compete at the high school level. While there are new freshmen, they aren’t the only new wrestlers. At the meeting on the 5th, 37 people showed up, 12 of them having not wrestled in high school before and nine of them being first year wrestlers.
With that said, off season tournaments and practices have helped those who have participated stay ready and maintain their skills. A new coach for some and a lot of new wrestlers could be a bit of a challenge at first, but the team believes that there is a very high chance of potential and success. It appears the seniors are going to have to step up and reach a certain level of leadership to reach goals. The only goal for this season is to make sure that whoever wrestles a Waterford wrestler, win or lose, will not want to wrestle them again.
