Tucked away in a far corner of the Abington Friends School campus is the Triangle Gym. At more than 300 years old, it is one of the oldest buildings on campus. It is left mostly to the groundskeepers, as students are not typically allowed to be there. But inside this obscure building lies a gem: the AFS wrestling room.
Wrestling is one of the least played sports at AFS, but that doesn’t mean there are no stories to tell. The members of the team show a lot of dedication, having to show up for weekend tournaments at 6 am to have to make weight two or three times a week, on top of school.
Because the sport is so hard, the team has formed a family-like bond. I and many of my other teammates have made lasting friendships through wrestling. AFS wrestling has put out many wrestlers who go on to continue the sport in college, as well as producing Prep National qualifiers and even a Prep National runner-up.
Despite this, in its over 50 years of competition, AFS wrestling has never brought home a Friends Schools League title. New head coach Matt Mooney looked to change that as the AFS wrestling team won the title this year. The following photos will show you the lives of wrestlers, from practice to the match.
Drilling is where the technique is learned. It is where you can get repetition after repetition of one move in or perfect your technique on a variety of different moves. Drilling is something that the AFS team does every practice because it has to be done. First, we start with hand fighting, then half-shots, full shots, top and bottom work, and then move to technique.
Live wrestling simulates a match. It gives you the opportunity to try out new moves, learn what works and what doesn’t, and test your gas tank. The AFS team does live almost every practice, with the exception of the day before a match, as live is where most injuries happen.
Wrestling is a hard sport, but having people there with you is amazing. When you are tired, you know everyone else is tired too. You just have to keep going.
Dave Robinson, Assistant Varsity Wrestling Coach said, “I have always thought of wrestlers as a group of siblings. You may or may not be friends, but you know each other in a way few people do.”
The match is where it all comes together. Everything you do in practice prepares you for when you step out on the mat. The image above is from a dual meet, where two schools wrestle their rosters, from 106 to heavyweight, against each other. In this dual, AFS was victorious, beating the defending Friends School League champions, Westtown 37-36.
This picture comes from the Church Farm Invitational. This tournament was an individual, meaning that it was a bracket format and not team versus team. Out of the 16 teams there, AFS won 8th, with four place winners. I won my bracket at 121, while Branden Wylie ‘28 and Myles Griffin ‘26 both took 3rd in 127 and 145, respectively. To round it out, Maxwell Berthier ‘27 (pictured above), placed 6th at 160 pounds.
Wrestling and faith are deeply connected. This is shown perfectly by the AFS 285 pounder, Dean Sadowski’27. Dean looked very good in our first few matches of the year but tore his ACL in the middle of a match. He was out for the year.
Sadowski said, “I felt that if I wanted to be strong, I needed him by my side, and I needed to recognize that. Yet I feel this injury was him teaching me a lesson to not be prideful and that wrestling isn’t everything… God comes first.”
