Nick Captures A Jr. High State Championship---Part 3

Winning An OAC Jr. High State Championship Is Making A Serious Statement

Nick Makes A Statement In Some Very Impressive Tournaments 

The OAC Jr. High State Tournament is a very reliable predictor of high school talent. If a wrestler can do well at the OAC Jr. High State Tournament..from what I observed over the last 15 years...chances are he's going to do very well in high school also. Physical maturity is starting to kick in...definitely for the middle weights and heavy weights...and many of the kids who have wrestled through the youth programs have developed their techniques and style to an impressive degree.

I heard many people say, during Nick's youth wrestling years: "this is only youth wrestling...it's just practice for high school. I completely agree. There isn't any need for a parent to be overly concerned about a young wrestler's performance during the youth developmental years. But by eigth grade Jr. High State's absolutely does mean something. And if you disagree with me then go to the OAC website and look at how the top placers...in all the weight categories...fared during their high school years. You will quickly see that there's a strong correlation between the high performers in Jr. High and the high performers in high school. Are there exceptions to this? Of course there is. But Jr. High States IS more than practice and winning it is certainly making a statement that your wrestler is usually very well prepared for high school.

So picking up from where we left off Nick is in the middle of his eight grade season. He wrestled in the Super 32 and a few other good tournaments but there were some other very competitive tournaments to wrestle in before OAC Districts came around.

Two such tournaments were in PA. The notoriously tough Young Guns tournament and North Hills tournament. At the Young Guns tournament pinned Turner Gray, his QuarterFinals opponent wrestling out of the OMP club. Here's the match:  

He then faced, and pinned, Michael McIntire, a solid Ohio wrestler who wrestled out of the Akron Wrestling Club.




In the Finals Nick won by decision over a game young wrestler out of the OMP club, Anthony Boeh, 6-4. You can see in these videos during Nick's eighth grade season that he was putting things together quite nicely and you can hear Coach Heil giving him timely coaching cues to which Nick responded very well to. Here's his Finals Match:




Young Guns was a good win and confirmed that Nick was headed in the right direction before States with just minor improvements to be made.  Here's a picture of him with his bracket, medal, and a nice hoodie that he was awarded. You can see him wearing it proudly when he posed with Kevin and I after Kevin won a tournament in Medina. Good times.

There were three good tournaments after the Young Guns tourney that Nick wrestled in. A week after Young Guns Mike Heil took his TWC boys back to PA for another very competitive tourney, the North Hills Open. Nick pinned Tyler Grine of Burnett's Trained Wrestling to start the tourney and then pinned Christian Hyrb from Beaver PA in the Quarter Finals. In the Semi Finals he teched Team Erie's Shimeir Jones 16-1 to advance to the Finals where he lost by decision to a solid 9th grader from the OMP Wrestling Club, Logan Heinl, 9-4.

On 1-12-13 he wrestled in an outstanding regional tournament. The Philo Electric Invitational was known to bring great wrestlers around from Ohio, PA., W. Va., Mi., and even Georgia. We traveled down with the Brecksville Club and I was really excited to see if Nick would meet up with a boy from PA. who was very good...Cameron Coy.

Nick opened up the tourney by pinning Monte Tremonte from Medina Root. He then decisioned a Georgia wrestler from Team Minions, Cody Cochran 6-0. 

Nick got his chance to wrestle the highly touted Cameron Coy in his next match. Coy won by major decision...almost teching Nick 16-2. To be honest I was shocked. Once again a real wake up call to the talent that was out there throughout the country. It's one thing to be one of the best in your state...but it's a whole different ball game to be the one of the best in the country. I remarked to my friend Jimmy Fields that Coy "put on a cradle clinic" at the expense of Nick. 

Coy turned out to be an elite high school wrestler as well. Throughout his high school career he was always at the very top of the national rankings, culminating in his number one national standing in the 152 weight class his Senior year. He was a 3 time State Champion, only losing his Sophmore year to Sam Krivus. Krivus was no slouch either...a two time State Champ and a three time Super 32 Champion. Here's a picture of  high school age Coy:

     

Sorry no videos but the last tournament that offered Nick a look at some quality competitors within his weight class was the West Virginia Duals held on 1/25/13. Nick wrestled with the Brecksville Club and pinned and techedfalled his first three opponents until meeting up with a very game Joseph Koontz, out of the AWC, in the SemiFinals.  Nick decisioned Joe 6-5 and it was a very good match to watch. In the Finals he met up with a Golden Cross opponent, Michael Atkinson, who Nick majored 8-0.

The next post will be covering the Brecksville District Tournament and the OAC Jr. High State tournament. It was a great year of wrestling so far with Nick performing very very well.  We had high expectations for a very solid State performance based on this. Thanks for reading this blog thus far.   

Nick Captures A Jr. High State Championship---Part 2

The Talent In Ohio Wrestling Runs Deep

The Preseason Arrives...Along With A Few New Adversaries

The talent in Ohio wrestling runs deep. Very deep. Every year kids change weight classes due to the fact that they're growing up, and with the changes in weight classes come new opponents to face and compete against. We would encounter another great Ohio wrestler on a preseason trip down to the Super 32. 

Nick (we'll be calling him Nick from this point on) was looking very strong down on his trips to Tom Roehlig's. He was training regulary with a solid high school kid named Hunter Pizzone (who now wrestles for Heidelberg University) and looked very good. Definitely could easily mistake him for a high school wrestler. I remember quite vividly one time seeing a look of surprise come over Ivan McClay's face when they were wrestling and when I spoke with Ivan he said that Nick "got a lot better...was a lot tougher...and wasn't falling for the things he used to." This was just a few weeks before our trip to the Super 32.

The Super 32 is the premier national folkstyle wrestling event for high school. It's an absolute meat grinder for the high school division and a great way to see the up and coming talent in the junior high division. It takes place in the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center in Greensboro North Carolina, and wrestlers come from all over the country.

Nick opened up the tournament on fire with a pin and then a 16-0 tech fall over North Allegheny wrestler Jake Woodley. Jake would go on to become a 2X PA State Champ in high school. In the Quarter Finals he met up with another talented and accomplished Ohio wrestler, Corey Shie from the Cincinnati area who was wrestling out of the Golden Cross Wrestling Club. 

You can put Corey right up there with all the other great Ohio youth wrestlers that I discussed while covering Nick's youth career. From 2007-2011 he was a perennial state placer...a three time State Finalist...and a two time State Champion. They had a great match, but Nick came up short losing a decision in double overtime 3-2. Here's that match.   

In the first round of the consi's Nick lost 1-0 to Louie Deprez from Hilton New York. Deprez would go on to become a 3 time New York State Champ. To give you more of an idea of just how competitive and tough a tournament the Super 32 is, by the time these guys were seniors Woodley was ranked 3rd in his weight class (195), Deprez was ranked 1st (182), Shie was ranked 15th (138), and Nick was ranked number 10 (160)...nationally...by InterMat. Here's Nick's match against Deprez. Definitely a winnable match against a tough kid. 





The regular season was a blast for Nick. For the most part he was with the Brecksville Club, but practiced out of Brunswick's room. The main reason for this was that in the very beginning of the season, when they were wrestling live together at Brecksville, Luke Strnad broke his finger. It was a bad break that eventually required a surgery because it didn't run across the bone, but rather ran vertical along the bone. 

We didn't know it at the time but it would cost him the entire season. It's too bad because Luke would have more than likely been in the Finals against Kaleb Romero. Kaleb was an extraordinary youth and junior high wrestler who had never lost a State Finals match in youth or even 7th grade. He would end up being a 4 time high school State Champion for Mechanicsburg and signed with the Ohio State Buckeyes. A Luke and Kaleb's match would have been fun to watch.

My friend Todd Assad boys, Aaron and Austin, would sometimes be in the Brecksville room and would wrestle with Nicky, but not nearly enough to warrant going there all the time, and to be honest there wasn't anybody Nick'y age who was really on the same level as him. Heck once Nick was wrestling with one of the Brecksville Club coaches, Ryan Marks, and hit a nasty Twister on him...putting him to his back!  Believe me...Ryan Marks was trying too. Did it right in front of where I was sitting. Looked up at me and winked. I liked that. 

Brecksville Club had an aggressive tournament schedule and I knew that I could fill in the gaps for tournaments when they didn't have anything to attend. So that's what we did. And of course Nick would travel with the TWC boys to the good tournaments that Mike Heil would be coaching at. Coach Heil always liked those tough PA tournament. 

Nick opened up the season with Brecksville Club at the Claymont Invitational. Claymont is a Division 2 high school and they always do a great job of developing their boys. They have a kick ass atmosphere to wrestle in also. Nick pinned his first opponent in the way that most opponents fared against him at this point...unless they were really good.  
   



Nick then wrestled Claymont's Chandler Golic. Nick lost 8-7 in what I can only express as a total homer ref called match. Sorry I can't show the video.  It was all over the damn place and I was yelling too damn much! We looked forward to possibly meeting up with Chandler at some point in a more neutral environment lol! But now Chandler was on our radar as well. We knew Chandler from before...he was one weight class heavier than Nick before and placed 2nd in the 100 lb. weight class at OYWA states. 

The rest of the tournament went as expected.  Nick placed third. Pinned everyone there except Chandler. Here's another short match: 




Nick then went on a nice little run through some very good tournaments. He traveled up to the Border Wars Duals in Battle Creek Michigan and pinned all his opponents. One from Indiana, one from Michigan, one from Illinois, and two from Ohio. Because of this outstanding performance he won the Outstanding Wrestler award and a nice plaque to add to his already impressive bling collection.  

He then attended the Cleveland State Duals and pinned his way through.  Here's his Semi-Finals match against a Burnett Trained wrestler:
  



And here he is in the Finals match against a Massillon Perry Club opponent:





Next was to Nick's soon to be high school!  Had to show off in front of his soon to be high school coach Mike Koshar.  He just made short work outta kids here in the first couple rounds with his Twister. He loved that in Jr. High school. The last State Champ from Brunswick was also in the crowd watching Nick...Richie Spicel:








And here's his Finals match...Blue Devils baby! Go Big Blue! You can hear Coach Koshar coaching him in the match. Just the beginning between these two.




I'm going to have to wrap this post up right here. Nick wrestled a lot his 8th grade year so I'm going to have to break it up a bit. I'll cover the other regular season tournaments in my next installment. Eighth grade was a lot of fun. Top of the food chain again and it was always exciting going to a tournament and wondering if a top notch wrestler would be there so we could watch Nicky wrestle in a really tough, competitive match. There are a few tournaments coming where Nick would definitely run into some hammers. I'll be happy to share those with you in the next post. Until then...take care.  

Nick Captures A Jr. High State Championship---Part 1

Necessary Changes Take Place

Getting Ready For Eighth Grade States

Eighth grade was a year where we had some significant changes in the off season. It was also a big year of change for our family in many ways. One of those changes was that we moved from North Royalton to Brunswick.

To say that Nicky's wrestling didn't factor into our decision would be a lie. We wanted to put Nicky into a school system that had a solid wrestling program for him to take part in. We were torn between Brecksville and Brunswick. 

In the end, and for many other reasons, we decided that Brunswick would be the best fit for Nick. This was not an easy decision as we had a long standing relationship with the Brecksville people...and they had built their program up to be a public school powerhouse under the guidance of head coach Todd Haverdill.

One reason that played a big role was that Mike Heil recently moved to Brunswick and was going to be an assistant coach at Brunswick High School. His son Josh was going to be attending Brunswick High, going a different route than his older brother Dean did who was attending St. Edwards. Josh was a tough, hard working kid, and I knew that Nick and him would make great drill partners. 

While Mike & Josh were the main draw at that time, I was also getting to know...and be impressed by...long time head coach Mike Koshar. Mike struck me as a straight forward fella.  Intelligent and easy to speak to, I could tell he was excited about the resurgance of his wrestling program because of the talent that was already there, and soon to be arriving.

Coach Koshar invited Nicky to wrestle with the high school team at a couple of the Summer duals hosted by area colleges. So Nick wrestled the 113 120 weight classes at the Kent State Duals and the Mount Union Duals. Nick had a 3 month break after States so he was fresh and ready to go. He would be able to get a lot of matches in between these two tournaments and they would be against high school kids. 

Here's a picture of Nicky posing with Coach Koshar and the high school team after the Kent State Duals. He's in the second row with no shirt on. The one who looks like a seventh grader! Josh Heil was in that row also. He was only in eighth grade. In the top row, second from the left with no shirt on is Tyler Hughes. Three future Brunswick State Placers.

I remember thinking to myself that if Nicky won 50 percent of his matches I would be happy. After all, these are high school kids! Wow did I seriously underestimate him. At the Kent State Duals he went undefeated...pinning 10 of his 14 opponents, and majoring 3 by scores of 9-0, 12-0, and 18-4! The last wrestler he decisioned 6-2.  

The very next weekend, on 6-29-12 and 6-30-12 he went undefeated at the Mount Union Duals, winning three matches by fall, another by tech fall 15-0, and winning three by decisions. The decision scores were 4-0, 10-4, and 3-1. From what I was told...I did not attend the Mount Union Duals...the opponent he beat 3-1 was a state qualifier.

To be honest even I was kind of shocked. I knew where he stood among his own age group, but to see that he could run through 21 straight high school opponents, pinning 13 of them no less, was pleasantly surprising. I knew that it absolutely had to help his confidence. 

So he wrestled in those duals and then the following weekend I entered him in the Lutheran West Open, which he won by pinning his next 5 opponents. That was another change. Definitely more Summer wrestling than ever before. and of course we were still going down to Tom Roehlig's camps and keeping that going. Here's a few pictures of Nick with Ivan McClay and learning leg riding from 2 time State Champion, Massillon Perry's David Bavery. 

Another change was that I began introducing barbell strength training to Nick. Up until this point I had Nicky doing bodyweight training only...progressive calisthenics, playground workouts at the school that was behind our house in N. Royalton, plank workouts, and bodyweight complexes that I got from Tom Roehlig. 

Other than weighted pullups and partner carries in the practice room, there was no lifting weights. You could tell that he was plenty muscular from that type of training...in addition to all the strength he had built up from the sport of wrestling since he was seven yrs. old...but it was time to begin building strength through well structured and well supervised weight training. Here's what Nicky looked like before he began lifting in eighth grade.

    
It was time to develop some serious horse power in his legs, hips, back, (the posterior chain) and upper body pressing structure. I knew that if we started right now he would be in excellent shape by the time he began high school. We would not be abandoning bodyweight exercises completely, but instead would take a hybrid approach. I was actually pretty excited to tap into my own weight lifting days and pass on more of what I know to my son.

Our next post will tell how Nick ran into a preseason buzz saw at the Super 32 that he would have to overcome in order to become an Ohio Junior High State Champion, and how he fared in some pretty prestigious jr. high tournaments. Stay tuned and, until the next installment, take care.

Nick Sets His Eyes On A Jr. High State Championship

Two Years To Prepare For High School Wrestling

Junior High Can Be Quite The Challenge

My oldest son Nick began Summer session at West Virginia University a couple weeks ago. He earned an athletic scholarship to attend and represent WVU after an outstanding high school career in which he became only the second wrestler in Brunswick High School history to place at the OSHAA State Championships Tournament 4 times. 

This blog, if you've found it for the very first time, is chronicling Nick's journey from his youth wrestling days to his last high school match. At this point in my blog Nick is just entering Jr. High school as a 7th grader...after winning a youth state championship in 6th grade.

But life isn't all about wrestling, and Nicky (as we call him in our house since my name is Nick also) always had a well rounded life. In 7th grade he attended N. Royalton Middle School, had many friends, and enjoyed life off the mat as well. Here are a few pics of Nicky with his younger brother Kevin waiting for the school bus on his first day of 7th grade and Kevin's first day of 4th grade. 

One thing about Nick that I noticed as he was growing up was that it was rather easy for him to leave wrestling alone. What I mean by that is when he wasn't at practice or somewhere competing, he had no problem finding things to do or friends to do them with. He had many friends who didn't wrestle, and he enjoyed their friendship as much as he did his wrestling friends.

Kevin and Nicky had/have the typical big brother little brother relationship that most brothers experience. Kevin went out for wrestling in 2nd and 3rd grade...but didn't take to it even though he showed the same potential Nick did when he first started. He didn't wrestle at all his 4th grade year, and I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't for him. 

Here's Kevin's very first wrestling match when he was just 8 yrs. old. It's one of my all time favorite wrestling videos because of how Nicky is rooting his brother on and because of the little celebration Kevin has when he wins. Too damn cute.


   
He began wrestling in 5th grade when a few of his friends decided to wrestle and has stayed with it ever since. Wrestling is definitely not the type of sport you can force on your kid, and I know many wrestling dads who have multiple sons, some who don't wrestle at all. So I'm very grateful that Kevin chose the toughest of all sports to participate in given the fact that he could have easily picked another sport to take part in and have our full support.

In my opinion (this blog is, after all, titled The World According To Nick) it's important to recognize the attributes of each of your kids, the unique characteristics that make them who they are, and to develop a deep appreciation for these attributes lest they go unnoticed...or worse yet by far...neglected. How can one foster a loving, caring, life long relationship with ALL their children without making the effort to do so based on their childs interests? 

As Kevin was growing up we saw that although he is himself very athletic, he doesn't seem to have the same competitive drive to push himself in sports to the degree that his older brother does. Simply doesn't seem to be as important to him. By no means do I consider it a character flaw. I am absolutely convinced, knowing him as only a father can know a son, that Kevin is going to excel in life and already is doing so academically and socially. That's not to say that his competitive drive won't manifest itself more as he makes his way through high school...it's just saying that he's his own person and doesn't have to have his brothers success to get a lot out of the wrestling. The vast majority of wrestlers never experience the type of success that Nicky experienced...yet I'm sure every single one of them would say they grew as a person because of the life lessons developed both in competition as well as the practice room.  

He enjoys being fit, reading, drawing, playing his video games, conversing about varied subject matters and has inherited the quick wit and humour that runs in our family. He's loving and caring and even though much of our family's time and energy has been devoted to Nick's wrestling, we have always taken great care to make sure Kevin feels just as valued as Nick every single day of his life. Here's a few more pictures of my boys just having fun throughout the year. Heck I even consider Alex my son! He was always around as he was growing up.  Lot's of great memories with these three.

In preparation for Nick's 7th grade season we continued to do the things that led us to having the success that he experienced thus far. A couple Summer camps at Tom Roehligs, working out 3 times per week (all bodyweight training still at this point...no weights other than weighted pull-ups), and one Summer tournament just for a little competition. We also continued Tom's Fall Club.  I knew at this point that Nick was a gamer, and I wasn't worried about all the other guys who were criss crossing the country trying to win every national tournament there was instead of letting their kid enjoy their childhoods. 

After OAC States on 3-20-11 Nick didn't compete for nearly 4 months! The Summer tournament I entered him in was the annual Lutheran West tournament on 7-15-11. The next tournament he wrestled in was nearly 3 months later at the Green Bulldog Round Robin on 10-6-11. So in 7 months he only competed once! I wasn't paranoid about Nicky losing ground. I felt it was the healthiest thing I could have done for him...both physically and psychologically. I wanted him chomping at the bit to compete when the season rolled around. 

As Nick was growing in size Tom Roehlig could wrestle with him more and course correct him when necessary. Another huge advantage of going to Tom's regularly was that Nick could wrestle with Ivan McClay on a regular basis. In 2011 Ivan placed 3rd at States (Division 1) as a Sophmore at 112 lbs. 

Ivan was great with Nicky and worked with him regularly as they built a friendship. They actually knew each other for  few years prior to this, as both were long time Roehlig Wrestling campers, but Nicky was too small to really wrestle with Ivan until now. 

Ivan went on to become 3 time OHSAA State Placer, winning a State Championship in 2013 at 126 lbs. He then went to wrestle for NCAA D2 powerhouse program Notre Dame where he became an All-American his freshman year and won a National Championship at 125 lbs. his sophmore year. He was as nice a kid as he was/is skilled. Here's a picture of Ivan when he was in high school helping some of Tom's younger campers. 
 

Back to Nicky's journey. We found ourselves, in Nicky's 7th grade year, wrestling out of 3 practice rooms again. The reason for this was that the Jr. High School programs have an influx of new wrestlers who did not wrestle when they were in elementary school. The competition just isn't there for a kid whose wrestled since they were in first grade and was as good as Nicky and his many youth peers were. So we wrestled out of Brecksville Club, Brunswick with Mike Heil, and St. Peter Chanel. As noted before these were always our "go to" rooms.

I corner coached Nick for most of this years tournaments before States. Except for the McDowell Open in PA. and the Virginia Duals. Heil coached Nick at McDowell and one of the Brecksville Club guys coached Nick at the Virginia Duals. I cornered Nicky through a few hundred matches since he began wrestling and know him inside and out and so I was always comfortable doing this. It didn't hurt that Nicky wants to win bad and always put forth his very best effort. We did pretty good. The only matches he lost we're before the OAC District Tournament were to two PA. 8th grade wrestlers. He lost to Terry Victor 4-0 at the Green Bulldog Round Robin his first tournament of the year and then at the Battle At The Bay he lost a close one to a real stud, Gage Curry, 2-0. 

Here's the Victor match. This is why Jr. High can be a real challenge.  An 8th grader has a big advantage over the average 7th grader in terms of physical maturity. He was just a little behind in horse power.    

   

The only organization that has a Jr. High State Tournament is the OAC.  The public schools systems hold Conference tournaments, but as I noted earlier the competition simply isn't at the same level as the kids who will participate in the OAC District and State events.

The toughest OAC District at the time when Nicky was in 7th and 8th grade was the Brecksville District.  In order to qualify for the District Tournament, a wrestler must place 1st through 6th place. Wrestlers who place 7th and 8th are State Alternates. We felt confident that Nick would qualify...and possibly win.

Nick wrestled the tournament in the 108 lb. weight class.  If memory serves me correct he had to cut 4 lbs. No big deal. It was a 23 man bracket. He opened up by pinning Nathan Zurzdo. He followed that up by pinning his next opponent, Trevor Garner from Woodridge. His Quarter Finals match he dominated, Tech Falling Jake Little from Massillon Perry 19-2.

In the Semi-Finals Match he met up with Alex Mackall. We heard that Alex was favored to win States this year but had never seen him wrestle. Alex was in 8th grade and definitely had the physical maturity advantage. He was a short, muscular fireplug of a kid and he moved great. Todd Assad, who was sitting with me in Nick's corner told me "this kid's really good" before the match began. Alex, who was wrestling out of the North Akron Club, majored Nicky 9-0.  Obviously a super tough kid. Nice kid too. I had a chance to speak with him and his dad Bob after our boys wrestled. Good people. Told him hopefully we'd see them at the Finals at States. Always thinking optimistically I am. It's hard not to with a kid like Nicky.

Nicky bounced right back and wrestled to 3rd place. He won by decision 6-4 over Lake's Tyler Whitmeyer, and pinned Lake Catholic's Joe Boley. A very solid District performance.

On 3-10-2012 it was time for the Ohio OAC Jr. High State Tournament. It was a 48 man bracket. Nicky began the tournament by pinning Matt Shaney of Massillon Perry.






He then majored Brendan O'brien of Team Foxfire 11-0. He was wrestling very well. Here's that match.

In the 3rd Championship Round, one round before the Quarter Finals, Nick faced a Team Jordan wrestler. a boy named Mario Kastl. He wrestled tough but got off to a slow start and made a few mistakes, and those two things were the difference in the match. He lost by decision 8-6. Coach Heil said, correctly so in my opinion, that the mistakes that he made were rooted more in the mental aspect of the sport and that in jr. high and high school the mental aspect becomes a much more critical component of wrestling. Here's the Kastl match. Mario would make it to the Finals before losing to Alex Mackall 4-2.





I've always maintained, unless you're a wrestler in the lighter weight classes, the OAC Jr. High State Tournament is largely an 8th grade tournament. In the lightweight classes you'll see the occasional stud 6th grader place high and even win. You just don't see that in the middleweight classes. If you do you'd better follow that kid throughout high school because chances are he is going to be something very special!

Nick wrestled 8th graders throughout the tournament thus far and the next morning in the Consolation Rounds that picked up again. He faced Tyler Whitmyer from Lake and decisioned him 6-0.

  



Nick's next match was against Tyler Wiedaholt, a very solid and tough opponent. He dropped the match and lost by decision 4-0. And that was the end of States. We felt strongly that Nicky was going to be much more confident and competitive one short year from now when he was an eight grader. In hindsight, knowing who turned out to be who in high school, this was a very tough bracket with a lot of big names. Mackall, Wiedaholt, Hobbs, Lawson, Georgio Poullas, Ben Darmstadt, Koontz, Stower and more. Very competitive kids. Here's his match against Wiedaholt.


All in all a very productive learning year in which Nicky showed, once again, that he was heading in the right direction and was going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. The stars were aligning. We'll pick up Nick's journey in the next post as he moves to the top of the food chain...eighth grades has it's rewards. Until then, take care. 

The Road To Nick's Youth State Championship---Part 6

Chasing Down A Youth State Championship---Part 6

2011 OAC 95 lb. State Runner Up!

Let's move right into the 2011 OAC State Tournament as all the background information leading up to this tournament was given in the preceding post.

Needless to say we were very excited to get down to the OAC. And it wasn't simply because Nicky won the OYWA State Championship.  To be honest we truly felt that the officiating was the main reason Nicky didn't make it to the Finals last year. We were determined to keep it out of the hands of the officials this year.

At the 2011 OAC St. Ignatius District tournament Nicky picked up right where he left off at the OYWA State tourney. He opened the tournament up by pinning Jaezin Tytko from the TNT Wrestling Club. He then tech falled Ian Mound from Black River Falls 13-0. In the Finals he pinned a familiar opponent, David Crawford from Canfield Red.

While waiting for The OAC State Championships we decided to wrestle Nick in the OURWAY District Championships.  It was a tough tournament, with some solid kids there who would provide Nick with great matches in preparation for OAC States. 

He opened the tournament by pinning DJ Skiba from WestShore and then pinned Zach Madison from N. Olmstead in the Quarter Finals. Those were his tune up matches as he had to wrestle Cody Surratt from Wadsworth and Jaret Lester from the AWC in the Semi-Finals and the Finals.  He defeated Cody (6-2) in the Semi's leading to a much anticipated Finals match up between Jaret and Nicky.

Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of wrestling to occur. Within 30 seconds of the first period they both shot in looking for a takedown and BOOM!  They collided and smacked their heads together. Jaret dropped like a sack of potatoes.  It was very loud and we were all relieved when Jaret stood up. He was unable to continue wrestling however and so Nicky won by injury default.  Not a way any true competitor wishes to win. Afterwards Mr. Lester came up to me and said "Well we definitely know who has the hardest head."

A few weeks later we were at the Covelli Center in Youngstown Ohio for OAC States. This was the first year that the tournament was being held in this MUCH improved venue.  It was much cleaner and fan friendlier that the old Marion Coliseum.  Big improvement.

However Nicky wasn't 100%. He let Pam and I know that he wasn't feeling great the 1st day of the tournament. He was beginning to come down with something. We felt confident that he would be able to still do very well...especially that first day.  And we were correct. Nicky opened up the tournament by pinning his first opponent, Lucas Hughey.

His second match was against Dereck Wilson from New Lexington who Nicky tech-falled 14-2.

His Quarter Finals match resulted in another another pin against Josh Doherty, a wrestler from Circleville. Josh was a bit upset after losing, but you can see Coach Mike Heil at the end of the video keeping Nick focused.  The Quarter Finals is when it all boils down to the most talented and competitive wrestlers and that was an important match to win.




The Semi Finals and the Finals matches were to be held the following day so we hustled Nicky out of the Covelli Center so he could get some food, hydration and much needed rest.  We asked him a few times during the day how he was feeling and he said he was feeling "alright." We could tell at dinner though that he was feeling ill.  He didn't eat that much at all and fell asleep earlier than he normally did.

In the morning he was feeling worse.  He had a fever and said he was a bit nauseous. We asked him if he felt like he could wrestle today and he said yes. We knew he was going to have to face Jaret Lester, an opponent he wrestled many times before, so it was probably going to be a close one.

When the Semi-Finals came around it was apparent Nick wasn't himself.  The match went the full 3 periods as we expected and Jaret wrestled an excellent match.  He took Nicky down 3 times during the match. Nick's mat wrestling was the difference. This I attributed to Mike Heil's taking Nick out of State and into Pennsylvania as many times as he did. He was able to secure 2 reversals and a set of 3 backpoints when he locked Jaret up in a cradle.  

Nicky won by decision 8-6. Jaret was in on a shot when time ran out. His coaches tried to argue. but one of the refs told me later (about 6 months later when I ran into him) that there was no way he was going to let Nicky get ripped off. Having fell short at the OAC the previous year due to sloppy officiating that was much appreciated to hear. 

There were several hours to wait before the Finals were held in the evening.  Nick said he was fatigued and that he felt like vomiting while he was wrestling Lester.  He knew that his performance was compromised because he was sick.  If he was any younger than he was I probably would have not allowed him to wrestle...even if it was the Finals.  My kids health and well being have...and will always...take priority over anything else. But he worked extremely hard and it was his call to go ahead and wrestle in the Finals match.

His Finals match was against Drew Hobbs from Team Miron. They are a club out of the Columbus area and definitely a premier youth club. Nicky wrestled Drew tough, but was just a little too spent by the dog fight he had against Jaret Lester to get anything going. And credit of course goes to young Drew Hobbs. He wrestled an excellent match and won by decision 4-0. Nicky didn't hang his head, and neither did we. We knew Nicky wasn't 100% and felt that sooner or later they would probably run into each other again. They did...but it wasn't until high school at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman Tournament.     





And that, my friends, was the end of Nicky's youth wrestling career. An OYWA State Championship and an OAC State Runner Up finish! He faced many challenges, much adversity, but I feel he lived up to his youth potential.  We were very proud of Nicky, and because there were hardships within our family that began towards the end of his youth career, he was always a beacon of celebration because of his wrestling exploits. More important was the fact that he was always respectful and likeable to everyone who crossed paths with him...both opponents and adults. He was always quick to smile and get into something fun. Here's a few pictures of Nick up on the podium and with his youth award collection that he put together by the time he was finished with the 6th grade.  The kids love the bling! 

    
Man it was a lot of fun to put this together. Taking trips back down memory lane is always fun when it's about your kid. I hope everyone who comes across this blog enjoys it also.  There's also a lot of little life lessons that one can pick up and use for themselves or for their own kids journey. This blog's original purpose is to be a source of inspiration and positivity for anyone who comes across it. I enjoy spreading a positive message.  We all contribute something to the universe...why not make it something healthy & helpful?

The next few installments will go over the two year journey to Nicky's next big wrestling achievement...his Ohio Jr. High School State Championship! A lot happened in that two years and I'm sure you'll find it pretty interesting.  New names, faces and personalities enter the picture.  Until then...take care! 

The Road To Nick's Youth State Championship---Part 5

Chasing Down A Youth State Championship---Part 5

2011 OYWA 95 lb. State Champion!

Tom Roehlig told me, when I once came to pick Nick up from a training camp, "He's going to make you a proud father for many years." While I was a proud father already, I appreciated and understood what he was saying. He clearly saw the promise and potential in Nicky.  Tom would wrestle with Nicky who, by the time he was in 6th grade, was beginning to roll around with one of Tom's life long campers, Ivan McClay. We'll talk about Ivan here shortly.

But first let's talk about Jaret Lester. We met the Lester's when Nick was done with his first season. It was one of the few Spring/Summer wrestling tournaments that Nicky attended. They warmed up together and became friends.  Jaret was a very tough minded, scrappy kid who you could tell loved to wrestle. But in terms of his wrestling skill set, in the beginning, he had a long way to go to be up to Nick's level. But he was going to be good.  I was sure of that.

When Nicky was in his 2nd season of wrestling he wrestled him twice. On 2-11-07 at the Beachwood Brawl Nicky won by major decision 11-2. And even though the score was lopsided, I could see he was improving.  At the Stow Bulldog Open on 4-14-07 they wrestled each other again with Nicky winning 11-1. I knew by Nicky's not being able to pin Jaret (Nicky has always been a pinner) that Jaret was working hard.  Here's a couple pictures of Jaret Lester when he was a youth wrestler.

Early in Nicky's 3rd season of wrestling Nicky and Jaret met up for the 3rd time at the Valley Forge Tournament. This was on 11-18-07. In small talking with his dad I mentioned to him that Nicky and Jaret were in the same bracket.  His dad's response was...I shit you not..."Sorry about your luck."  I couldn't believe it given the fact that Nicky had majored him the last few times.  I told my wife what he said to me and she laughed. She was surprised also.  Well I guess Mr. Lester should have waited to say that to me because Nicky beat him 10-4....a decision. Once again though I could see that Jaret was closing the gap and had improved a lot. Nicky's level of athleticism was just something you couldn't teach, and remained the difference maker. 

Now, remember, I didn't start taking Nick to any Summer training camps until after Nicky's third grade season. But I could clearly see that Jaret was getting better and knew that it had to be the result of off season training.  That helped me decide that Summer training...at least some to the degree I felt was necessary...was crucial to Nick's future development.  I didn't know where Jaret was going...until I signed up for Tom Roehlig's Fall Club.  As we were waiting for Tom to arrive and unlock the doors at Massillon Jackson High School Jaret's dad strolled up with Jaret in tow.  So Tom's camps and Fall club were definitely contributing to Jaret's development. 

If I recall correctly, I didn't see too much of Jaret at Tom's camps & Fall Club after Nicky and I found out about Tom and started attending regularly.  But I knew, from the wrestling grapevine, and FB that Jaret was doing well, improving and looking good, and was attending other good camp systems. Here's a picture of Jaret with Jeff Jordan at one of his camps:

After that match at the beginning of Nicky's 3rd grade wrestling season Nicky didn't wrestle Jaret until they were both in 5th grade. On 12/05/09 they finally ran into each other again at the Barberton Open and Jaret won their match by decision 3-2. Jaret was wrestling out of the Akron Wrestling Club (AWC) and had Corey Simpson and Antwon Pugh in the same room, so it was a program full of talent and they were working hard and getting better.  As a matter of fact Jaret won the OYWA 79 lb. State Championship in 2010.  He was legit.  Here's a picture of Antwon Pugh, Corey Simpson, and Jaret Lester after winning their OYWA State Championships that year. 

I write about Jaret here because by Nick's sixth grade season Jaret obviously improved enough to where I felt that if Nick wasn't wrestling well, Jaret could definitely beat him.  I mean he was a State Champion after all. Like all the young tough wrestlers I saw Nicky wrestle and become friends with, I liked Jaret and enjoyed the friendly rivalry that had developed between them.  Jaret serves as a terrific example of how much a wrestler can progress when they love the sport and work their tail off to improve.  He is also the perfect example of why Summer Camps, under a great coach, can increase a young wrestlers technique and intensity, which in turn makes the young wrestler more confident and allows them to compete harder.

In Nick's 6th grade season, during the regular season, they wrestled three times.  At the Mantua Duals and the Young Guns tournament Nicky decisioned Jaret 4-2, but at the Shaker Duals Jaret won 4-3. Here's a picture of Nicky and Jaret that was taken at the Mantua Duals. So going into the post season I knew that Jaret was definitely a great competitor who was on Nick's level. 

At the OYWA Sectionals and District tournaments Nicky steam rolled through his opponents.  On 1/30/11 he pinned all three of his opponents at the Lutheran West Sectional and on 2/06/1, at Districts, he pinned all his opponents except for Kenston's Brad Verbic, who he techfalled 15-1.  He absolutely looked great and we could see that he was peaking at the right time. Here he is with his teammates from the Cardinal Club after they won the Lutheran West Sectional. It was the first time that the Westshore program didn't win it in 17 years. Nick was a 4X Sectional Champion.  

And here are a few shots from the Kenston District tournament.  He was king of the mountain after 3 years of being District Runner Up. This experience was going to serve him well later in high school.

The OYWA State Tournament was held on 2/13/11 at Akron Firestone High School.  We were all excited.  Mike Heil had a district tournament with his son on this day so I sat with Jeff Jarrell in Nick's corner.  It was a great experience.  I felt that Nick was going to go straight through the bracket and he did just that.  His first opponent was Lane Lucas from Madison.  Nicky pinned him. Here's the video:
  



His Quarter finals match was against Victor Marcelli from Jackson. Nick won that match by decision 12-6. Victor was tough and not really on my radar at that time.  Really talented kid.  Here's their match. It was a good one:

Nick's Semi-Finals match was against a kid we wrestled before, David Crawford from Canfield.  David was a solid wrestler, but we felt that Nicky had too much horsepower at that time for him and that proved to be the case as Nicky tech-falled him 13-0.  Here's that match:




In the Finals Nick faced Aiden Pasiuk from Carrolton. Pasiuk defeated Jaret Lester so while we didn't know a lot about him, we knew he had to be very solid and stressed to Nicky to be very aggressive throughout the match.  We just wanted Nicky to keep wrestling the same way he had throughout the season.  He did just that. Aiden was tough but as Coach Jeff Jarrell said after the match...Nicky "wasn't going to be denied."  He locked up a bottom leg cradle and secured the fall!  What a great way to win a State Championship!  Here's Nick's Finals match:




You can see at the end of his match that he was interviewed by the cable station that was airing the tournament which replayed the entire tournament later on in the week. We were so very proud of Nick. He accomplished a big goal. It took the entire 6 years of his youth career to reach the top of the mountain, but to us that made the achievement all the more satisfying. We understood that because Nick was a middleweight he was smack dab in the middle of the bell curve of the most athletic boys. Boys that are the position players on the football field...like he was. Rarely does anything good in life come easily.  He paid his dues, put in the time and effort, and was rewarded by reaching the top of the podium at the State Tournament. Here's some more pictures of him at States.

We were all pretty darn happy to say the least...but we had to TCB...(Take Care of Business) at the OAC State Tournament. With much larger brackets and even more boys who we were not familiar with to wrestle, we got back to training to prepare for the tournament.  And that's where we'll leave off for now.  :)