Sierer & Son Living A Dream

Highland wrestling head coach Ted Sierer just finished his seventh year coaching and was ready to call it quits due to the fact that coaching was taking him away from his family.
His son Collin was just entering high school at the time and he didn’t want to risk coaching against him.
Sierer was so far down the path that he actually talked to Paul Schulte, Highlands principal at the time, about finding his replacement. But the same factor that was pulling him away from coaching was the same factor that kept him coaching:
His son, Collin.
Collin said in a conversation with Sierer: “Dad, I’ve always pictured that when I wrestled, I’d wrestle for you.” The dad in coach Sierer couldn’t say no.
Not only did Collin get to achieve one of his goals of wrestling for his father but Collin helped Sierer achieve one of his goals — coaching one of his sons.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to coach a son,” Sierer said.
Every team has a “coach’s pet.” It would be very easy to assume that Collin is that but, in reality, the opposite is true. There’s a lot of pressure placed on Collin from Sierer because he knows what Collin is capable of and the great achievements that he can accomplish. For Collin, a lot of the pressure is coming off of the great accomplishments that Sierer achieved in high school.
“There’s a lot of pressure on my part to live up to the Sierer name and my dad’s two state championships,” Collin said.
Sierer does not want this to be the case, however. He wants Collin to be just another kid on the team.
“The first thing that I told Collin was I don’t expect him to be me. I just want you to have fun,” Sierer said
Sierer found that there are more important things in wrestling than winning the state championship. Things that would not be found without wrestling. For Sierer, wrestling was a way for him to let out his emotion and prove to others what he was capable of and also building up confidence. Collin is still finding what will come out of wrestling for him, but Sierer hopes that he will learn many valuable life lessons.
“I want Collin to learn a work ethic, learn how to be a great leader, how to prioritize,” Sierer said
While Sierer doesn’t expect Collin to be like him, he knows what he is capable of and has already achieved some great accomplishments. In Collin’s first two years of high school wrestling, he placed in state and is one of Highlands’s key wrestlers. Highland assistant coach Swede Robinson recognizes Collin’s value.
“Collin placed last year in state as a sophomore, and will be one of the top guys for our team this season,” Robinson said
Collin is a veteran. Highland will need to replace key seniors that graduated last year with unexperienced wrestlers. Sierer knows that it will take some time but the sport allows for that.
“We don’t have to be good until February, as long as we are able to be in a good position for Divisionals and place in the top 8 and have that momentum carry into state and have a good state appearance,” Sierer said.