Nick Coffinan is a sergeant with the New York State Police. He is the officer in charge of the New York State Police Academy's programs on defensive tactics and physical training. He is one tough guy. Nick's wrestling experience began at Cherry Hill West High School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. There he distinguished himself by placing in the New Jersey Christmas Tournament in 1970 and in the New Jersey SIAA Districts in 1971. Then he moved to Hauppauge High School in New York and continued to develop his wrestling. He placed second in the Hauppauge Christmas Tournament in 1971. He took a first at the Farmingdale Christmas Tournament in 1972, a second at the Port Jefferson Tournament in 1972, and a second at the Suffolk County League Tournament in 1973. He finished out his high school wrestling career by placing in the 1973 New York Freestyle Tournament and winning in the Greco-Roman Tournament. He wrestled for two seasons for Hofstra University before enrolling in the New York State Police Academy. Nick's responsibilities at the Academy include the development, administration and delivery of all defensive tactics training programs, all outside agency defensive tactics training, supervision of physical assessment testing of Academy candidates, and supervision of physical training programs. He also assists the Division Counsel and the Attorney General's office by evaluations of excessive force cases, including the provision of expert witness reports and testimony and the preparation of witnesses for trial. How does one prepare for this kind of work? The wrestling helps, as did two years as a professional boxer and a few professional bouts of full contact karate/kick boxing. Continual study of martial arts, from 1969 to the present, including Tai Zen, Shorin Ryu, Taekwondo, Kyokushinkai, and Aikido, is surely useful. Completion of the N.Y.S.P. Defensive Tactics Development School program to become certified as a Defensive Tactics Instructor is a prerequisite. In addition, a little specialized training can't hurt, and a very abbreviated and incomplete listing of Nick's includes: 1987 - Emergency Medical Technician School; 1991 - N.Y.S.P. Firearms Instructor Development School and certification as such by the Department of Criminal Justice Services; 1993 - a N.Y.S.P. Emergency Vehicle Operator Course and a Physical Fitness Trainer's Certification Course at Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research; 1995 - a Dignitary Protection Course through the US Secret Service; 1996 - a Glock Annorer's Course, a US Army Rappel Master Course, a Rope Rescue Hazardous Terrain Evacuation Course, a Rope Rescue High Angle Rescue Course, and a Specialty Impact Munitions Course; 1999 - an Inland Search and Rescue Coordination Course through the National Search and Rescue School; 2000 - training in Mission Planning, Field Operations and Land Navigation offered by the US Army Special Forces Joint Task Force 6; 2001 - Hazardous Materials Technician Training. In addition to teaching defensive tactics and physical training to cadets and troopers at the Academy since 1985, Nick has taught defensive tactics to the Special Reaction Team and Base Military Police at the US Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, to the US Army Special Forces Joint Task Force 6, to the FBI regional SWAT T earn, to United States Marshals, to Federal Corrections Officers tactical units, to the Federal Road Safety Commission of Nigeria, to Vermont State Police, and to a long list of New York Sherriffs' Departments, local police departments and state agencies. Before assuming his full time duties at the Academy, Nick was the North Team Leader of the N.Y.S.P. Mobile Response Team. As such, he supervised other team members in such operations as narcotics raids, manhunts in wooded areas, high risk warrant executions, rope rescue operations, and hostage rescues. If you fell off a cliff and were stranded on a ledge, you would meet this honoree up close and personal. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame proudly inducts Nick Coffinan as an Outstanding American from New York. Nick probably has an accurate count of the lives he has saved by rescues, searches and other field operations. We and he wlll never know how many Troopers owe their lives to his training.