USA Wrestling Coach’s Corner: Joey Lazor (Kansas)

Photo: Joey Lazor (left) coaches Mill Valley High School in Kansas while also serving young wrestlers at the Kansas City Training Center.

Editor’s Note: In conjunction with USA Wrestling, WIN Magazine spotlights four coaches or officials from around the nation in each issue. This article originally appeared in WIN’s Volume 31 Issue 5, which printed on January 30, 2025. Click here to view WIN’s subscription options (Print/Digital/Combo). Subscribe by July 24 to receive WIN’s Volume 31 Issue 10 Fargo Commemorative Issue by mail by mail, or start a Digital Subscription to get the Fargo Issue and access to all Past Archived Monthly Issues dating back to 2011 including all the USA Wrestling Coach’s Corner features. 

By Tristan Warner

The first two years of Joey Lazor’s collegiate career at Northern Iowa were marred by season-ending injuries.

The two-time Georgia state champion and prized recruit, who won 222 prep matches including a state-record 180 by fall, overcame devastating ACL and meniscus tears to cap off a shortened college campaign. After a Blood-Round ending in 2012, Lazor notched a sixth-place All-American finish in the 141-pound bracket at the 2014 NCAA Division I Championships in Oklahoma City.

The adversity he overcame only made him stronger and has served him well in a mentorship role for young athletes.

“After graduating college, I stuck around in Cedar Falls and trained, competed and coached at Panther Wrestling Club until 2020 when COVID happened,” Lazor recollected. “I met my wife, Anna, while coaching there because she played softball and coached at UNI.

“She is from the KC area, so after she got her master’s, we moved to the area where she grew up. I got a head coaching job at Mill Valley High School and am in my third year now.”

No stranger to high level sports herself, Anna (Varriano), who coaches within the KC Peppers softball organization after a standout career for the Panthers, has also been majorly supportive of all her husband’s efforts as the pair juggle the demands of coaching and raising two children.

Since his move to the Sunflower State, Lazor helps at the local Mill Valley Kids Club once a week and co-coaches the Kansas City Training Center (KCTC) with new best friend, Clint Slyter, the longest-standing Kansas National Team coach.

The KCTC — started by Slyter in the spring of 2011 to fuse together the best training opportunities for kids from eastern Kansas and the western Kansas City area — focuses solely on the international styles and kicks into gear each spring two weeks after the conclusion of folkstyle season.

“I always wanted to get into coaching ever since middle school or high school,” Lazor remembered. “I gave lessons out of my garage to little kids. The sport of wrestling gives you so much, so I always wanted to give back to as many kids as possible.”

While laser-focused on the scholastic season during the winter months, as is Slyter, who coaches at nearby Olathe North, the duo, with the help of Pratt Community College head coach Ken Kepley, have formulated a curriculum for coaches to follow when it comes to freestyle and Greco-Roman.

“We make videos and practice plans, which help kids and coaches learn the system in time for Fargo camp,” Lazor explained.

“KCTC practices are Monday through Thursday, and there is a free practice on Sundays for kids all over the state. Even kids from Missouri come over. We just train together to get the best kids in the area to come together. Iron sharpens iron.”

As a Regional Training Center (RTC), KCTC is required to have Fargo coaching staff personnel according to the bylaws, which differentiates it from other traditional clubs.

While many collegiate programs nationwide have instituted RTCs in the last few decades, Lazor explained that, despite some unique challenges he and Slyter have faced in Kansas, they continue their quest to provide the best training opportunities.

“We want to help get college guys to come in and train with our tough high school guys, but unfortunately, in Kansas, we don’t have a Division I program for them to go to. There is not really a big wrestling college nearby. It makes it hard for some of our guys, but I’m still a little guy and Clint is a big guy, so we still roll around a little bit.”

While the lines between the folkstyle season and the freestyle and Greco season are clearly differentiated based on the calendar, Lazor maintained his approach to coaching each season has plenty of similarities.

“I am usually a pretty smiley guy and I like to have fun,” he stated. “In my room, we just go score points and don’t worry about the score. Score the next point, even if you are down 14-0. It is just a match, not life or death.

“I start practice with a fun game to get guys smiling and laughing. You put all this work in and don’t always get the results you want.

“You have to understand that this is a game. Wrestling comes to an end. It is all worth it, but just enjoy it. I always tell the kids to ‘wrestle hard and party’ because it is supposed to be fun.”

During the scholastic season, Lazor emphasizes more consistent drill patterns, while in the spring, he allows for more autonomy.

“In the high school room, you got to get your basics and functional drill patterns down with lots of repetition,” he said. “I like to use a four-year move sequence, so every year we focus a little more on something new. Maybe one year we focus on tilts and more on legs the next so guys who have been in my room for three years don’t get bored.

“With an RTC or club, you have top guys who you can show extra stuff to, but I don’t really separate my guys. I also tell kids to try to replicate what some of the more veteran guys in the room are doing. There are only so many coaches in a room full of 50 kids. This helps the veteran kids be leaders, too.”

In his short time making an impact on Kansas and KC area wrestlers, Lazor has learned a lot himself. Just as he expects his athletes to ask questions and continue to seek improvement, Lazor, inquisitive by nature, is relentless in his pursuit of becoming the best coach he can be.

“Ask questions to people who have done it,” he said. “Don’t think you’re too good. I ask questions to officials and coaches at every level. People are doing some great things in this country. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Keep growing as a coach. When you stop growing, you’re dying.

“Right after the state tournament, I was asking the coach, who beat us, questions, and we were working together on it for the state of Kansas.”

Lazor is excited for the trajectory of the state as a whole, which reminds him of his early days growing up in the Peach State, where the level of wrestling has drastically spiked in a positive direction recently.

His daily focus, though, is on scoring the next point and having fun, for when you enter Joey Lazor’s wrestling room, it is party time.