Chris Zuniga knows Vero Beach wrestling and what it takes to be successful in the sport. Coach Zuniga wrestled at Vero Beach from 2000-2004 and went to state meets. He wrestled for two years at the University of Central Florida.
He moved back to Vero Beach and completed his training at the police academy and is currently employed by Indian River Shores as a Public Safety Officer.
All the while Zuniga stayed in touch with his wrestling roots. “I would drive back from UCF as often as I could to volunteer with the wrestling program at Vero,” Zuniga said. “I wanted to help teach the kids what I was learning in college and when I came back to Vero and joined the police academy I was a volunteer assistant and had the opportunity to coach my cousin John Duran to his State Championship in 2009.”
Now as the head coach at Vero Beach Zuniga wants to make his wrestlers the best they can be on and off the mat “When I wrestled at Vero it was the biggest part of my life. It kept me out of trouble and made me keep my grades up for college,” Zuniga said. “My main goal is to make sure the kids are focused on keeping their grades up and staying out of trouble. Wrestling is a way to stay involved in school and keep them on the right track.”
Currently the team is participating in conditioning workouts that Coach Zuniga hopes will translate to better wrestling during the season. “I want to build a program where the kids learn a lot about technique and learn how I coach,” Zuniga said. “I have a lot of young athletic kids that are already excited about wrestling. We have been at the low end of the totem pole and always have been as far as sports go. A lot of people don’t even know we have wrestling but these kids make sacrifices that other athletes in other sports don’t do. I’m very proud and impressed with the kids we have so far.”