Kinloch family coaching legacy continues at Parkview

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Parkview wrestling has a couple of great names already on the coaching staff. Like coach Joseph Strong and William Ressel. “The conversation’s always been that I was made for this sport,” said Ressel, who is the head coach at Parkview.

But one name was the first name to bring wrestling to Springfield: Kinloch. Dawn coaches the girls’ squad, following in the footsteps of her grandfather Bob Kinloch, who brought the sport to Springfield in 1966 when he started the wrestling program at Central. “[It’s] probably my favorite connection,” said Dawn Kinloch. “He and I sit around and talk about, ‘Oh, this kid did this. That kid did that.’ He’ll give me coaching tips and try to boss me around. And it’s really strengthened our relationship a lot.”

Dawn’s grandfather hasn’t been to a match since before the pandemic but watches as many as he can from home. And he marvels at how far the sport has come, with his granddaughter a big part of it. “I raised her and her brother,” said Bob Kinloch. “She liked wrestling, to begin with. I remember she came home one day and said, ‘I’m going out for wrestling.’ And I said, ‘You’re what?'”

But Dawn isn’t just her grandpa’s granddaughter. She served in in the military as a prison guard at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It turns out, Dawn’s got an impressive list of accomplishments of her own. “It was difficult,” Dawn said. “There were a lot of times that were trying. It was another culture and a whole other way of doing things than I was expecting.”

It’s something her fellow coaches notice that comes in handy here on the mats. “I see a lot of care for the kids she coaches,” said Strong, an assistant coach at Parkview. “She has a lot of experience outside of the high school realm. Being able to provide a presence for our female wrestlers, that’s something our team hasn’t had the last few years, and I know they appreciate that.”

“She’s very helpful and supportive,” said Millie Waterman, a freshman wrestler at Parkview. “At tournaments, when I don’t really know what to do after a match, she tells me what move I can work on. And it’s really helpful. I definitely really look up to her.”

So if the question is whether Dawn’s coaching style is based on her DNA, or what she’s learned in the real world, the answer is both.

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