Written by Coach (& father of Dov) Rick Halpern

As a first year coach, and a first-time attendee to the Wittenberg Tournament, I have to say how impressed I was with everything associated with the tournament. The organizers obviously spent countless hours on all its details, and it showed. The level of wrestling was great, and set a very high standard for Yeshiva Atlanta to strive for in the future. Most importantly, the good feeling I got from being a part of all these yeshivas coming together was something that I will look forward to next year.

My experience as the assistant coach for Yeshiva Atlanta, also deserves mentioning. I was a bit apprehensive about this season, since it had been 26 years since I had stepped onto a mat. I had forgotten a lot, but during the season I was amazed to see how much came back to me. Yeshiva Atlanta is a remarkable school. There are only 95 kids in the entire school, and about half of them are girls! So the 24 boys on the wrestling team represent about half of the boys in the school. For this group of kids to come in second place at the Wittenberg Tournament is quite a feat. None of our boys had ever wrestled before high school, and some of them didn't begin wrestling until their Junior or Senior year.

Having worked with our team, and having seen the quality of wrestling at YU, I am convinced that nothing beats mastering the basics, and hard work. I look forward to another season, and wish everyone a successful year until we meet again.