By Kyle Coppola
Mount Dora Wrestling Coach David Kemmy Secures 400th Career Win
Coach David Kemmy has had an amazing career. This week during Mount Dora High Schools historic first ever Dual District Championship Wrestling win he would secure his 400th career victory in his illustrious career.
Kemmy grew up in Rhode Island. He was the Assistant Director of Athletics and the Head Wrestling Coach at Roger Williams University from 1990 to 2009. During his time with Roger Williams, coach Kemmy would spend 12 seasons racking up 250 wins 170 losses and 7 draws.
(Kemmy during his time as coach of the Roger Williams University Hawks. He would have a very successful 12 year wrestling career at the program.)
Kemmy has also been involved as the Director of Collegiate Coaching Education and Program Assessment for the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Coach Kemmy has taught countless wrestlers up in New England and many of them remain his friends to this very day. Including Brad Oliver who is the head coach of Mount Hope High School in Rhode Island. Kemmy and Oliver recently had two exhibition matches one in Rhode Island last year and one in Mount Dora this year.
After his time at Roger Williams, coach Kemmy coached for Bristol High School in Rhode Island where he coached for 9 seasons. He would dominate at Bristol, and they became one of the best wrestling teams on the decade in Rhode Island with a record of 128-33-2. When you would face kids from Bristol High School, you knew it was going to be an uphill battle most of the time.
(Earlier this year coach David Kemmy “right” stands with coach Brad Oliver “left” who is a former student and now coach of Mount Hope High School in Rhode Island.)
Eventually coach Kemmy found himself in Florida but has remained active on the coaching scene. Since coming onboard with Mount Dora High School who formed a wrestling team just a few seasons ago, Mount Dora is 22-8. In that time, Kemmy has begun to turn heads in Lake & Sumter County. That goes for the rest of Central Florida as well as they see what Kemmy is building at Mount Dora High.
“I am so proud of what we have accomplished in such a short period of time.” says Mount Dora High principal Marlene Straughan. “Coach Kemmy is such an amazing person, and he truly cares about our student athletes. We couldn’t hope for a better leader of this program.”
(Coach Kemmy who is jumping for joy in the background still gets fired up. He was so excited to produce Mount Dora High Schools first ever Dual District Championship victory.)
When asked about the district championship victory, coach Kemmy responded “It is just an incredible performance by our guys. They wrestled tough and smart and beat two traditional powers in the sport on the same night in Bishop Moore and The Villages. I am so proud of them.” says coach Kemmy.
The work is not finished either. Coach Kemmy and The Mount Dora Hurricanes will set their sights on the Regional Championships where coach Kemmy hopes to get win number 401. One thing is for certain, coach Kemmy has a lot left in the tank and that is highly evident. Mount Dora High is fast becoming a destination location for local wrestling students and coach Kemmy is a huge reason why.
Congratulations to coach Kemmy!
Photo Credit – Roger Williams University and Mount Dora High School
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
