MANCHESTER, NH – It has been more than 30 years—and nearly as many pounds—since I’ve laced up a pair of wrestling shoes, hit the mat and tried to run a Chicken Wing on an opponent.
You see, once upon a time, I was a high school wrestler, and as I sat at the top of the bleachers in the Charles J. Quinn Gymnasium at Manchester West High School on Monday night, watching the Blue Knights compete against both the Kingswood Regional High School Knights and the Merrimack High School Tomahawks, I was transported back to a place where those six minutes on the mat with my opponent were all that mattered.
For those who may not know, the wrestling program at West High School has received an infusion of youth and energy from two young men, head coach Avery Portinari and assistant coach Kyle Bonti.
The team, which had dwindled to only three wrestlers during the pandemic, now has more than 30 grapplers taking to the mats for practices and meets on weekdays, while competing in tournaments on weekends.
The overall rise in popularity in the sport, however, is nationwide, which Bonti credits to 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs for inspiring young wrestlers. “The community grew, and there are now a lot more facilities, more tournaments, and a lot more things going on outside the high school environment,” said Bonti, who is a sergeant and recruiter for the United States Marine Corps.
Portinari started coaching wrestling at West as an assistant to former-head coach Michael Garcia, and he spent those five years as an assistant coach taking note of the little things that he would change if he got his shot at the helm.
That shot came in 2023, and Portinari started by implementing a strict training regimen while establishing more consistency in the off-season training program.
“I wanted to change the mindset, breaking the kids from having bad attitudes about little things, and stressing work ethics, grades and morals,” said Portinari, who personally renovated the team’s training facilities in the basement of the high school last summer.
But this change in mindset involves much more than winning matches; it is about “fostering the drive it takes to win,” said Bonti, who wrestled at Kennebunk High School in Maine.
Another former-wrestler and a graduate of West High School, Portinari agrees. “Winning isn’t everything,” he said. “My motto is ‘You can’t win without losing.’ Every time you go out there and lose, you learn something. We’re trying to create morale.”
Wrestling is not a sport for everyone and it requires a certain breed of athlete. When a wrestler loses a match, there is only one place where they can point the blame. “Accountability is huge in wrestling. We hold ourselves accountable for the mistakes that we make and don’t blame it on others,” said Portinari.
Aside from the rigorous training and discipline that it takes to survive six minutes on the mat, wrestling also teaches a plethora of life lessons.
Photos by Stacy Harrison
“Wrestling teaches you everything about life,” Portinari said. “If you’re having a bad day, guess what? The world doesn’t care about your issues, nor does your opponent. You can’t let those issues show when you’re on the mat. Wrestling is, by far, the hardest sport mentally, physically and emotionally. It breaks you down and builds you back up. It changes your life. I always tell my wrestlers that pressure creates diamonds.”
Bonti quoted wrestling legend Dan Gable, who said, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”
The Blue Knights wrestlers are also buying in on the message, the mentality the program requires, and the lessons that the sport can teach.
“You learn a lot from wrestling, on and off the mat,” said sophomore Colin Taylor, who wrestles at 144 pounds. “It teaches you a mentality that helps you grow and mature. It’s unlike any other sport.”
Junior Samuel Cruz (126 lbs.), whose family moved from Ecuador, wanted to play hockey before he was introduced to wrestling. “I tried [wrestling] and I fell in love with the sport,” said Cruz.
Senior Astor Sunsin (150 lbs.) has also learned lessons about himself through the sport. “I wrestle because I want something that I can be proud of, something I can work at and see the results,” he said.
For senior Jhystani Rivera, who competes at 157 pounds and wrestled in elementary school, his love for wrestling didn’t “click” until high school. “When Coach Portinari became the head coach, the program changed for the better,” he said.
The Blue Knights wrestling program is also part a windfall of school pride that Manchester West High School has seen amplified lately, starting with the school’s impressive football season and head coach Andrew Provencher being selected as the New Hampshire football’s “Coach of the Year” on SI.com.
Portinari said this is all part of putting West High School “back on the map.”
“We have the stigma of being ‘West-side’ punks, of being ‘ghetto’,” said Portinari. “Putting West back on the map means displaying that no matter the circumstances, the stigmas or rain clouds hanging above the name ‘West High School,’ we’re going to give you a tough match with respect and sportsmanship. People are going to respect West, and that is inevitable.”
For Portinari, Bonti and the Blue Knights wrestling team, there is no end in sight to the program’s potential moving forward. “I expect the team to grow in tremendous ways, not because of our coaching styles, but because the wrestlers and their work ethic will speak for itself,” Portinari said.
As for this former grappler, hobbling down the bleacher steps on a bum-knee, while the mat will remain three decades away, the lessons I learned on it will stay forever close.