Canon-McMillan wrestling team helps rehab Canonsburg Town Park’s pool house
Courtesy of Rich Russo
Canon-McMillan wrestlers tape and paint the women’s restroom in Canonsburg’s Town Park pool house. The team spent 222 hours in July and August repainting the building’s interior.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The women’s locker room in the Town Park pool building sports a fresh coat of paint thanks to Canon-McMillan’s wrestling team.
Courtesy of Rich Russo
Coach Brian Krenzelak and Canonsburg police officer Jimmy Spingola chat outside while the Canon-McMillan wrestling team paints the interior of the Town Park pool house.
Courtesy of Rich Russo
Canon-McMillan wrestlers stepped up to the challenge of repainting the Canonsburg Town Park pool house earlier this month. Athletes spent seven days painting as part of the wrestling team’s service project.
The interior of Canonsburg Town Park’s pool house has gotten a fresh look courtesy of Canon-McMillan High School’s varsity wrestling team.
The team, led by new head coach Brian Krenzelak, spent 222 hours this summer taking part in a community service project, which included painting and rehabilitating the walls of the building’s locker rooms.
“We never did anything like that,” said Brandon Dami, a Canon-McMillan junior whose wrestling career began in middle school. “I hope people see, as the rest of us have, that (Krenzelak) is trying to do all he can. He is the most giving person I know.”
The Canon-McMillan wrestling team also completed small service projects early in the summer, including a litter pickup before Canonsburg’s Fourth of July parade.
“Then (Canonsburg Borough) councilman Rich Russo called me, he wanted to know if I was interested (in a larger project),” said Krenzelak, who has coached wrestling for more than two decades. “It was basically scraping down and cleaning up the walls and trim in the men’s and women’s restrooms.”
Krenzelak volunteered his wrestlers for the project, which turned out to be a larger undertaking than expected.
“They’re pretty big rooms. There’s a lot of details, odd angles, lots of pipes to cut around. The first night we did a lot scraping and sanding. When we started getting into the priming and painting, I thought whew, I might have got in over my head here,” Krenzelak said with a laugh. “It was definitely a challenging project.”
The team met seven different nights in July and August. Because the pool closes at 6 p.m., and holds private events until 8:30, painting didn’t start until nearly 9 p.m.
Most nights the team worked until midnight.
Krenzelak said about a dozen wrestlers showed each session to tape and paint, play music and chat with visitors including Russo, Canonsburg Borough councilwoman Tina Bails – who chairs council’s Parks and Recreation Department – and police officers on their nighttime rounds.
One night, parents dropped off tacos and another night the athletes stayed dry working hard inside as torrential downpours battered the roof overhead.
“We got a lot done but we definitely were having fun doing it,” said Dami. “There was paint all over us. It was a fun time.”
Dami said normally the wrestling team starts a group chat after the first conditioning practice around the beginning of November, but because the team came together to paint, the athletes are already texting back and forth.
“All being together, it got the excitement for the season going, everyone talking,” said Dami. “We still have a few months to go yet and everybody is excited. I think it’s gonna help us, especially in those close matches when we need everybody to be cheering. We’re gonna push that much harder.”
Krenzelak’s favorite part of the project was watching his athletes come together to achieve a goal off the mat.
“In the beginning, it was very sloppy. As the project went along, they actually got better. People started to realize who had what strengths and weaknesses,” said Krenzelak. “I watched them bond as a unit and get better within the context of painting. To tackle a challenge like that where they didn’t have much experience and then watch them bond as a team, it was really cool.”
Character development is one of Krenselak’s main focuses as a coach, and he said he is already planning the next team service project.
“Our community supports us. I just want them to see that the boys are willing to get out there,” said Krenzelak. “It’s not just about wrestling. Someday wrestling’s gonna end. Even though athletics is part of their identity, it’s not their whole identity. It’s about helping your community, helping others, being the best person that you can be.”