THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502030263
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
AS A YOUNG TEENAGER, there are naturally plenty of things about life Derek Lipoli still has to learn.
But for those who have faced him on the mat, wrestling doesn't appear to be one of them.
It's easy to see why.
In the span of one year, Lipoli won two city middle school championships and compiled a 21-0 record that included 18 pins, two technical fall and one major decision. He won the 112 title as a seventh-grader at Great Neck Middle School in January 1994, and captured the 126 title when the Virginia Beach Middle School League switched the dates for the city championships to December 1994 from January 1995.
Wait, it gets better.
After winning the city crown in December, Lipoli came to a decision to transfer to the Miller School - a military academy in Charlottesville.
There, the 14-year-old is the only eighth-grader wrestling for the varsity team. He is 9-0 with seven pins and two victories by forfeit. To earn his varsity spot, Lipoli handily defeated the team's captain at 130 by a lopsided 17-5 score.
``I've never seen a guy come on like he has,'' Miller coach Joe Kelly said. ``He kind of blows me away with his abilities. He came up here and the next thing I know, he's won four matches in four days.''
Miller competes in the Virginia Independent Conference and Lipoli is hoping to bring home his first of what he hopes to be many state titles.
Just think, if Lipoli won the state independent title this year and transferred back to Cox for his freshman season, he could possibly win five state championships.
``He's got the potential,'' Great Neck coach Mike Cochran said. ``He's one of the best I've ever had and I've had some state champions before.''
Kelly cautiously admits that his wonder boy has as good a chance at an independent schools title as he's ever seen.
``If some of the wrestlers he's beaten realized he was only an eighth-grader, they'd probably quit all the things they're doing and work a lot harder,'' Kelly said. ``It's not fair to rate him because he's still just a kid. We have to let him be a kid and enjoy himself.''
Unfortunately, Lipoli has that part of life down pat also. That's probably the biggest reason why he opted to move to the more strict environment of a military school.
``I was having a lot of trouble in school and I knew it,'' Lipoli said. ``I wanted to come here and change that to get ready for high school. If I'd have stayed in public school, I never would have passed and I wouldn't have been able to wrestle.
``I knew I had to do this and I know that it's good for me.''
At first, the thought of military school was anything but appealing to Lipoli. But a friend at Great Neck - Mike Zenrolla - changed his mind.
``He totally talked me into this,'' Lipoli said. ``He knew it was better for me to leave for a while and he got me to understand. We both knew I was having a lot of trouble in school.''
At Miller, there are no distractions. It's school, study hall, practice and wrestling.
``It's one of the reasons people come here,'' Kelly said. ``This is a place where people come to work on their academics and we have good results.''
At Miller, Lipoli wakes up a 5 a.m. and runs with his team for about an hour. He can either go back to bed until 7 or study. At 7, everyone marches to breakfast.
``We march everywhere,'' Lipoli sighed. ``And we wear uniforms.
``And it's strict. You do your homework or you do laps and come back and finish your homework.''
Then it's six classes lasting 45 minutes each.
``There are only about 10 kids to a teacher,'' Lipoli said. ``I like that. Actually, I like this place. It's beautiful up here. The only bad thing is that I miss my friends. I stay in touch with Mike, but the phone's always tied up and it's hard.''
The harder things in life are just some of the lessons Lipoli said he is starting to learn.
He feels like he is learning to apply himself to his school better and his grades are up. He thinks he understands how to transfer the discipline of sports success to the classroom.
``When I go back to the Beach, I'm going to be totally different, no doubt,'' he said.
While Lipoli has undoubtedly put in extensive work to become as good a wrestler as he is, the sport comes somewhat naturally to him. And having local wrestling guru Frank Lipoli as a father hasn't hurt matters.
``Everything he does out there on the mat seems pretty natural to him,'' Kelly said. ``He moves in and out of things so easy.
``But the best part about this kid isn't his wrestling, it's his attitude about his successes. He isn't braggadocio about it. Heck, he doesn't even realize he's wowing us with the things he's doing.''
But he is astounding himself with the changes he's making.
``He realizes that wrestling is great, but academic and personal development are what's most important,'' Cochran said. ``He's a good kid and this is all going to help him.''
But while he is growing and learning in other areas of his life, future wrestling opponents are hoping he isn't learning any more about wrestling. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by WENDY COCHRAN
Derek Lipoli is the only eighth-grader wrestling for the varsity
team at Miller School - a military academy in Charlottesville.
by CNB