who has done it...

[flyingcement]

I like to think there are a lot of stories like mine that most never heard about because we were not superstars, but the sport shaped aspects of our life.  To answer @LJB question directly, I think you could say that objectively I have not "done it" in the way that is being implied: greatness.

My wrestling career is probably better defined by what tried to stop it than by what I actually accomplished.

In elementary school, I got bounced from my first league tournament (VEWL)  because we arrived a few minutes late after car trouble. I had weighed in wearing a winter coat and boots and was still under the limit, but the coaches voted me out. I kept grinding anyway - 7th, 3rd, 3rd, 7th - until I finally broke through and won the Delaware CYO League title in 1998, the only individual league championship I ever won.

Then came high school, where nothing was ever simple. I was an undefeated starter as a freshman used situationally, but missed the conference lineup because I was five pounds too light for the direction they wanted to go. After transferring, I lost a year of eligibility, then nearly lost my life in a car crash before the 2002 season. Shattered jaw, shattered pelvis, concussion, hypothermia, wheelchair. Fought my way back enough to become a conference champion and help end a decade-long drought for our program.

The next year, I tore my shoulder in practice after challenging my coach on a technique. I thought I had a better way out of a bad position, showed it worked, and he told me to do it again. The second time, he was waiting for it. I got slammed onto the top of my shoulder and destroyed it. I wrestled the next three months with one arm, qualified for states, and finally had to give up my spot after tearing it one step too far. That same coach died suddenly that spring. Even with all the complicated feelings, his family asked me to give his eulogy. I was still just a teenager who had wrestled for him, but I did it.

I came back after surgery and dominated the lower weights at my college club team before tearing shoulder tore again. Another surgery, another comeback, and it tore again on the first practice. Years later in England, after seven years away, I walked into an MMA gym as the only wrestler, survived completely different kind of fights, and remembered that the skills were still there.

I tried wrestling again at the club where I attended business school, later at another local freestyle club, and eventually my body just started collecting the receipts — the knee, the shoulder, all of it. But wrestling never really left. The final chapter wasn't about me chasing one more win. It was about bringing my kids into the sport, supporting Beat the Streets, and helping create opportunities for the next group of kids.

I never had the career I imagined as a kid. But every time wrestling tried to take something from me, I found a way to come back.


TLDR: Average Joe

Edited July 21 by flyingcement

[Bacanator]

I dated our teams manager but she ended up being crazy and the coach banned her from the room

[ionel]

8 minutes ago, elijedi06 said:

I dated our teams manager but she ended up being crazy and the coach banned her from the room

I've heard a bad date can do that to women.  

[GreatWhiteNorth]

12 hours ago, elijedi06 said:

I dated our teams manager but she ended up being crazy and the coach banned her from the room

I'm kinda with ionel here... what's really crazy is thinking it'd be a good idea to date the team manager.

Even as crazy as I've been known to be - that would be a bridge too far.

[Bacanator]

2 hours ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

I'm kinda with ionel here... what's really crazy is thinking it'd be a good idea to date the team manager.

Even as crazy as I've been known to be - that would be a bridge too far.

If only my school had wrestlerettes I could’ve pulled it off

 

b4 I entered high school the team did not have a dedicated room, just rolled out mats behind the bleachers on the 2nd floor of the gym. Well I guess the cheerleaders practiced in the same vicinity which made it impossible for coach to have all eyes on him when showing technique