Booker's Lyon takes over the wrestling program

When Lisa Lyon and one of her Brazilian jiujitsu training partners walked into a Booker High wrestling practice last season, the wrestlers met the two women with a few glances, seemingly pondering why they were there, then returned their focus to their opponents. It was a mostly neutral reaction.

Little did the wrestlers know Lyon would soon be their head coach.

It was never her intention. Lyon, 32, came to Booker in the fall as a guidance counselor. She said that position still holds the most importance. She only walked into that practice to learn technique and apply it to her own training. Lyon has been involved with Brazilian jiujitsu for about seven years, after she moved to Bradenton from her hometown of Lakeland.

Previously, the Florida State music major tried MMA, but that experiment ended when one of her punches caused a man’s face to become a blood fountain.

Jiujitsu didn’t require punching, and retained the grappling aspects she liked from MMA. The jiujitsu community quickly became her Gulf Coast family. After Lyon had shoulder surgery, people brought her food and drove her to get her hair washed. She sold her motorcycle and Jet Ski to, at least in part, ensure she stayed healthy for competitions. She loved the sport.

Her wrestling game was not a strength, though. When she got to Booker, she jumped at the chance to listen to then-coach Bill Pitts, who had been at Booker for nearly a decade. It started out small, with Lyon simply wanting to exercise. She also volunteered as a liaison between the coaching staff, the wrestlers and the school office, for she was on campus all day. Soon, Pitts named her an official assistant coach and told her of his plans to retire.

“He spent the season preparing me,” Lyon said. “He picked me.”

Lyon still had to go through the formal interview process, which Booker Athletics Director Phil Helmuth said she aced. She was named to the position in early April. It didn’t matter that Lyon had no actual wrestling experience. Her gender also didn’t matter, but she is the first female wrestling coach in the area.

“They (the wrestlers) don’t even know what’s different,” Lyon said, adding that her athletes don’t understand why there is much newfound media attention.

This is evident watching her with the group. While Lyon gets changed, the wrestlers chat, chase each other around the mat and do some takedowns. When she returns, one instruction from Lyon is all it takes to get them silent and ready to get better.

Lyon often has to boot wrestlers out of her guidance office. They spend free time there, chatting about love, hopes, fears and everything else high schoolers stress about. It’s not just boys anymore, either. A handful of girls have started attending practice. Most tournaments Booker will compete in next season are co-ed, so the team will be co-ed, though girls have their own state tournament outside of the Florida High School Athletic Association umbrella. They are eligible for the FHSAA tournament, but it’s hard for girls to compete against top boys wrestlers because of size and strength differences. Lyon said she is thrilled by the development, but isn’t done. She wants at least six freshmen on the team next spring and every spring, so the program can fill out an entire roster. She has one.

The guidance counselor side of Lyon comes out when talking about goals. She wants her wrestlers to be prepared for college when they leave her program, and that means learning how to study, learning how to play and learning how to learn. That’s the baseline for success in her mind. 

Her ultimate vision for the program is to offer year-round wrestling in the form of an AAU team, the Booker Wrestling Club. The team would be open to the community, not just Booker students, but Lyon especially wants to target kids academically ineligible for the school team. She wants to show what wrestling can do for a person’s confidence and let them have fun. She wants to give them a reason to become eligible.

Wrestling, Lyon said, is now surging. The program held a “Wrestlemania” fundraiser May 12 to promote the team. The hook: Students got to wrestle against teachers. Official fight cards were printed. Smoke machines and self-selected music marked each wrestler’s entrance. Sarasota Police Officer Dominic Harris even took part, wrestling senior Tony Phillips. More than 200 students attended the event.