A former two-time state placewinner at Washington Township, Ring took over as the head coach of the Minutemen this season.
Eric Ring knows what it takes to be a winner on wrestling mat.
Ring had a successful high school wrestling career at Washington Township High School. A 2001 graduate, Ring won more than 100 matches in his career and placed twice at the NJSIAA State Championships, finishing in fourth place at 145-pounds in 2000 and third place at 160-pounds in 2001.
Now, Ring is hoping to get Washington Township back on top in South Jersey as the Minutemen’s new head coach through instilling some of the values he remembers from his time wrestling.
“Our №1 goal this year is building the culture of work, of effort and of heart,” Ring said.
Ring brings a wealth of experience to the head coaching position. After his high school career ended at Washington Township, Ring wrestled at Division I Edinboro University, a consistent top-25 program in the country at the time. After college, Ring landed a job as an assistant coach with Drexel University for six years before coming back home to Washington Township High School as an assistant for former head coach Ron Ippolite.
Ring was with the Minutemen for two of Washington Township’s three South Jersey Group IV titles in program history. Washington Township won sectional championships in 1998 and 2000. The Minutemen’s third and most recent title came in 2010.
“We were a very successful team,” Ring said. “We didn’t quite accomplishment all of our goals, but we did win a lot.”
Ring wants to instill a culture of hard work into his new team. He implores his team to run out every sprint in practice to focusing intently when working on technical skills.
“Something we’ve really been working at is getting better every day,” Ring said. “We don’t expect to start off one way and just immediately get better. We’re just focused on every single practice, putting everything out there and getting a little better each day.”
Ring is also working closely with the feeder programs to set up the high school team for success in the future. A couple years ago, Washington Township reinstated its middle school program after a short hiatus. Ring believes the high school team will begin to see the benefits of the revitalized middle school team in then next couple of years.
“The years when we were very successful in Washington Township was the years we had middle school wrestling,” Ring said. “We lost for a couple years and we’re still kind of feeling the effects of that. Since we got it back, we’ve definitely seen the numbers increase.”
Ring credited Kyle Falzone, head coach for the middle school team, with helping with the revitalization. Ring also has a good working relationship with the Washington Township’s Junior Wrestling program. His brother, Mark, is the head coach for the travel team.
“We really feel like we’ve got things going in the right direction,” Ring said. “Everyone’s on the same page and has the same goals.”
Though Ring is building a program to last, he still has high expectations for the Minutemen in 2018. He expects his team to come out swinging and be competitive every match this season.
“I still have high expectations,” he said. “I expect us to go out every match and compete to win.”
