Coach Grant is returning to us for a 3rd year to lead our spring freestyle season.

Grant is currently on North Central College Men’s and Women’s Wrestling staffs as an Assistant Coach. He had an impressive career on the mat at University of Wisconsin–La Crosse where he was a two-time All-American. After finishing 8th at the NCAA Division III Championships in 2019, Zamin was the #1 seed at 157 pounds at the 2020 NCAA Division III Championships that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was ranked #2 by the NWCA at 165 pounds in 2021 when the Championships were again cancelled, taking away his opportunity at becoming a three-time All-American. Zamin was a three-time WIAC tournament Champion and four-time finalist at UWL, leading his team to the conference championship all four years.

Zamin also has an impressive freestyle resume, having earned All-American honors at the 2020 USA Wrestling U23 National Championships. He still actively competes on the Senior level in freestyle at 70kg.

Zamin graduated from UWL in the spring of 2021 with a degree in Marketing and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Sports Leadership from North Central.

Wrestling has been a pivotal part of Adam Johnson’s life for nearly three decades, and he is excited to share his passion for the sport with the Fox Valley Wrestling Club.  While he has been fortunate to compete at a high-level, both in high school and college, Coach Adam would say his greatest accomplishments reside in the athletes that he has coached over the years.  Whether that be wrestlers competing for state or national championships, teams winning their first conference and regional titles in over a decade, or an athlete with disabilities scoring his first offensive point in a match. Coach Adam considers himself lucky to be a part of something greater than himself.

Coach Adam believes in making the sport fun for kids, so they will stick with it, and reap the long-term benefits both on and off the mat. The ultimate goal is to use wrestling as an instrument to embed certain core values into the persona of student-athletes. 

Coach Parton began his coaching career in 2011 at Golden Gate High School in Naples, FL where he helped guide the team to their first two district titles. In addition to team success, he helped produce 13 state qualifiers, 4 all-state wrestlers, and 1 state finalist in his four years with the program. 

Moving to Neuqua Valley at the start of the 2015 season, he has helped guide the program to back to back regional runner-up finishes which has also produced 6 state qualifiers and two all-state wrestlers, including 1 state-finalist.

Coach Mike joined the FVWC coaching staff and board of directors in 2019.

Coach Parton completed his high school career as a four-year, three sport scholar athlete (football, wrestling, track). He has been married to his wife, Tiffany, since 2008 and the couple have two children... one of which is now also helping coach at FVWC.

Ryan Hoger is an assistant FVWC coach and also handles our online registration, website, and social media.  He started with the program in 2012 when his oldest son Lincoln joined (note: Lincoln is now a FVWC coach too).  He currently has 2 boys at Fox Valley - Grainger and Maverick.  Ryan only wrestled 3 years in high school, being first introduced to the sport as a sophomore, but was eager to get on the mat with his kids years later and help coach.  He is also very involved in coaching and managing other sports teams including basketball, lacrosse, and soccer. In their spare time, the Hoger boys hang out with their mom (Andrea) and their teenage sister (Alex).  Ryan can be reached at ryan.hoger@yahoo.com or on Facebook if you want to chat about Fox Valley or any other complimentary sports in the Naperville/Aurora area.

Coach Chidley grew up wrestling from a young age through IKWF with the previous Waubonsie Braves program and continued at Waubonsie Valley HS. While still in High School, he continued to work with the Braves offering his time coaching the youth program. 

Both of Coach Chidley's sons have come to love the sport, just like their dad, with Jay wrestling at NVHS and Asa in our own FVWC program. When Jay started wrestling in 2017, Coach Chidley decided it was time to get back into coaching with the Oswego Wrestling Club before joining the FVWC in 2020. 

As an adult, Coach Chidley has completed five Ironman Triathlons (and counting) and he credits wrestling for giving him the work ethic and grit that it takes to endure the training and finish these races. In addition to building work ethic and learning perseverance, he believes that the bonds that are formed in wrestling are what make the sport different from all others. Dan believes that when you work hard alongside your teammates, pushing each other to go beyond your limits and challenging each other to be their best, you create an environment that breeds both successful wrestlers and successful humans.

Coach Bartels joined FVWC with his two sons (and hopefully his young daughter someday) in 2019-20 season. But his wrestling experience as both a coach and a wrestler is much more storied. His dad was a varsity head wrestling coach for 35 years so he spent a lot of time in the room with him and his very first steps in life were even on a wrestling mat at a tournament.

As an athlete:
- Held Minnesota state record for most high school varsity wins as a 7th grader (you can do that in MN)
- Multi-time Northern Plaines Regional Freestyle champion and Cadet Freestyle All-American
- 4x High School State qualifier, 2x State Finalist (10th & 12th), and State Champion (12th)
- Varsity football running back 10th-12th grade (team captain 12th grade) and ran track 9th-11th grade
- Overcame three separate ACL surgeries in high school and still accomplished the above
- Wrestled at Augustana College (ranked 4th as a true freshman) before injuries (and distractions) ended his career

As a coach:
- Multiple years as assistant varsity coach for Annandale/Maple Lake (MN) and Yorkville (IL)
- Varsity Head Wrestling Coach at Annandale/Maple Lake (MN) for 8 years
- Most wins as Head Coach, highest win percentage, ranked as high as 2nd in state, Section Coach of the Year

Coach Jay began wrestling when he was 7 years old and wrestled competitively into his early 20s. He began coaching right out of high school with the same IKWF team that he wrestled for as a little kid. The 2022-23 season will mark his 19th year coaching either youth or high school teams. Like many of our coaches, Jay says that he has had more admiration for the sport since coaching, and of course a lot of fun. His teams have produced two IKWF State finalists and three Bantam State champs, as well as several other state placers and qualifiers. Coach Jay told us that the best part of coaching is seeing all the “kids”… who are now men and women… going off to college to wrestle.  And now he gets to watch his own kids compete in the sport that he loves the most. The Robertson family joined Fox Valley in 2021.

Andy Arndt began coaching with Fox Valley Wrestling Club in 2018.  He started wresting in 7th grade after he and his classmates helped to revive a then-defunct wrestling team at his middle school. He continued to wrestle in high school, where he was a 3 sport athlete competing in football, wrestling and baseball. He went on to play baseball at Benedictine University in Lisle. Of all the sports he played, wrestling always held a special place in his heart.  

Now, the father of 3 kids (Mikaela, Mason, and Mackenzie), he is very involved in helping to coach any youth team his children participate in including youth baseball and football teams. His son, Mason, began wrestling with Fox Valley in 2018 and his Daughter, Mikaela, started in 2019 (she also wrestles with West Suburban Girls Wrestling). His wife, Melissa, has fully embraced her winter role as a wrestling mom. You will also find Andy coaching at West Suburban Girls Wrestling a couple nights a week.

Coach Brian, with the permission of his amazing wife Rachel, started coaching with Fox Valley WC in 2019. His son Benson, is also a wrestler with us. Brian started wrestling as a freshman at Waubonsie Valley High School where he also played baseball. He is happy that his son will get a little earlier start than he did in the sport. He went on to play baseball at Valparaiso University. In his spare time Brian tries not to hurt himself while playing softball and golf. He also has a daughter McKenna who is a budding equestrian.

Coach Brom started his coaching career at Hill Middle School in District 204, where he has coached for over 20 years. After all three of his sons (Ronin, Colton, & Weston) started wrestling, he decided to pursue coaching at FVWC. Coach Brom is also a product of 204 where he wrestled for both Gregory MS and Waubonsie Valley HS. He has always stayed active in sports and in addition to wrestling, John participated in football, track, and boxing. He presently works as a school social worker and truly feels that sports play an essential role in molding people into well rounded versions of themselves. Coach Brom believes that the skills, work ethic and character that are taught through wrestling have directly translated to his own success as a professional, a father, a husband, and as a person.  

This is Tina Santiago's first year coaching wrestling.  She is a mom (2 kids), a wife, a nurse practitioner, an adjunct faculty at Aurora University, an active PTA board member and most importantly a cheerleader sidelines in all her kids sporting activities. Tina is a Canadian at heart, loves all things sports, and enjoys working out for her "me" time. Her son, Liam, has been a FVWC wrestler since the 2020-21 season and Tina finds watching him wrestle such a joy. She is excited to have a "closer view" of him and your kiddos this season matside.

Lincoln wrestled for 10 years at FVWC starting in 2012. He is a 2-time IKWF State Qualifier and placed 5th in his 8th grade season. Lincoln finished his youth career with a 261-96 record and recorded 155 pins. He is a sophmore at Wheaton Academy where he wrestles (IHSA state qualifier as a freshman) and plays lacrosse. "Coach Hoger" (we are not used to that yet) will be stopping in some evenings this season to help work with our middle school wrestlers. The last time Lincoln was pinned in a match was in 2018... so good luck.

Coach JJ has been with the Fox valley program for over a dozen years watching his older boys Justin and Dylan from the stands. Perhaps he finally joined the coaching ranks in 2021 to get a matside view for his youngest son, Austin.  JJ has coached soccer at the high school and college level. He is currently the girls varsity soccer coach at Maine South high school where he also works as a special education teacher and assistant athletic director. 

Joel Sondgeroth started coaching with Fox Valley Wrestling Club in 2019, but his son Lincoln has been wrestling with us since 2017. Joel started wrestling when he was in 7th grade when his father started up a youth wrestling program and he continued to wrestle in high school. He was a 2 sport athlete, competing in football and wrestling all 4 years. He went on to play and coach football at Eureka College.

He is a husband and a father of two. He enjoys spending time with his family and working out (when he gets a chance)... plus running his kids to all of their sports and activities.

Coach Landon is a recent graduate of Oswego East High School, and you will find him some weeknights in our FVWC practices helping us out. He is usually pretty tired after back-to-back BJJ and FVWC practices, which then allows Coach Hoger (Landon's uncle) to use his weight advantage... and obvious dominant speed and skills... to take Landon down. :)

UPDATE: Uncle Ryan no longer has any speed or skills advantage... and the weight advantage is pretty much gone. R.I.P. Coach Hoger

Trevor Buxton is a lifelong wrestler who promotes the sport and all its value. He is a former sports official who stresses good conduct and fair play above all. He has never been called for stalling and can (almost) walk on his hands. He has a wife, a son, and a dog... but we are not sure which of them can walk on their hands.