US Olympic Coach to Speak at 2nd Annual Best of the 757
Chesapeake, VA -- The 2nd Annual Best of the 757 (www.bestofthe757.com
), a Nike SPARQ and Velocity Sports
Performance showcase for high school athletes from throughout Hampton Roads,
is excited to announce that US Greco-Roman Wrestling Olympic Coach, Jon
Antonelli, will be speaking to student-athletes at the celebration and
awards party culminating the event. Coach Antonelli, who currently resides
in Chesapeake, Virginia, is the Coach for the US National Team that competed
in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In his role with the US Marines,
Coach Antonelli also provides seminars and leadership talks for current US
Marines as well as potential recruits. In addition to his extensive
coaching background in wrestling, Coach Antonelli graduated from the US
Naval Academy with a degree in Exercise and Health Fitness and has been
instrumental in spearheading the US National Team's strength and
conditioning programs.
"We could not be more excited to have someone of the caliber of Coach
Antonelli address the student-athletes participating in the Best of the
757", says John Cunningham, event founder of the Best of the 757 and
co-owner of Velocity Sports Performance. "Not only is Coach Antonelli one
of the leading coaches in his sport, but he brings a tremendous commitment
and passion to helping athletes maximize their potential. Coach Antonelli
is also a tremendous motivational speaker and will be a great inspiration to
student-athletes of the 757."
About Coach Jon (Jay) Antonelli
Jay Antonelli of Chesapeake, VA is the current US Olympic Greco-Roman
Wrestling Coach for the US National Team that participated in the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing as well as motivational speaker for the US
Marines. Antonelli was named 2007 Greco-Roman Coach of the Year by USA
Wrestling, his second time in his career that Antonelli has won this
prestigious honor (1988, 2007). Antonelli served as a World Team Coach for
the historic 2007 U.S. World Team that won the World Team Title in Baku,
Azerbaijan. It was the first U.S. Greco-Roman team to win a Senior World
Team title, and featured three individual medalists. Antonelli has been
selected to serve as a U.S. Olympic Team Coach for Greco-Roman at the 2008
Olympics in Beijing, China, along with Rich Estrella and Steve Fraser. He
also served as a World Team Coach for the 2005 U.S. World Team that competed
in Budapest, Hungary, which earned one medal and placed 17th in the team
standings. Antonelli served as the Assistant Coach of the 2003 U.S.
Greco-Roman World Team that competed in Cretiel, France. The U.S. team
placed 13th in the standings, led by three athletes in the top 10 of their
divisions. He was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team coaching staff.
Antonelli has also been a member of three other U.S. World Team coaching
staffs. He was the head coach for four CISM World Military Championship
teams. He was the head coach of the 2002 U.S. World Cup team. Antonelli
worked seven years as the head coach of the U.S. Marines Corps team, through
the end of the 2004 season. Numerous members of the U.S. Marines team have
made U.S. World Team, or qualified for Greco-Roman Team USA during
Antonelli's tenure. The Marine Corps was the overall champion at the 2001
Armed Forces Championships, and claimed the Greco-Roman team title in 1998.
Antonelli has coached dozens of individual Armed Forces champions in both
styles. He is a major in the U.S. Marine Corps currently stationed at JPASE
in Suffolk, Va. Antonelli has served in Baghdad, Iraq in 2004-2005 and most
recently in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2007. As an athlete, Antonelli was a
nationally-ranked Greco-Roman wrestler for the U.S. Marines team. He placed
eighth in the 1995 U.S. Nationals, and was fifth in the 1994 World Team
Trials. He competed in college for the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Antonelli also received a masters degree in Exercise and Health Fitness
Promotion from George Mason Univ. He competed for the Pingry School in New
Jersey in high school.
About the Best of the 757
The Best of the 757 is a celebration of high school athletes from Hampton
Roads. The 2009 event sponsored by Velocity Sports Performance, Nike-SPARQ,
Gatorade, Z-104, Optima Health Insurance, the Boo Williams Sportsplex,
Virginia Wesleyan College and the YMCA of Hampton Roads will showcase the
amazing athleticism of the area's athletes and to see who might be
tomorrow's next great athlete of the 757, with a portion of the proceeds
going to support youth obesity prevention in partnership with the YMCA of
Hampton Roads and Velocity Sports Performance. Hampton Roads' area high
school athletes in each of the major sports will compete individually and as
a team in a regional Nike/SPARQ combine. The event will culminate with a
celebration and awards ceremony in which the area's top teams and top
athletes by sport and by gender will be recognized and honored based on
their SPARQ athletic score. These athletes will have earned the right to say
they are truly the Best of the 757 for 2009! For more information, please
visit www.bestofthe757.com .