| I began wrestling in first grade, sort of
accidentally. I was sitting in class while my first grade teacher in
Benton-City, Washington was passing out flyers to all the kids in class.
Little did I know at the time, that flyer would be the single most
important piece of paper that I would ever receive. It was a memo
announcing that wrestling practices would begin for all ages the following
week. When I read the word “wrestling” the first thought that came to mind
was WWF!
I was hyped to say the least. Images of body-slamming, back
breaking, top rope jumping, and close lining cluttered my mind for the
rest of the day. When I got home that night I rushed into my house waving
the flyer around, yelling at the top of my lungs, “Mom, dad, I want to
wrestle!” They both started laughing and told me that I could, besides the
practices were held at my school, so it would give me something to do
after school. I had been involved in a variety of sports ever since I was
old enough to walk. I had played soccer, baseball, basketball, and
swimming. Although I did fairly well at all of these sports, none of them
satisfied my desire to be physical. I was constantly penalized for fouling
in basketball, and my competitiveness was too great for soccer, I would
just slide tackle anyone with the ball. Wrestling was the answer to all my
prayers.
My first practice was a huge surprise when I found out that wrestling was
not the same sport that I had been imagining. Nonetheless, I loved it from
day one. I began going to three practices a week after school but I could
not get enough of it, and soon I began searching for a club nearby that
practiced more often. To my liking, I discovered the Tri-Cities wrestling
club. They practiced five times a week year round, and the practice times
allowed me to attend the Benton-City practices that I had already been
attending. The Tri-Cities club was about a twenty-five minute drive from
my house, but my dad was so supportive of my passion that he drove me
there every night. The club practiced freestyle, so I was introduced to
that and became a student of the sport. I was going to eight practices a
week, soaking up as much technique as my brain would allow, and improving
rapidly. My brother Nick began wrestling shortly after I did, which was
great for both of us because we could push each other to become better. We
were both very competitive, and if one of us felt as though the other was
getting an edge we would train harder. This friendly competition between
brothers had an amazing affect on both of our successes. We drove to a
tournament every weekend and competition became a part of our lives. We
would drive to tournaments all over the west coast, from Oregon, to
Washington, and even Idaho. Our first year of wrestling was one filled
with many victories as well as losses, but our losses only added gas to
our burning desire to get to the top. When we lost we would just go home
and train harder, then come back the next weekend and succeed where we had
failed the week before. Competing on a regular basis is one of the most
important keys to unlocking the door to becoming a champion.
After my first year of wrestling I was introduced to one of my coaches who
had an astounding impact on my success today, Scott Revis. To this
day coach Revis recruits young talent to become a member of the Cobra
Wrestling Team located in Portland, Oregon. When he saw me wrestle he
approached my dad and invited him to send me to a wrestling camp in the
summer to prepare me for nationals. My dad did not know what to think, I
was only 8 years old and this man was trying to get me to compete at
nationals? But, he took a chance and sent me to the camp anyways. I
trained harder at this camp than I had ever trained before. I went
in as a soft 8yr. old boy, and came out as a fine tuned wrestler ready to
compete for a national title. I ended up placing third in freestyle, and
first in greco-roman. I learned my first valuable lesson at a very young
age. After wining nationals in Greco, I got sort of a big head. I ended up
losing my first match in freestyle to a kid that I had whooped up on the
day before. Never let your success go to your head.
In my second year of wrestling I was blessed with another coach who would
come to be a main reason for my success as a wrestler, and also my
development as a person, Dr. Dave Bennet (Doc). You might recognize the
name because he now coaches at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs. He began coaching at the Tri-Cities wrestling club, and
coached me for the next 7 years. As a youth competitiveness was the
biggest factor in wrestling, but as I became older technique became much
more important in order to beat better wrestlers at the national level and
Doc was a phenomenal technician. He would find out exactly what I was
doing wrong and help me fix the problem almost immediately. I was learning
more about wrestling every day and as a result I loved the sport more and
more. My daily routine in middle-school was to wake up for a four mile
run, 50 pushups, and 50 sit-ups before school. Then I would ride my bike 5
miles to school, and five miles back. After school I would go to practice
at the Tri-Cities for two hours. Then from 7-8:30 pm. I would go to
practice in Prosser, Washington. When I got home I would do 30 pull-ups on
a pull-up bar that my dad had built in to our stairwell, do 50 more
pushups and sit-ups, and then go to bed. I trained this way year round for
the next seven years, until my family moved to Wisconsin.
Wrestling has not only made me a tougher person mentally and physically,
but it has also molded me into the person I am today. I learned many
lessons as a youth wrestler which have remained valuable to this day. The
sport of wrestling not only gives kids a goal orientated life style, but
also gives them the tools they will need in order to overcome any
obstacles that life may throw at them. It is not just a sport, it is a way
of life. I am grateful for everything my family, coaches, and peers have
sacrificed in order for me to succeed as a wrestler, and I only hope to
someday give back to the sport what it has given to me.
Feel free to email me back at
mpqzb@mizzou.edu
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