After six years of serving as the assistant to Jerry Maietta with the North Bergen High School wrestling team, Steve Higuera wanted to get the opportunity to head his own squad.
However, the chances to coach wrestling in Higuera’s native Hudson County were practically slim and none. Only a handful of local schools offered high school wrestling. As a teacher in Union City, Higuera had to bide his time and perhaps a job would open in Bergen County, where wrestling teams abound.
At the same time, Union Hill student Bernardo Childron kept pestering the Union City Board of Education to explore the possibilities of instituting wrestling as a varsity sport. The persistent Childron pleaded with school officials and administrators, actually starting a petition with the names of interested students.
"I had Coach Higuera in grammar school and I knew about the sport back then," Childron said. "I thought that if I wanted to wrestle, I was going to have to go to North Bergen High School. I filled out paperwork to go, but it didn’t happen. That’s when I started to ask the AD (athletic director Tony Lupo) about why they never started wrestling here at Union Hill. I wondered how we could get it started."
Childron made an official presentation to the Board of Education, requesting that wrestling be included in the school’s curriculum.
Finally, the Board of Education and athletic departments gave in to Childron’s pleas and decided to institute wrestling at both Union Hill and Emerson for the 2002-2003 winter season.
It also made perfect sense that Union Hill would hire an experienced in-house coach like Higuera.
"The kids were the ones who built the interest," Higuera said. "A lot of the kids wanted wrestling, to try something else. The Board of Education agreed, I was hired, and the response was great."
Higuera was elated to take over the fledgling program.
"Wrestling is one of the older sports out there," Higuera said. "It’s also a sport that everyone can compete in. Not every kid can play basketball. Wrestling is a sport of inclusion."
Higuera also figured that his background in the sport would help draw kids to participate.
"Many of the kids knew me from teaching swimming lessons," Higuera said. "They also see that a lot of Hispanic kids were wrestling in other schools, so they could do it as well. They could relate to me because I am also Hispanic. I think it was a good fit."
However, when Higuera had a meeting, introducing himself and the sport to the students of Union Hill, he had to explain one important fact – that high school wrestling and the WWF wrestling they were used to watching on television are two totally different things.
"It was difficult to try to teach them that it’s not professional wrestling," Higuera said. "When I had the first meeting, we had about 50 kids there. I showed them a video of what high school wrestling was all about. About half of them saw the video and decided that it was not for them, that they thought it was the other thing."
Sure, high school administrators are going to allow students to smash each other with chairs and throw them into turnbuckles with high-elbow smashes. Yeah, right.
However, the others, like the entrepreneurial Childron, knew exactly what the sport was truly all about. A 171-pound junior, Childron was getting exactly what he pushed for.
"Some of them asked me when we were going to put up the ropes, so we could bounce around off the ropes," Childron said. "I told them that real wrestling isn’t all about that."
Once Higuera got the Hillers out on the mat, some started to feel the frustration of learning something new. After all, how many times does a five-year-old quit when learning to tie his shoes? Or trying to blow bubbles with bubble gum?
"I told them that they shouldn’t quit before they felt what it was like to win," Higuera said. "I told them that it could become addicting, a natural high. After a while, wrestling grows on you, once you get the hang of it. And once you experience a win, you can’t believe you haven’t been doing it all your life."
Some of those youngsters bought into what Higuera was saying. They bought into experiencing the ultimate thrill of victory.
"I hope they’re gaining experience and they’re having fun," Higuera said. "And they’ve experienced the winning."
The Hillers have already enjoyed that thrill, first defeating Hudson Catholic, but then, knocking off cross-city rival Emerson.
"That was huge," Higuera said. "That was like winning the Super Bowl already, so early in the season. And the crowd was cheering. It was electric. A lot of the people in the stands were seeing wrestling for the first time."
The Hillers have enjoyed some other success, outside of the dual meets. Sophomore 112-pounder Jaime Guallpa was second in the Bayonne Tournament a few weeks ago. Junior Josh Granda, a 140-pound junior, was third in that same tourney.
Junior Jorge De La Hoz, a 145-pounder, junior 152-pounder Rodrigo Villagomez and 189-pound sophomore Mario Milanese have also shown a lot of promise thus far, as has the team’s unofficial organizer, Childron.
"They really have picked up quickly and done a nice job," Higuera said. "They’re also learning that winning is addictive."
Childron has a good feeling that he was essentially the founding father of the Union Hill wrestling program.
"I sort of feel proud," Childron said. "I’m glad we were able to get it going."
However, the wrestling itself hasn’t been as easy as getting things started was.
"It’s been a lot harder than what I thought, especially the conditioning and training," Childron said. "But I’m still glad I did it."
The Hillers’ junior varsity team has also enjoyed some success, having defeated Clifton and Montclair, long established programs, in the last two weeks. Higuera said that he was fortunate to secure the services of a talented assistant coach, Joe Lewis, who was coaching at Cliffside Park.
"Everything about this has been positive," Higuera said. "Many of our students don’t even know we have a wrestling team. Word is getting out. Every day, an announcement is made in the school about how the wrestling team is doing. Everyone is exciting about it. Everyone is enthusiastic."
Almost as enthusiastic as the coach. – Jim Hague