- A Berkley native
- Enjoys teaching Physics
- Married for 24 years
- Son and daughter are both Berkley H.S. students
This coach loves the small town feel of Berkley and starts his days riding his bike to his favorite place, Berkley High School. Ron Fritz won the 4Frenzy Fan Choice Awards for Coach in the Wrestling category. This is just his second year coaching for Berkley wrestling, and yet he’s already so well-liked that he raked in all those votes! Coach Ron Fritz also teaches Math, Science, and Social Studies and is the JV Football Coach at Berkley.
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Last year, Ron Fritz was asked to take over the head coaching position for the wrestling team. He knew he had a love for wrestling and had been wrestling his entire life before he started teaching, his father was even a teacher and coach, too. Ron stopped wrestling after college and became a casual spectator. He knows the ins and outs of how tough this sport is, so he decided to jump back into it.
“Wrestling is pure competition. One on one. And the practices can be grueling. At Berkley, wrestling is known for being the hardest sport."
Ron Fritz
With his strong encouragement, Ron wants the boys on the team to take pride in wrestling for the Berkley Bears. Above all, Coach Fritz inspires the students to just be good humans. His goal is to keep encouraging his students to want to wrestle and get better, but mainly to enjoy the sport. For the most part, the team is young and inexperienced, so they make goals to become more competitive and focus on fundamentals.
Unfortunately, over the years, the team has struggled to keep a full squad. Last year the team finished the season with 14 wrestlers and lost most of their dual meets since they could not fill the weight classes. This season, coach said he was pushing to have at least 20 wrestlers. They beat that goal by finishing with 22 wrestlers and filling all 14 weight classes! “He really wants to build a program here. I think we are starting to do that,” said one of Ron’s wrestlers.
This 2019 season his team took 3rd in their league. The Berkley wrestling team only has four graduating seniors and the rest are mainly younger and eager to get better at the sport. He hopes to replace those four seniors with 8-10 new kids next year so the team will grow a little more. I’m sure Coach Fritz will pull it off!
Especially since the team seems to really appreciate their coach. “Coach Fritz takes the time to teach us. He has us do things that make us feel more like a team," said one wrestler. Another teammate told us, “Fritz pushes us. He posts videos for us to watch. He shares things in our group chat. He really wants us to improve.”
Congrats to Coach Fritz, keep on inspiring students! We hope to see more of the Berkley Bears in the upcoming spring season of 4Frenzy.
4Frenzy
See winners at clickondetroit.com/4Frenzy. Spring 4Frenzy begins March 9, so follow our social media for updates!
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We would like to thank our sponsor Ralph Jr. Wilson Foundation’s Project Play for their support!