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About Us

COACHING STAFF
PWA Head Coach
Sam Iturrino

Bio:

I started wrestling as a freshman in high school because my brother did it and thought I should try it.  Having wrestled 4 years in high school and 2 years in College, I returned to the sport 8 years ago when my oldest son turned 7, and have been coaching and volunteering in various capacities since.

All four of my children wrestle – 9 year old son, Benjamin; 11 year old daughter, Marisa; 13 year old daughter, Raquel; 15 year old son, Sam.  

My path career started with seven consecutive losses by pin in under 30 seconds each, my Freshman year.  Continuing to trust my coach and working on the basics of strength and conditioning, I improved throughout the year and placed 5th at the state tournament in Connecticut.

I placed third my Sophomore year, and was state champ both my Junior and Senior years.  

I went on to wrestle at Springfield College in Springfield, MA for two years, but needed to discontinue to maintain my academic performance and work schedule.

I have been coaching youth wrestlers for eight years now.  When I reengaged eight years ago with my son, Sam, we joined Nieves Wrestling Club, in Springfield, MA, under Anibal Nieves, a two-time Olympian for Puerto Rico.  He is currently the head coach of both the men’s and women’s team at East Stroudsburg University in PA.  From Coach Nieves, I learned the winning attitude of BELIEVING and the international perspective of setting goals as lofty as World Champ and Olympic Champ.

Coach Nieves soon asked me to become his Strength and Conditioning Coach at STCC, supporting primary the college women’s team with weight management and injury prevention and injury recovery.

We moved to the Houston area in 2016 and, for two years, helped coach Team Leonidas Wrestling Club in Katy.  When we moved to Frisco in 2018, we connected with Power Wrestling Club, then in 2019 affiliated with Texas Pride Wrestling Club, both in Plano.

I have gotten to know both Coach Cooper and Coach King in the past year and am thrilled about being able to work together to form a new family – relaying to area youth wrestlers a similar approach to training utilized at Prosper High School.  

My kids are at Boyer Elementary, Reynolds Middle, and Prosper High School.

I am blessed beyond measure to have married my high school sweetheart, Rachada, twenty years ago.

I am a Certified Personal Trainer with certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine – certifications include:  Certified Personal Trainer, Corrective Exercise Specialist, Performance Enhancement Specialist, MMA Conditioning Specialist, Senior Exercise Specialist.

I apply my training expertise to practice planning and season progression.  I look forward to partnering with parents and families, utilizing the sport of wrestling to help bring out the very best in all of our kids.

 
Prosper Wrestling Academy is a new youth club, founded by the Prosper High School Wrestling coaches. A need was recognized for the youth in our community to be trained up in the way of our High School wrestling system.  If this need is met in the most efficient way, our young athletes will be well prepared for the high school level and beyond!

METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT
Young wrestlers from K-8 grade are physically and cognitively growing and developing.  We want them to enjoy the sport first!  If it becomes too monotonous or intense, it will become a labored experience (more like a job) and we will lose our young athletes by the time they arrive at the high school level.  With our K-6th grade, we really aim at putting a greater emphasis on developing their balance, coordination, and gaining a very basic concept of wrestling movements/positions.  We accomplish this through everyday warm-up exercises and movement drills to help them gain mat awareness without getting too technical and overwhelming them.  Wrestling games are also implemented to teach the body/mat awareness and proper positioning. 
The academy will begin to add a little more of the technical side with the 6-8 grade wrestlers without compromising the fundamentals of wrestling. 

PHILOSOPHY
We have found that high school athletes put a tremendous amount of pressure on themselves to win and it can negatively affect their performance!
In an effort to prevent this issue, coaches will help to develop a good mindset in our athletes.  We will stress effort and execution of wrestling technique at competitions, whether they win or lose.  Winning is a result and reward of an athlete's diligent hard work and effort.  Losing gives the gift of exposure to one's mistakes.  Coaches will use the knowledge from their losses to teach the athlete and help them improve their ability!  Athletes will learn to see the value of their hard work in practice and begin to relate that to their performance in competition.  

OVERALL MISSION
The high school coaches and youth coaches will work together to teach the Prosper High School system.  The ultimate goal is to use wrestling as a tool to help along the development of young athletes into great servant leaders of this community!
Board Members
Ryan Norris - President
Rachael Gerster - Vice President
Sarah Paul - Treasure