Wrestling coach Perry Watson has gone beyond teaching Wolverines. For the past 15 years, he has been the coach of a children’s wrestling program.

In 1994, Watson started a wrestling club for kids ages 5 to 14 and named it the Renegades.

“I wanted to introduce kids to the sport of wrestling,” Watson said. “That’s what I did growing up, and I want to give [kids] that opportunity.”

Frank Criger (12) is one of the few Westview students who went through the Renegades program. He said that it benefited him greatly when he wrestled as a freshman.

“I think it made me a little bit more confident my first year, having background in wrestling,” Criger said. “Through [the Renegades], you get to learn the sport of wrestling at an earlier age. You have a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge of the sport before you get to the high school level.”

Criger said that the Renegades were a lot different than high school.

“Basically [in the Renegades] you learn the sport of wrestling,” Criger said. “You learn the same things that you learn in high school except the intensity level is a lot less. It helped me get the fundamentals down before I got to the high school level.”

Watson said more than being fun, wrestling also builds character.

“If they’re winning, [athletes] know they’re doing well,” Watson said. “And when they’re doing well, it breeds confidence which carries over into all aspects in their lives. That’s what I like about sports and wrestling in general.”

Because Watson has been wrestling since he was in high school and coaching for more than a decade, he understands how to train kids in a way that they will love the sport.

“The way I run the [Renegades] practice is we work hard, but I keep it fun and that’s why they keep coming,” Watson said. “Sports should be fun I just want the kids to be excited to come to practice.”

Watson conducts the program not just to have a feeder program for Westview but because he wanted to expose kids to wrestling. Though Watson said that kids all around San Diego join the Renegades to train with him, it will be a few years until the program has a bigger impact on the Westview team.

“In the seven years I’ve been [coaching at Westview], I haven’t had that many kids that have come up through my program [and] then wrestled for Westview,” Watson said. “A lot of people in the North County inland area come wrestle for [the Renegades] because they like my philosophy of coaching and they like the way I work and deal with kids. Hopefully in the near future I’ll see more of the Renegades filter into [Westview’s] program.”

Mike Manuche (10) started training with Watson in 6th grade, and continued on to the Westview team freshman year. He said the consistency in coaching has helped him gain new skill sets that most underclassmen do not have.

“Most kids come into freshman year having no experience wrestling,” Manuche said. “The Renegades wrestling is the reason that I made varsity my freshman year, and it has also made me a much better wrestler now because I have that much more experience than all the other sophomores and freshmen.”

Manuche said he recommends that parents who have younger kids interested in wrestling check out joining the Renegades before high school.

Criger agrees that the Westview team would be at an advantage if more people came from the kids program.

“We would definitely benefit a lot,” Criger said. “If we had a lot of kids from the Renegades program coming to Westview, it would make our team phenomenal.”