By Kai Tolly
Holding up his Olympic wrestling singlet Wednesday, Aug. 31, math teacher and head wrestling coach Joey Lazor is excited to be a part of the community at Mill Valley after coming from teaching at a Catholic school.
New head wrestling coach is excited for the upcoming season
Math teacher Joey Lazor enjoys the community at Mill Valley
Mill Valley News: What did you do before you came to Mill Valley?
Joey Lazor: I was a teacher at a Catholic school for the last two years before this. Before that, I substitute-taught up in Iowa for about five or six years while I was coaching college wrestling and then training for the Olympics.
MVN: What college did you attend and what was your major?
JL: I attended the University of Northern Iowa and majored in elementary education, but minored in mathematics so I can teach kindergarten through 12th grade math.
MVN: What is your favorite thing about Mill Valley so far?
JL: It’s got a great community. The teachers are all very helpful. The students are pretty awesome for the most part. They listen, they do what they need to be doing and a great community.
MVN: What are your first impressions of Mill Valley?
JL: The school is humongous. I feel like I’m going to get lost. I’m very lucky that my classroom is right where I have to walk into the school so it’s pretty easy to find.
MVN: What do you do in your free time?
JL: I’m the new head wrestling coach here so wrestling obviously. I have a one-year-old son. My wife coaches competitive softball and I coach wrestling, so we’re usually doing some sport or playing video games.
MVN: When did you start wrestling?
JL: I’ve been wrestling since I was four so I’ve been wrestling for 27 years now. I wrestled in college at the University of Northern Iowa and I was an all-American up there. And then after I graduated college, they asked me to stick around and coach and train so I was training for the Worlds and Olympics up there. I traveled to Cuba and other places to compete. Then I had Tommy John surgery, so I didn’t get to wrestle that year, and then 2020 I was making a pretty good run. I beat the Olympian in 2016, and then COVID happened so I moved to Kansas.
MVN: Do you have any goals for the wrestling team?
JL: Well, obviously we’re going to win state as a team. I think that’s everybody’s goal. You want to be the best in the state. And it starts with hard work so I’m trying to teach them and train them what it really means to do hard work. And sometimes that means being a try-hard that people are afraid to be. I also teach them a lot about failure.