Scott Glabb – Santa Ana HS

Pablo Di Maria
High School Correspondent
Amateur Wrestling News & The Open Mat

Coach Glabb, How blessed do you feel to have guys like Jose Leon and Tim Byers in the wrestling room helping you out?

I feel blessed having them in the room Leon and Byers have great deal of technical skill and coaching experience. Leon is the alumni that is a role model to show other wrestlers that going to college and getting an education is possible and Byers is a student of sport always attending clinics and improving his knowledge of the sport.

Is the dual versus Calvary Chapel/Santa Ana still as big as it was in the early 2000’s?

The Calvary Dual is still a meet anticipated by the team, school and community…it’s a friendly rivalry and both teams have a great deal of respect for one another. I think it is a still a big deal because we are still packing the gym.

What are your goals for this team in CIF, Masters Meet and State?

The goals for the team this year are to win the CIF tournament team title…send 7-8 to masters and squeeze 3-4 to state….and pray we get a state placer out of that bunch.

Where is one aspect where you think California wrestling and wrestling across the Nation could improve upon itself?

For California I think having more than one division for state would benefit the sport, athletes and fans. If we had divisions we would have more participants at state. With that, more kids would be successful, thus more programs have success…more kids come out when a school/team is winning or producing champions. It is about the kids and what best serves them. I think more kids participating at a state level the more everyone will benefit. As for a nation probably offer more programs at college level…we have lost so many college wrestling programs in last 20 years.

If you have one piece of advice for a High School wrestler considering wrestling in college, what would you recommend to them?

For a wrestler who wants to compete in college…get as much might time in as you can before you begin your first college season. Compete, compete and compete. College wrestling is a rude awakening for most kids who come from highs school ranks. They have a lot of adjustments to make when they get there…new place to live, higher academic expectations, making new friend and so on. So the better prepared you are to walk into that wrestling room and battle the easier I think the transition will be

Santa Ana HS – 2011-12 League Champions

What stands our program apart from any other…hmmm. The kids we coach come from tough socio-economic environment. Seems like almost every kid on my team has a hard luck story…sometimes I wonder how they get through high school and wrestling with the adversity they face. Therefore, we have to really go above and beyond to keep a kid out for the sport. Like I mentioned before…serve the athlete. So I think when I our kids compete work hard and give us their best they do it because the love the coaches and want to make us proud…we are their surrogate parents and I always wrestled a little harder when my mom showed up to watch and few of these kids parents come to cheer them on. So your answer I think what sets us apart from most programs is that we really care about our kids off the mat.

What is your philosophy on coaching wrestling?

My philosophy of coaching wrestling is all about building relationships with your athletes…they need to know you care, that you will do whatever it takes to keep them on the mat and in school. A coaches job is to serve his athletes and team and I think a lot of coaches forget that and do whatever they can to win. If you take care of the athlete, the winning will come. You got to value the person more than value what they can produce. I also believe in taking care of the freshman…I make a huge effort to get to know each one personally. If I have a varsity meet and a frosh/soph meet on same day I will usually attend their meets and coach them this giving me a chance to get to know them and motivate them. They need me more than my varsity guys. I always tell them they are the future of our program.

What are the goals for you program in the future?

My goals for the future of Santa Ana Wrestling it’s to build up our girls program. We have already been blessed with two girls who have won state titles. We have 20 girls out now for the sport and have another wrestling room for them to train in. We get 100% support from the school, administration and district for building girls team. Would like to get their program to same tradition and legacy as our boys team. As for future of boys, continue doing what we’re doing, teach young men to one day be responsible fathers, husbands and sons and encourage them to give back to their community. Build in them a strong work ethic and to be men of character.

Knowing that you are originally from Washington, what it’s the difference in wrestling styles between Washington and California?

Big difference, when I arrived from Washington, I noticed that California wrestlers focus more on take downs. Up north we were more of a mat wrestler. Also seems like more opportunities and tournaments here for kids to compete in year round wrestling. Not so much in Washington.

What is your policy for those kids that break the rules?

I learned hard way when I set up a blanket policy of rules for my team and force kids to adhere to them most all of them would have been kicked off team sooner or later. We have expectations in place and basically deal with each wrestler on a case by case basis. Each kid has their own set of circumstances and set of personal problems they need to cope with so some I am more lenient with than others. I do kick the kids off at the semester who do not dress or attend practice and meets, but those kids have basically quit when they stopped participating. I really hold out hope for each kid and pray that they make necessary changes to be committed to the sport. Last year I had a kid who had horrible grades, I got complaints from his teachers constantly on his immature behavior and in summer school he got caught stealing a bike. Some of my coaches said kick him out and at times I almost did, but he kept coming back to practice every day. So I kept him around and today he has passed all his classes and was a league champ for us, and to think we almost cut him. This kid is an example of why we deal with each kid and the rules individually.

NHSCA or Fargo for your wrestlers?

If we have kids place in State we send them out to the NHSCA high school nationals…luckily we have had two high school nationally Champions. Tony Perez and Jose Leon. Sending kids to Fargo it’s a little more difficult and have only sent one since I have been coaching at Santa Ana…costs are a problem and it being during summer makes it tougher too with the training and organization of sending them.

Best wrestler ever to come out of Santa Ana?

Most successful wrestlers, If you go by who was most successful wrestler that would probably be Jose Leon and Tony Perez both state placers and high school national champs. But I would have to give it to Gilbert Melendez, MMA world champion at 155lbs. He is pride and joy of our program. Fighting professional at a world level. In April he will be fighting for UFC title at 155lbs. Gilbert always makes mention of our program and how wrestling at Santa Ana prepared him or what he is doing today. He and his father still are involved with the team and give back as much as they can.

Three things people don’t know about you?

Three things people don’t know about me…I loved baseball as a kid and prayed that I would play professionally. I have never had drink of alcohol, father was alcoholic and it really did some damage to our family and my relationship with him. I was a radio disc jockey though out college and almost considered a career as a DJ.

Favorite book to read? 

Well my favorite book is the one I wrote, A Saint in the City. I wrote a book describing the detailed lives of some of the kids I coached and how wrestling and a little faith in God changed their lives for the better. It gives an inside look at some of the sacrifices I had to make as a coach and the trials and tribulations Santa Ana kids had to overcome to be a success on and off the mat. I wrote it because I wanted others to know what these kids actually have to face day to day just to compete and how many matches in game of life they had to wrestle before they joined the team. I also wrote it to leave a legacy behind for my family and the program. Several friends always said I should write a book, I didn’t want any regrets later in life that I didn’t do it…so I did.

Do you have anything else you’d like folks to know about yourself or the Santa Ana wrestling program?

One thing I’d like others to know about me is that I take my faith in God seriously and believe that it guided me to what I am doing today, which is coaching and teaching at Santa Ana HS. I see this as God’s calling for my life and look at the team as a ministry. I believe a huge part of our success as a program was offering kids on team chance to be involved in FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). We started the campus ministry in 1992 and it is still going strong today…we have sent 100’s of wrestlers to the summer CA wrestling camp and have no doubt the camp and Jose Campos (Mt Carmel HS), wrestling camp director, has had an impact on our wrestlers lives spiritually and athletically.