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Spotlight on Miyamura Wrestling Coach Nate Sellers

Wrestling is a sport that requires dedication, determination, and motivation. It’s an individual’s team sport. What’s cool about it – the comradeship between the athletes. When you walk into the Miyamura High School wrestling room, at any given time, you walk into a family.

I sat down with Head Coach Nate Sellers, and had the opportunity to ask a few questions about this amazing program and get some insight on his athletes.

Sun: How long have you been a coach for Miyamura Wrestling?

Sellers: I started in 2014. Kenny Starkovich approached me to be an assistant and I said sure. I fell in love with the sport.

Sun: Can you describe what a typical practice looks like for your teams?

Sellers: Wrestlers come in and we do drills, we work on footwork, it’s redundant. Wrestling is a very individualized team sport. You get out of it what you put into it. If you have 10 people with the same goal, you can be very successful as a team, reaching individual goals as well as team goals.

Sun: What are your core values as a coach?

Sellers: Consistency, hard work, dedication, and accountability.

Sun: It seems that more girls are coming out for wrestling, why do you think that is?

Sellers: When a wrestler walks into this room, they are just that, a wrestler. I will say this though, girls tend to be easier to coach – they listen; there is a trust in teaching. Girls don’t give up; boys tend to be a little more stubborn to learn … it’s ego but they do come around.

Success builds when you have kids who buy into the program. Again, it’s what these kids put into it. You can be as good as you want to be.

Sun: Miyamura just hosted district this past weekend, how did your teams do?

Sellers: Our girls took first for a third year in a row, and our boys took third. In being honest, it’s difficult to compete against Bloomfield and Aztec, they are big wrestling places. They start young; we have a junior wrestling program (Stars and Stripes Wrestling Club: Team Gladiators) that is still a young program.

It literally started when kids like Yele (Aycock), Sean Matt (Garcia), and Rhys (Sellers) were all in middle school. We are growing as a program. But I urge the community to come and check it out.

Sun: How can the town support the sport?

Sellers: Most sports are exposed to at an early age, wrestling is introduced at a later age, usually freshman year. We host free camps, we want it to be accessible to everyone. We are growing as a program, but I urge the community to come and check it out.

Sun: Going into state, how are your athletes preparing?

Sellers: They are grateful for the opportunity and the chance to represent at a higher level. I tell the kids all the time to replace fear and anxiousness, with gratefulness of the opportunity.

When you walk into the wrestling room, you will find wrestlers working, grappling, talking with their coaches, conditioning, and just enjoying the work they are putting in. The wrestling team at MHS did have one of the highest combined team GPAs at 3.8, as well.

Going into state, Miyamura is taking the following wrestlers to compete:

Boys: Gage Sellers, George Piestewa, Rhys Sellers, Hunter Gonzales, Aeneas Lewis, Javier Flores, Sean Pinedo, Jeremiah Yazzie, Christian Ortiz, William Weaver-Slivers, and Hector Hernandez.

Girls: Lorianna Piestewa, Mckayla Slivers, Taniel Espinosa, Neveah Young, and Hannah Mariano.

Congratulations to the following Gallup High wrestlers who are also going to state: Shawn Gomez, Ky Wero, Josiah Carl, Jacob Burrola, and Jacob Duncan.

Miyamura is coached by Nate Sellers, Ozzy Guerrero, Jeremiah Salaz, and Weston Sanchez.

By Ana Hudgeons
Guest Correspondent