Entering the season with renewed focus, wrestling intends to build on recent achievements and compete for prominence throughout Northern California. 

“Wrestling is a spotlight on your character and your work ethic. It’s a sport where it all comes down to you, whether you win or lose. It’s about what kind of work you put in to prepare and get ready to go. You know, there’s definitely a team aspect of it, and we try and promote our team teammates and building each other up. But at the end, it’s all on you.” said Coach Travis Chubb. 

Despite the season just beginning, the Dons have shown early gains over last year. The team uses tournaments and focused practices to sharpen both team performance and individual skill.

“I mean as a team, I think we’ve, we’ve already done better than we did last year, like at these tournaments, like, I feel like, honestly, I mean, we had a really good team last year, right? We were third in NCS. I think we got the potential to be like, same or even better this year and individually. Of course, I, you know, wrestled all off season, all that wrestled year round. So I, obviously, I’ve gotten better and done a lot better individually, too.” said player Evan Johnson (‘26)

Transition from preseason

After weeks of preseason focusing on conditioning, the team is now ready to move ahead to its regular season. Conditioning was a major factor during the preseason, with less focus around actual wrestling, and more around building endurance and strength. These combined with the veteran wrestlers who have more than four years of experience, the team is more than capable of tackling any opponent on the mat. 

“I always look forward to the season. I always worked hard in the offseason stuff to get ready for it this season. I’m very excited for senior year, kind of culmination of everything I’ve worked for my entire life.” said player William Chandler (‘26)

Amador Valley has steadily grown into a regional contender, finishing third in NCS last year and returning a core of veteran leaders this season. After a preseason focused on conditioning and recovery, early tournament results are encouraging and the team aims to turn that momentum into a deeper NCS run.

“We’ve already done better than last year at these tournaments, and I think we can be the same or even better this season,” said Johnson.