E very time Nate Graves stepped into the practice room a season ago, he acted like a head coach. Every time he sat in the chair mat side and barked out in- structions to his pupils, he acted like a head coach. And every time he stood up and cele- brated a victory with one of his wrestlers, he acted like a head coach. Because, honestly, that’s what he was. The only difference be- tween last season and this sea- son is now that title is official. Graves, a Gilbert High School graduate and longtime assistant coach with the program, offi- cially took the reins as the girls wrestling head coach in the off- season and he’s now in the pro- cess of putting his official stamp on things. And you better believe he’s excited about the possibilities, both this season and in the fu- ture. “I ran 95 percent of the prac- tices last year and I was with
roster, Graves sees a team that is stacked with veteran leader- ship and talent, which has ev- eryone optimistic about the season. “We have a much older set of girls this year with more experi- ence,” he said. “Because of that, I’m able to approach prac- tices much differently than last year. But the one thing about wrestling is that the basics are always the best. You go watch college wrestling and, yeah, they have scrambling and there are levels, but when you look at the core of it, the basics are still the basics.” Even with a few open weights, Gilbert will be able to put to- gether a formidable dual-meet lineup, and a number of girls will have realistic opportunities of advancing to the state tour- nament early in 2025. Emma Britcher, Makenna Springer, and Tatum Heaberlin all went over 20 victories a sea- son ago and placed in the top six at the regional tournament. Cecelia Bowers won 15
the girls every single day, so not a lot has changed that way,” Graves said. “I haven’t done as much of the behind the scenes stuff like the paperwork and set- ting up Track Wrestling, those kinds of things, but I’m learn- ing.” Administrative duties aside,
Graves knows his primary re- sponsibilities are teaching the sport to his inexperienced grap- plers, advancing the skills of his more experienced girls, and showcasing the enjoyment of the sport to all of his student- athletes. With 16 girls on the 2024-25
32 GAME ON | WINTER 2024-25
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