He's a coach and a competitor

Medford man, 36, can still take down foes on wrestling mat

The last two winters, Derek Papagianopoulos trained and practiced almost exclusively on the mat with Adam Holland, an assistant wrestling coach at the Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge.

Earlier this month, the tables were turned at the annual Bay State Games, and the Burlington teen found himself cheering on and coaching his mentor out on the mat.

"I was the one on the sidelines coaching Adam through a match," said Papagianopoulos, who is entering his junior year at BB&N. "It was pretty funny because I started to yell the same things he always yells to us when we're wrestling. I tried to use his voice, too, to get him to laugh. It was great, trying to scream the same stuff he does."

A 36-year-old Medford resident, Holland finished third in the 225-pound open division. Papagianopoulos captured the title in the 215-pound class.

Holland didn't exactly blend in with his competitiors, mostly high school and middle school wrestlers trying to squeeze in some extra time on the mats. His decision to compete, though, came as no surprise to his young grapplers.

"[BB&N coach Tom Randall] sent out an e-mail to the team about the Bay State Games," said Holland. "So I wrote back to everyone saying, 'I'm in, who's joining me?' They know I'm nuts and will try anything - they kind of expect that sort of thing from me. There were a couple people in their 30s, and at least one wrestler in his 40s, so I was definitely not the oldest guy out there, which was nice."

Three years ago, when BB&N approached Holland for a coaching position, it was because of his impressive resume as a rower, a sport in which he was a two-time medalist at the 1996 Olympics and a member of the US national team from 1994 to 1999 and again in 2002.

However, when Randall learned of Holland's wrestling background, he offered him a position on the wrestling team's coaching staff as well.

Currently a second-year law student at Boston University, Holland was a prep school All-American wrestler in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1990. Standing 6 feet 3 inches and weighing 180 pounds at age 17, he dropped wrestling for rowing when he enrolled at Harvard University.

"I would've had to either pump myself up or lose a lot of weight," said Holland. "Rowing was the obvious choice because of my physical makeup, but I missed wrestling a lot. Freshman year, I thought a lot that I made the wrong choice. I didn't wrestle again until BB&N. . . . I was thrilled to get back on the mats."

Despite a two-decade absence from the sport, Holland's introduction into wrestling remains fresh in his mind.

"Wrestling is so big in my home state so I tried it for two winters when I was 8," said Holland. "Then I did squash in sixth and seventh grade because my dad and brother did it. It was midseason and we were at a squash tournament. My match ended and I walked over to the gym where the wrestling team was competing. The wrestling coach walked over to me and said, 'Adam, we're short a wrestler and he's your weight. You want to wrestle?' I [beat] this guy wearing a T-shirt and shorts and just knew I wanted to wrestle again in high school."

Now, Holland is turning those fond memories into motivational speeches for BB&N's squad. The Knights finished 9-4 on the season, competing in the Independent School League.

He also preaches time management and work ethic, drawing from his own experience of juggling a full-time class schedule at BU with a full-time job and meeting his commitments as a year-round coach.

He always teaches his athletes about the value of constantly learning.

"I still feel like a student of wrestling," said Holland. "I've got knowledge to share based on my experiences, but it doesn't mean I stop trying to learn new things about the sport. Anyone can be taught how to be an athlete, technically, and can get good at it physically. But beyond being technically good at a sport, I try to work on ways to give them even more knowledge."

This fall, Holland will resume his position as head crew coach while he trains his wrestlers in the weight room before the winter season begins. Papagianopoulos will be with him, thinking of the questions he'll have to answer once his teammates see him.

"It's just funny, because the guys weren't there to see me imitating Adam," said Papagianopoulos. "The guy he wrestled in the first match, he beat him easily. His second match was even more weird because he was against my coach from my off-season team, so I'm coaching my high school coach against my non-high school coach and thinking, 'I can't believe I'm here doing this.' "

Sapna Pathak can be reached at sportsgalsp@gmail.com.