Mr. Michael Perez, Head Wrestling Coach
The St. Augustine High School wrestling team has accumulated a total of eight league championships since 1984 (1984, 1986, 1992, 1996, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2019). The wrestling team has won one CIF championship which came in 1992. Saints looks to improve on those winning seasons, keeping in mind that high school sports are meant to be so much more than wins and losses.
Head Coach Mike Pérez took over the helm in 2022 and the Saints had one of their best seasons ever. They won the Monte Vista Varsity Tournament and sent 8 wrestlers to Masters! Mike was the Head Wrestling Coach at Valhalla High School from 2004-2011. Mike wrestled at Stanford University. He brings his Div. 1 wrestling experience, as well as nearly 20 years of high school coaching experience to the program. Although Mike is not a graduate of St. Augustine High School, his son Tony graduated in 2018, wrestled as a Saintsman, and recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame. Mike loves everything about St. Augustine High School. He was an Assistant Coach at St. Augustine from 2014-2020.
Mike believes he has one of the best coaching staffs in the region. Mike is pleased to partner with his friend and former St. Augustine head coach Mo Pacheco (Class of ’86). In addition, coaches Dominic Pacheco, Michael “Mikey” Morgan and Evan McKirdy return to round out the coaching staff. Moreover, St. Augustine has an excellent team of trainers and strength coaches who support the team throughout the year. (Please visit our Coaching Staff link for more information.)
Through its year-round tournaments, practices and activities, the wrestling program is a brotherhood – a lifelong camaraderie forged through faith, intellect, leadership, hard work and dedication.
St. Augustine High School and the wrestling team encourages and fosters a relationship with God. Unlike other schools and other programs, St. Augustine takes seriously the responsibility to foster each wrestler’s spiritual formation.
Saints wrestling team’s motto this year is to remind each of us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) We are all made Imago Dei. And now, as our scholar athletes mature, it is time for each student to find his own voice and own his faith. No other high school sport can deliver on that promise the way wrestling births soul searching and truth seeking, both quietly in solitary and as a community. Wrestling is a sport that leaves a mark on a person’s character. As legendary Iowa Coach Dan Gable said, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”
If you want your son to develop traits such as discipline, dedication, delayed gratification, work ethic, an ability to overcome obstacles, humility, persistence, courage, confidence and respect, while simultaneously growing the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and encouraging a respect for every person as a child of God, wrestling is the sport.
Those involved in wrestling often talk about the sport as metaphor for life, teaching lessons that will be used off the mat. Stepping on the mat where you are one on one without your teammates is often compared to overcoming the fear of public speaking or walking into a job interview or daring to pursue big dreams. Wrestling is similar to the fear we confront every time we are pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone and challenging ourselves to grow and evolve as citizens, dads, husbands and friends. Each time your son faces that fear, each time he steps on the mat, he will build up his capacity to live into the life God has planned for him. (Jer. 29:11)
Saints will also be starting a kids program this October geared towards parochial school boys in the 5th through 8th grades.
For more information about Saints Wrestling and Saints Youth Wrestling Club, please contact Head Coach Mike Pérez. Email or 619.997.4521.
