New Bartram Trail coach eager to spread wrestling message

BY BRANT PARSONS — Johan Olarte was just looking to build up wrestling in the area when Bartram Trail started looking for a coach.

Olarte, director and coach at Applied Pressure, took the meeting at Bartram Trail to talk with school officials and quickly saw the support he’d have in the job and when the school then offered him the position, he realized he couldn’t say no.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to continue to build a positive culture in the community there,” Olarte said. “I noticed almost immediately that the role has just an overwhelming amount of support and I’ve had a really warm welcome there.”

The Bartram Trail job came open when Chad Parker accepted the head football coaching job at Fleming Island in December of last year.

Parker stayed on through the season and coached the Bears to a 12th-place finish in Class 3A with senior Ethan Vugman earning a state title at 126 pounds while the girls team finished at No. 7 in the state.

“Wrestling saved my life”

The head coaching job is the next step in Olarte’s giving back to the sport that means so much to him.

Olarte credits the sport with helping him navigate through some rough waters while he attended high school at Miami’s Dr. Krop.

“I grew up in a fairly decent area but a lot of the friends that I had were doing not so good things,” Olarte said.

Those friends were selling drugs and becoming involved with gangs while Olarte was focused on going to practice and working to be the best wrestler he could be.

“Wrestling saved my life because it kept me away from those things and gave me somewhere to really focus my energy toward,” Olarte said.

While at Dr. Krop, Olarte also earned varsity letters in three spots, but admits that the other two sports were used to prepare for wrestling.

A life in discipline

After Olarte graduated high school, he joined the Navy where he took the tenets he learned in wrestling - preparation, consistency, effort - and used that in his Naval career.

Olarte quickly made rank and went from not being able to complete a 400-meter swim to becoming a search and rescue swimmer.

While in the Navy, Olarte was stationed in Japan for over three years and started a wrestling club on the base.

“I’ve always loved coaching and I’ve always loved helping others and I just was translating the message that wrestling has within it,” Olarte said.

While stationed in Jacksonville, Olarte was an assistant coach for two seasons at Sandalwood and one at University Christian.

“It was a learning opportunity,” Olarte said. “I learned about the structure of a program and how to establish a wrestling culture and the pace of an in-season team, setting up the schedule and post-season stuff and what it was like on the coaching end of that.”

Along with the rigors of scheduling, Olarte was introduced to what comes with fundraising and a booster club and all that comes with running a program.

When he left the Navy after almost eight years of service, Olarte attended Reinhardt University where he wrestled for two seasons.

Olarte also helped coach at a local RTC while attending Reinhardt and it just solidified his goal of coaching again.

“I’m 28 years old (at the time). I’m a veteran. I don’t need to be here but I wanted to be there and I just wanted to stay competitive,” Olarte said.

After battling injuries through those two seasons, Olarte moved on from Reinhardt, but not without earning a newfound appreciation and respect to what goes into coaching and running a program and it just solidified his quest to continue to grow as a coach.

Bartram Trail

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity at Bartram,” Olarte said. “In the past I’ve done it all by myself from building a team, the finances of it, the logistics of it, the fundraising, to where now, I don’t have to do it all by myself. Now I see that I have a support system with people who care about it.”

Olarte also comes into the role with some experience working with some Bartram Trail wrestlers at Applied Pressure.

Applied Pressure is a wrestling club in Jacksonville that is led by former college wrestlers that trains athletes from across the area.

The wrestling culture he hopes to continue building at Bartram finds its roots in the discipline that has guided the devout Olarte through life.

Along with discipline on the mat, he’ll stress discipline in the classroom too, knowing that doing things right in all areas of life will help build the foundation of being a better wrestler.

The ultimate goal for Olarte is to build champions on and off the mat, but also not forget that wrestling is fun and it can change your life, just like it did his.

“If wrestling can do for somebody else what it did for me, I think that’s the payoff right there,” Olarte said. “Wrestling can give somebody more confidence, allow somebody to believe in themself and if you put forth the effort, you’re capable of whatever you set your mind to.”

Kabra Wrestling is featuring new coach hires this offseason to high school programs. If you’re taking over a program and want to be featured, please contact us. 

Brant Parsons is the founder and executive editor of Kabra Wrestling. He has been covering high school wrestling in Florida since 2004. He can be reached at brant@kabrawrestling.com.