For the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Coach Mark Halvorson was named the volunteer Greco-Roman coach for the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team. He noted that attending the Olympics was the highest coaching honor one could achieve, and being there with Olympian Robert Smith was a dream fulfilled. Coach Halvorson was the personal coach for Olympian and three-time U.S. World Team member Robert Smith, who first started wrestling for him at age 9. He was a long-time coach and leader within USA Wrestling, where he coached at the Cadet Worlds, Junior Worlds, Youth Olympic Games, Olympic Games, Pan American Games, and Senior World Championships.

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Coach Halvorson was among the most successful and influential coaches and leaders within USA Wrestling’s National Greco-Roman program, not only developing champion athletes but helping to strengthen and grow the sport in many ways. He was an elite high school and college wrestler and a National Champion Greco-Roman wrestler. In 2006, ​he earned the National Coaches Education Program Gold Coaching level certification from USA Wrestling, the highest level of achievement in coaching. His dedication and strengths as a wrestling coach and leader took him to competitions across the country and around the world.

 

Coach Halvorson had a long and distinguished coaching career based out of Concord, California.  For over 23 years, he was the head wrestling coach at Concord's Community Youth Center (CYC).  He produced hundreds of wrestling champions in the State, Regional, National, and International levels, as well as California Triple Crown winners, USA All Americans, Junior Pan Americans, and Junior World Team Champions, two Senior national team members, and a U.S. Olympian. From1999 to 2020, Coach Halvorson was the head varsity wrestling coach at De La Salle High School in Concord. He led the school to 11 North Coast Section (NCS) championships, 13 NCS Dual Championships, and two top-4 finishes at the CIF State Championships, while sending nearly 100 Spartans to state meets, where they claimed 23 medals and two individual state championships (Peyton Omania ‘18 in 2018, Kyle Parco ‘19 in 2019). Coach Halvorson was the tournament director for the successful Junior Greco-Roman World Duals, which has been hosted since 2003 in Concord. Over the years, teams from Germany, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Mexico and Honduras, and others have all participated in this event.

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Coach Halvorson had the vision to create a non-profit wrestling organization of his own. This vision came to life in 2020 when he started the West Coast Greco Regional Training Center. Coach Halvorson unexpectedly passed away on February 15, 2021.  All of what made Coach Halvorson the man we all grew to know and love embodies what we are trying to do here at the West Coast Greco RTC. Through Coach Halvorson’s core beliefs, Trust the Process, Stick to the Plan, and Wrestle Through It, we hope to follow in his ideals and footsteps to promote wrestling and continue to find ways to help athletes reach their goals and dreams. So while Coach Halvorson may have been taken from us far too soon, we can still work towards the goals he set out for others by following the path he laid out. Through this path, we can still help so many young athletes looking to find their way in life and better themselves in ways they didn’t initially think possible.

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Career Highlights:

• 2016 Olympic Greco-Roman Coach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore

• 2020 USA Wrestling's Western Regional Advisor for GRIT (Greco-Roman Innovation Team)

• 1996 to 2008 California Greco-Roman Head Coach

• 2000 UWW Cadet World Team

• 2001 and 2006 UWW Junior World Team

• 2012 Cadet/Junior World Championships Coach in Azerbaijan and Thailand

• 2015 World Championship Team in Las Vegas

• 2013 World Championship Team in Hungary

• 2014 U.S. Senior Greco-Roman World Team Coach in Uzbekistan

• 6 Top 10 finishes at the California State Championships

• 11 North Coast Section (NCS) D1 Dual Team Champions

• 14 East Bay Athletic Leagues (EBAL) Tournament Champions

• 2x Coach of the Year at De La Salle High School

• 7x Contra Costa Times Coach of the Year

• 2021 De La Salle Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee

• 2023 California Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductee

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Links to Articles and Videos:

• CHRIS SABA, MARK HALVORSON NAMED AS GRECO-ROMAN COACHES FOR 2016 U.S. OLYMPIC WRESTLING TEAM

• Coach Mark Halvorson after second Greco Weigh-in at Junior Worlds

• Asics Coach Interview of the Week: Mark Halvorson

• Representing the USA and the De La Salle Community at the 2016 Olympics

• MARK HALVORSON, 57, OLYMPIC GRECO-ROMAN COACH AND USA WRESTLING LEADER, PASSED AWAY MONDAY

• Mark Halvorson De La Salle Athletic Hall of Fame Introduction Video

• 2023 California Wrestling Hall of Fame Honorees