You may have noticed that we’ve been writing a lot of stories about the successful run that Greenville High School has had so far with its winter sports teams.
Thursday, we published a story to acknowledge the Yellow Jackets wrestling team and their No. 6 ranking in Division 2, which was announced on Tuesday. The girls and boys basketball teams both had a great start to their seasons in their nonconference games. Although they are now adjusting to the high level of competition in the O-K White, both teams are seeing more success than they did last season already and that progress should be considered a win.
All three teams have made strides since last season. In talking with coaches around Greenville, both on and off the record, I hear them give a lot of credit to the new weight room and weight training staff.
With the district’s hire of Rick Court in the summer of 2021, Greenville Athletic Director Brian Zdanowski and the athletic department were seeking someone to lead, “An enhanced and unified strength and conditioning program.” Given the past allegations against Rick, we had to do our due diligence and follow up on those reports in order to properly inform the public.
I may be a sports editor, but I’m also a member of the Greenville community. I can tell you that it wasn’t the most comfortable thing addressing those past allegations with Rick because he was genuinely such a great guy from the first minute of my interactions with him. I kept that open mind since the time I met him, and I’m glad I did. Because in just over a year, we’re already seeing the impact that Rick has had with the “Iron Jackets,” program.
The district also hired Ryan Vellanti in October 2021, who spent 20 years in the Lakeview school district and also had his own run of success as Lakeview’s assistant varsity football coach. He and Rick have teamed up to create something special in Greenville as they run the weightlifting class at Greenville High School.
This has become something that I’ve heard students in the district talk about how it’s their favorite class of the school day. I hear coaches talk about how beneficial it has been to their athletes all of the time. I hear from so many people how positive of a presence Rick has been in the school district. What you see is what you get with him — high energy, highly motivated and always striving to get the best effort out of everyone.
Upon Rick’s hire, there were talks from plenty of coaches and community members that this would be the real thing to turn around Greenville athletics from a string of poor seasons. The general consensus is that Greenville athletics would see a big bump in its level of play across all sports from these hires and added emphasis on strength training, it was just a matter of when we’d see it manifest into success.
I think we’re seeing that manifestation after just a year and a half.
Taking a look behind the curtain, I called wrestling head coach Brett Peterman on Tuesday afternoon and asked him if I could do this article on their success and talk with a couple of the wrestlers. I’m thankful that he accommodated me on such short notice, but what stuck with me is that unprompted, he commented on just how big Rick and the new strength program have been for his wrestlers.
It makes sense that a sport almost entirely based on physical strength would see the biggest immediate benefit from such a hire. I asked Brett to elaborate further on what he brought up to me when we talked on the record later in the day and he had nothing but praise to hand out.
“Rick always gets the attention because he’s very vocal,” Brett said. “The group down there, everybody involved in our weight program, we hear about it from (referees) all of the time. I had a ref on Saturday and like five other coaches, they’ll come off the mat and they’ll say, ‘Your guys are big, they’re fast, they’re strong.’ It’s noticeably different and that’s (the weight training program) and these guys’ work ethic changing that culture in Greenville. It’s great to see the girls basketball team, the boys basketball team, Greenville sports doing well. They feed off each other and it’s awesome to be a part of it.”
As a Greenville guy myself, it’s awesome to watch it unfold and be able to cover the success the Yellow Jackets are seeing as of late. I’m going to be with the Jackets throughout all of the successes and the failures, but the success is way more fun to write about.
I think the athletes and coaches should absolutely get their share of the credit for the success, as well. But I can tell you, as someone who talks to all parties, they’d all give credit to Rick Court, Ryan Vellanti and the new unified weight training program for their success, as well. A job well done to everyone involved in this decision, the execution of it thus far, and well wishes for continued success from your favorite sports editor.
Alex Freeman (Sports Editor, Daily News, Greenville-Michigan)