Ann Pomatto doesn’t really think about the historic nature of her latest coaching venture.
She’s too busy learning.
Pomatto, who works with ANW Special Education Cooperative students at Iola High School, signed on this fall to assist Jason Bates with the Iola Middle School wrestling program.
This makes her the first ever female wrestling coach for USD 257 — and as far as anyone knows locally — in the Pioneer League.
“I just see it as an opportunity to help,” said Pomatto, whose only previous exposure to wrestling came when she kept score for local wrestling matches. She also had a younger brother who wrestled when he was a youngster.
“It’s been a learning experience,” Pomatto, 28, said Tuesday.
She has the benefit of working with Bates, who has wrestled or coached the sport since he was a child.
“He knows everything,” she said. “I’m just trying to be a sponge, learning everything I can from his huge knowledge base.”
To that end, Pomatto puts herself in the same proverbial boat as many of the students.
When Bates demonstrates certain techniques, it’s often Pomatto’s first exposure as well.
There was some trepidation at first.
‘He’d demonstrate something, and I’d be a little uneasy trying to demonstrate it,” she said.
But a quick conversation with the head coach allayed her concerns.
“He just laughed and noted it’s the first time these kids have heard it, too,” Pomatto said.
Pomatto, 28, is in her seventh year at USD 257, and her first at IHS. Prior to that, she worked at the middle school.
