Coach Rios is a Wrestling Coach who also teaches English 11, folklore. Before becoming a wrestling coach, Coach Rios was interviewed and asked about his skills. “Coach Soto was the head coach at the time and he decided to take me on as a coach”, Coach Rios stated, “I was trying to make myself as available for the school as possible”. Coach Rios had been a wrestling coach 20 years ago, being an assistant for the boys’ team for 10 years, and then took over the girls’ program in 2017 and has been the head coach ever since. A typical day for Coach Rios, being a wrestling coach at Downey High School, depends on what time of the year it is, not just focusing on the wrestling team but for other teaching classes. During snack, lunch, and sometimes before school, he writes practice plans, coordinates, brings ideas, and has immediate future plans for the seasons. Making sure that during his free time, it is all going according to plan. Some of the pros being a wrestling coach at Downey High School for Coach Rios are watching kids develop, seeing how students gain confidence and get better at skills, getting out of their shell and knowing that the Wrestling Team has a good team dynamic where creating a community is important and knowing that it’s not all about winning.  One of his proudest moments for the girl’s wrestling team is having a place to collaborate, participate, and more. From his heart, having a safe place and getting along as well as supporting each other makes Coach Rios really proud. As for the competitive side, it’s having the girls play in State and winning tournaments. Not too long ago, Coach Rios sent a student to State, “It’s amazing, it’s an honor because it’s not a given, it’s not like something like this can happen all the time. We tried really hard, and so for the last 5 years we’ve sent. We’ve been at the state tournament every year with as much as 4 girls, this last year was 2 girls and we had as many as two placers.” Coach Rios states.  When telling others who are interested in checking out the Girl’s Wrestling Team or wanting to join, “It would seriously change your life, more than any other sport I’ve played,” Coach Rios states, “The reason to joining is because there is a culture of acceptance”. Mentioning that there is a diversity in the team, regardless of the student’s beliefs, race, or background they are accepted. “To be safe and be yourself but at the same time it’s one of the two toughest sports to do,” “If you’re someone who likes to work really hard, if you’re a competitive person, you can come out for wrestling and have a fair chance, you kinda get your own determination. Wrestling works, you earn your spot, no favoritism”. Coach Rios’s encouragement for the girl’s wrestling team is to continue to find out who they are and be that person, continue to work hard. “They’ve done an amazing job, I’m extremely proud of how we’ve come together and who my team is. If they continue down this road of sticking together, working hard and being true to themselves, these girls are really special”. Motivation shows a lot through the girl’s wrestling team, “I don’t know, I honestly don’t know, I put a plan together, I try to consider them as individuals. I try to be encouraging and positive when I can, hope that’s often. “I have a great coaching assistant, she’s doing amazing. I think we create a culture of positivity in winning. In competitiveness, I don’t really know what happens. I think what happens is I take my best guesses and these girls do the work, I think they motivate each other, they are the ones that inspire each other.” Coach Rios continued. This year, Seniors from the Girl’s Wrestling Team were given a few words from Coach Rios, “Wrestling is a Metaphor, and they would understand what that means”. Apart from being a wrestling coach, there are some fun and interesting facts about him. Such as sending one girl to the California State Championship Tournament since 2020, having 2 Finalists, 1 champion, 4 placers, which makes this his 5th year in a row representing Downey High School, district, and league in Bakersfield, California. In his 20,s he was a writer/poet and published. Coach Rios was also in a band from 1996-2005 and had turned down 3 record deals. He also enjoys jazz, singing, playing multiple instruments, and has a loving spot for Wrestling.