Chasing Down A Youth State Championship---Part One
Nick Develops Into A Force To Be Reckoned With
The next three years were super exciting for Nicky and our family. By now it was very apparent that he had the potential to be a great high school wrestler. So my beautiful wife Pam and I did everything we could to position him for future success while first letting him be a little boy.
One of those things was to NOT wrestle him a lot during the off season. I wasn't scared of "burning him out" or anything like that. I just wanted him have a lot of Summer fun and take part in other sports.
Fishing and boating with our friends, shooting his BB gun, riding his dirt bike and 4 wheeler, playing with his little brother Kevin and Alex, the boy who lived next door, pitching a tent in our backyard, playing in the woods and building fire pits with old dad. Lots of fun stuff to do when you're a little guy.
So I...and this differed greatly from a lot of the other dads who had high caliber youth wrestlers...did not continue bringing him to a room anywhere to practice a few times per week. Nor did I put him in countless tournaments over the off season. I would put him in a few tournaments each Summer...with no practice and he would usually end up winning, but of course occasionally wouldn't place or placed 3rd or 4th. It may seem like a bizarre strategy, but I wanted to see how much he was retaining and once again I did not want his life to be dominated by the sport at such a young age. I rather he played a variety of sports and it was through the participation of other sports where I really began to grasp how athletic Nicky was.
When Nick was just a toddler I would bring him to any basketball court around where we lived to watch dad shoot around and to play. So his love for basketball began that way. I knew basketball was a real threat to his wrestling, so I let him indulge himself in the off season when he was young and play as much as he wanted. And believe me when I tell you...he's good. This picture was when he was 11 years old and the first time he beat me...hit all his outside shots and outran my fat ass for the rebounds! So I memorialized the moment by taking a picture of me palming his head. One good turn deserves the other!
I have zero doubts that if he had of chosen basketball he would have been a spectacular point guard...and while he was in high school he probably could have started on many teams in the Greater Cleveland area. I played him one on one as he was growing up and he has an incredible outside shot and can drive to the hoop with solid ball handling skills. Basketball was how I introduced him to Charlie Hustle...giving your all out running a man to get the loose ball rebounds, following your shot for the rebounds and things like that. He loved it...and so did I. Great memories. "Again daddy. Let's play again." Over and over until Big Daddy couldn't play no more! What a motor that kid had.
Broke his forearm at the end of his first year of wrestling doing wall sprints. Stuck his arm out straight to stop himself and broke it. We had to explain the concept of "pulling up" as he approached the wall so that would never occur again! Hardly shed a tear. Tough. Got a cast on & all his friends signed it. So we signed him up for soccer the Summer of first grade. Didn't want him to play football for fear of it breaking again. He would have only been allowed to play flag anyway as he was seven. He scored 35 goals in 7 games! I thought it was the second coming of Pele!
The summer of Second Grade he began tackle football for the Southern Hills league. He was QB, running back and outside linebacker usually. Played football until 8th grade. Position player...usually the best open field tackler on the team...and one year with the North Royalton Bears averaged 150 yards per game from the QB position. Have the DVD's to prove it. Also played on a Pop Warner team called the Southwest Seminoles started up by a friends dad. He faced better and tougher talent on the teams in this league, but still played great.
In Eighth Grade, or before 8th grade I should say, we sat down and talked about the risk of injury that football posed, especially as football season is right before wrestling season. We decided that it was best to not risk injury and that was the end of his football career. Besides risking injury we felt that Nicky's best bet of obtaining an athletic scholarship was through the sport of wrestling. It was a decision we both were happy we made in the long run. We seen a few really remarkable youth and middle school wrestlers have bad injuries that pretty much put an end to their wrestling careers. That being said, it's not like I didn't miss seeing Nicky out on the football field and often in his high school years I use to fantasize about what could have been. I think it would be safe to say, based on watching the careers of the boys he played with, that he would have been a star football player as well. Oh well. No regrets.
Ok I have to back track a bit right here. At the very end of the Nicky's first season Nicky wanted to keep wrestling...and so did I. So upon asking around I was told by another wrestling dad that practices were being held at the Strongsville practice room. Going there would have far reaching implications. The guy running the practices was a gentleman name Mike Heil.
Fishing and boating with our friends, shooting his BB gun, riding his dirt bike and 4 wheeler, playing with his little brother Kevin and Alex, the boy who lived next door, pitching a tent in our backyard, playing in the woods and building fire pits with old dad. Lots of fun stuff to do when you're a little guy.
So I...and this differed greatly from a lot of the other dads who had high caliber youth wrestlers...did not continue bringing him to a room anywhere to practice a few times per week. Nor did I put him in countless tournaments over the off season. I would put him in a few tournaments each Summer...with no practice and he would usually end up winning, but of course occasionally wouldn't place or placed 3rd or 4th. It may seem like a bizarre strategy, but I wanted to see how much he was retaining and once again I did not want his life to be dominated by the sport at such a young age. I rather he played a variety of sports and it was through the participation of other sports where I really began to grasp how athletic Nicky was.
When Nick was just a toddler I would bring him to any basketball court around where we lived to watch dad shoot around and to play. So his love for basketball began that way. I knew basketball was a real threat to his wrestling, so I let him indulge himself in the off season when he was young and play as much as he wanted. And believe me when I tell you...he's good. This picture was when he was 11 years old and the first time he beat me...hit all his outside shots and outran my fat ass for the rebounds! So I memorialized the moment by taking a picture of me palming his head. One good turn deserves the other!
I have zero doubts that if he had of chosen basketball he would have been a spectacular point guard...and while he was in high school he probably could have started on many teams in the Greater Cleveland area. I played him one on one as he was growing up and he has an incredible outside shot and can drive to the hoop with solid ball handling skills. Basketball was how I introduced him to Charlie Hustle...giving your all out running a man to get the loose ball rebounds, following your shot for the rebounds and things like that. He loved it...and so did I. Great memories. "Again daddy. Let's play again." Over and over until Big Daddy couldn't play no more! What a motor that kid had.
Broke his forearm at the end of his first year of wrestling doing wall sprints. Stuck his arm out straight to stop himself and broke it. We had to explain the concept of "pulling up" as he approached the wall so that would never occur again! Hardly shed a tear. Tough. Got a cast on & all his friends signed it. So we signed him up for soccer the Summer of first grade. Didn't want him to play football for fear of it breaking again. He would have only been allowed to play flag anyway as he was seven. He scored 35 goals in 7 games! I thought it was the second coming of Pele!
The summer of Second Grade he began tackle football for the Southern Hills league. He was QB, running back and outside linebacker usually. Played football until 8th grade. Position player...usually the best open field tackler on the team...and one year with the North Royalton Bears averaged 150 yards per game from the QB position. Have the DVD's to prove it. Also played on a Pop Warner team called the Southwest Seminoles started up by a friends dad. He faced better and tougher talent on the teams in this league, but still played great.
In Eighth Grade, or before 8th grade I should say, we sat down and talked about the risk of injury that football posed, especially as football season is right before wrestling season. We decided that it was best to not risk injury and that was the end of his football career. Besides risking injury we felt that Nicky's best bet of obtaining an athletic scholarship was through the sport of wrestling. It was a decision we both were happy we made in the long run. We seen a few really remarkable youth and middle school wrestlers have bad injuries that pretty much put an end to their wrestling careers. That being said, it's not like I didn't miss seeing Nicky out on the football field and often in his high school years I use to fantasize about what could have been. I think it would be safe to say, based on watching the careers of the boys he played with, that he would have been a star football player as well. Oh well. No regrets.
Ok I have to back track a bit right here. At the very end of the Nicky's first season Nicky wanted to keep wrestling...and so did I. So upon asking around I was told by another wrestling dad that practices were being held at the Strongsville practice room. Going there would have far reaching implications. The guy running the practices was a gentleman name Mike Heil.
Mike has five sons, three of whom wrestle. All of them are excellent. One of his sons was four years older than Nick and is a phenomenal wrestler. His name is Dean Heil. Dean just won his second NCAA Division 1 National Championship, and is a three time All American at Oklahoma State. As he was growing up he won everything...and I mean everything! In high school he wrestled for the powerhouse wrestling program Lakewood St. Edward's and was a four time State Champ! He also won the prestigious Super 32 and the Ironman tournaments. Without a doubt a very special kid who is now a very special young man. Here's a picture of Mike with his youngest son Logan. Logan was a Sophomore this past year and is a State Placer.
Mike's what I consider a great coach. From my first time being in his room and watching him run a practice I could see a big difference in the quality of his instruction and the way his practices were run. I decided to have Nicky attend his practices as much as possible. The only problem was that sometimes he didn't have a room to work out of in the early days. Nevertheless we became acquainted with each other and began our friendship.
The group of boys that were in Mike's rooms formed the club that later became his club team. They were known as Team Wrecking Crew (TWC). What a kick ass name huh? Kids like Garrett Lambert (3X State Placer), Josh Heil (Mike's other son who was the first 4X State Placer at Brunswick High School and who was Nick's main drill partner for 3 of Nicky's high school years), Matt Fields (who Nicky wrestled with and has been friends with ever since the North Royalton days...also Matt is a 2X Finalist who won his 1st OHSAA State Championship this year), Stan Bleich (State Runner Up this year and 3X State Placer), Tony DeCesare (4X State Placer), and many other tough kids. I guess what I'm trying to say is...results speak for themselves. Nick is still great friends with all of these guys. Here's pics of a few of them throughout the years:
Because Mike is a great coach, I would have him coach Nick whenever possible if we were at the same tournament. Mike would also travel to different tournaments and welcomed any and all who would like to travel with his group and compete. He would travel to the toughest tournaments where our sons could match up with the best competition and see how they stacked up. It was awesome. His advice regarding wrestling was always sound and I consider him a mentor to this day. More about Mike later as it turns out he was one of Nick's high school coaches.
The beginning of Nick's 4th wrestling season we chose to join the Brecksville Bee's Youth Wrestling club. It turned out to be great move. The high school program had emerged as a public school powerhouse under the guidance of Coach Todd Haverdill. Todd took an interest in all the boys in the youth and middle school programs and it serves as a great feeder program for the high school.
The room was brutal. Full of talented boys, many of whom also would go on to become youth, jr. high, and high school state placers with a couple of State Champions thrown in there as well! Sonny Lucas, Austin Hiles (who Nicky lost to in the OHSAA Finals match his Junior year), Danny Morell, Frankie Regalbutta, Luke Strnad, Kevin Naim, Nicky Kiussis, Zach D'Anna, Andrew Perelka, Jason and Jarod Bronstrup...what a great room and awesome group of hard working, fun kids. What made it even better was that I got along great with all the parents and we just had a blast watching our youth team decimate other teams. I remain friends with just about all of them to this day. Here's some pics of Nick's Brecksville days:
So for the next two years we would wrestle for the Brecksville youth program. They did it right. They had a tough tournament schedule and it wasn't a 90 day program like North Royalton. If you put your kid in a tournament you could bet that he would have a teammate there to warm up with and spend time with throughout the day.
North Royalton only participated in the OYWA. Brecksville went to OYWA and the Ohio Athletic Committe (OAC). The OAC State Tournament was scheduled about a month after the OYWA State Tournament. They both are prestigious. The OYWA is a mini version of the High School State qualification process. What I mean by that is the top 4 placers in each weight class in a Sectional Tournament advance the following week to a District Tournament. The top 4 placers in the District Tournament then qualify for the State Championship Tournament. The OAC only has District Tournaments, and you don't have to be a varsity member on any league team (since there is no OAC league) to attend a District Tournament and qualify for their State Tournament.
Kids that wrestle in the OAC are usually in a little better shape, and their skill sets are a little bit sharper with that extra month or so of additional practice. Also kids participate from all over the state of Ohio. The OYWA participants were limited to the teams that were in the league. While it wasn't a huge difference, you will definitely see some very high quality youth wrestlers at the OAC District and State Tournaments that you didn't have a chance to wrestle in the OYWA. Also, because there were no varsity line up requirements, any wrestler could engage in the event. So the brackets are huge.
For the most part, the great wrestlers from the OYWA also wrestle in the OAC.
I always wondered why the North Royalton Wrestling Club didn't do things like their more successful neighbors at Brecksville did. Like take part in the OAC. There were only two wrestlers from the N. Royalton Wrestling Club, when Nicky began, who eventually captured a High School State Championship. Nicky...and Matt Fields.
While Matt stayed at N.Royalton all throughout his youth career, in my opinion, it was the extra that he got in addition to the N. Royalton program that made that long term difference. Matt was in Mike Heil's room (right after the end of the N.R.Y.W.C.'s season ended...just like Nicky) and accompanied TWC on wrestling trips. In other words his dad also established a relationship with Mike Heil. His dad also made sure that in the off season he was attending camps and clinics from Eric and Scott Burnett who run the Burnett Trained Wrestling Club (BTW) and have excellent camps and clinics. They are legends.
I am not trying to disparage the N.Royalton Youth Club. I am very appreciative of the help and instruction they provided Nicky in the first three years of his wrestling career. But, in my opinion, their limited participation in the off season is why their wrestlers didn't have any notable long term post season success. From 1st to 8th grades whenever Nick attended a tough off season tournament we would rarely see a N.R. wrestler there...whereas you would always see a TWC, BTW, Brecksville, Elyria, Wadsworth, or Westshore (St. Ed's) in attendance. Like that old saying goes....success leaves clues. And that is why I left their club. Word to the wise. You have to do what is best for your kid. If someone can't understand this and harbors a grudge then that's their problem.
My next 3 or 4 posts will wrap up Nick's youth career. It sure is fun writing this and thinking back about all the great times and the people we shared them with. The wrestling community is like no other.
Here's a video of Nick wrestling in an OAC District Tournament against a tough youth opponent. See if you can catch the little elbow he threw into Nick at the very end of their match. I didn't catch it myself..Nick told me about it. Nick took it in stride. Cool and calm is how he handled himself throughout his entire career. Super proud of him.
