Chasing Down A Youth State Championship---Part 4
Strategy Matters. Positioning Nick For Success At States
Rinse and repeat. There's nothing to it but to do it! We kept doing what had gotten us to this point. A few Summer tournaments, Tom Roehlig's camps and Fall Club, and more football.
Another thing Nicky had going for him was (if I may take a little credit here) was knowing our family's genetic potential and what I could bring to the table. I knew from how Nicky was built and how he was growing that he was going to be a middleweight during his high school years. Having done my share of serious lifting and strength training...and more importantly training several other men over the course of twenty years...I knew that I didn't need to find another trainer to address his strength development.
Even though I've neglected myself over the course of the last 15 years, I still have a deep knowledge base of how to build strength and have remained a student of strength training. It was becoming evident that Nicky was always one of, if not the, strongest boys his age and size in any room he went into. Add in the core exercises that my friend Tom Roehlig introduced Nick and I to and I felt pretty confident that Nicky would retain that "edge" he had over the competition throughout Jr. High and High School.
Steady strength training and, for the most part, keeping my sons diets relatively clean were factors that we definitely could control, so Pam and I were very diligent about that. Of course they're eating their fair share of junk food like all kids, but we were very consistent with their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
A complete protein source with every meal, starchy complex carbs to fuel their muscles, and fruits and vegetables for them to get the fiber, vitamins & minerals, and phytochemicals to grow and have the energy needed for solid sports performance. Plenty of water. Fueling an athlete is important, and sports nutrition is a vital piece of the puzzle. Two things an athlete needs more than the average person is better quality nutrition and more sleep. Especially when their young and growing! I saw many young wrestlers whose dads were restricting their kids diets too much...I personally felt they were crazy to do so, but hey, to each their own.
So let's get to the wrestling season and talk about another outstanding wrestler who Nicky competed against. Antwon Pugh was yet another wrestler who Nicky had to contend with. Antwon was heavier than Nick in past years, but Nicky put on weight every year and that put him in new weight classes with new faces to wrestle. By Nicky's 6th grade year we were in Antwon weight class.
Antwon was a sensational wrestler. Another all around athlete. He was from the Akron area and I had watched him over the course of the last several years. Super impressive. Antwon was the 2009 OAC 75 lb. State Champ in his age group and was the 2010 OYWA 86 lb. State Champ.
Nick wrestled Antwon two times within a month when the wrestling season began. Once at the Green Bulldog Round Robin and once at the Medina Fall Open. Although Nicky wrestled him tough, Antwon tech falled him the first match (12-0) and pinned him the second.
Tom Roehlig, who was corner coaching Nick during the Green tournament, turned to me and said "That kid is really good." When you have a kid as good as Nicky was, who is pinning and tech falling his way through a tournament, and then himself gets tech falled or pinned by a wrestler, you just have to accept it and acknowledge the other wrestlers ability. And so that's exactly what we did. Here's a few pictures of Antwon back then.
I felt that our best bet to win a youth state championship was to not be in the same weight class Antwon was in. And what made it the best strategy of all was that I could wrestle Nicky at bodyweight. He would be well hydrated and fed properly...ready for the competition.
More strategy.
The Brecksville Youth Club lost most of the kids who were in the practice room for the past two years. The only wrestler that remained who was tough enough...and skilled enough...to drill and wrestle live with Nicky was Luke Strnad. However, these two were very used to each other and knew each other so well that it was a dog fight whenever they went live. I knew that the best thing to do was to get Nicky in a fresh room with as many good wrestlers as possible.
Mike Heil had settled into the Brunswick wrestling room and had a good relationship with Brunswick High head wrestling coach Mike Koshar. This was to prove very valuable for Brunswick Wrestling moving into the future. Coach Koshar is deeply committed to the program and had a number of good wrestlers came through under his watch...including two time State Champ Richie Spicel. The influx of talent he was about to receive in a few years, because of his open mindedness, was going to elevate Brunswick wrestling to new heights. More on that later. Here's a picture of Coach Mike Koshar with Nick and I during Nick's Freshman Year.
I needed an OYWA youth team...like Brecksville...for Nick to wrestle out of. Mike Heil's Team Wrecking Crew wasn't participating in the OYWA. He suggested to me that I approach Jeff Jarrell about Nicky wrestling with his Cardinal Club. It made perfect sense to me for a few different reasons.
I was never the kind of guy who held any resentment towards another parent or coach of a wrestler who could beat my kid. I brought Nick up with the belief that every kid he would ever face out on a wrestling mat had a warrior's heart, and that regardless of a match's outcome they were deserving of respect. That would become a trademark characteristic of his. Win, lose or draw, he was always a great sport after a match. There is nobody out there that can say they've seen Nick lose his cool or anything remotely close to that. That being said, I was excited to reach out to Jeff to see if not only could Nick wrestle varsity at 95 lbs. for the Cardinal Club, but would he be willing to bring Hammer Tanyon in to work with Nick, especially in regards to getting better with his legs.
It worked out great. Jeff had a great line up with some super tough kids. Among them was Brendan Price and Stan Bleich. Stan was a regular in Mike Heil's room and wrestled for TWC and Nick and Stan already knew each other well from going to a few tourney's together. Brendan was a hammer. Tough, and a great scrambler, he was going to be the Cardinal Clubs 90 lber. Between Brendan and Tanyon at the Cardinal Club, the boy's in the Brunswick room wrestling under Mike Heil, and going to Chanel's practice room once a week to wrestle with Austin Assad, LJ Bentley, and other tough Firebirds, I felt confident that Nicky was getting not only great drill partners, but great coaching as well. Here's a few pictures of the Cardinal Club members. What a fun group of kids.
Jeff went above and beyond with Nicky, having Tanyon work with Nicky, especially tweaking his leg turks, cross wrist tilts, and the figure four leg ride. They had great chemistry and Nicky responded well to Jeff's coaching. Nicky had become a serious wrestling shoe buff and collector and bought a pair of red John Smith's. Jeff played with Nicky constantly, talking up "those shoes" and Nicky loved it. So he was having a lot of fun as he was working hard and learning. It showed too. Nicky was catching on quickly and it was showing in the live goes with Tanyon. More importantly...it was showing in competition.
One example of this was when Mike Heil took Nicky on two consecutive weekends to a couple of bruiser tournaments in PA. The Winter Storm and Young Guns tournaments. These tournaments had some elite level youth wrestlers attend from both Ohio and PA. Nicky placed 2nd in both of these tournaments. He lost to the same kid, a boy who was a year older named Greg Bulsak. Greg went on to become a 2X PIAA State Champ and Super 32 placer. Very tough youth wrestler at the time. Very solid. He teched Nick 11-0 at the Winter Storm, but at the Young Guns tournament he only lost by a score of 5-3. Nick normally does very well in rematches and this would show itself to be true later throughout his Jr. High and High School career. Mike said that Nick listened well and that Nick showed "great improvement." I was very proud of him.
My next post will cover the OYWA District and State tournaments. For now suffice it to say that during the course of the regular season he was an absolute wrecking ball. Up until the post season he only lost 7 out of 54 matches! Those loses were to State Champs and a few oddball matches where they combined weight classes with older or bigger boys at a couple open tournaments. He was clearly head and shoulders above 98% of the kids in his weight class and his coaches and I were very optimistic...and I would say even confident about his winning a State Championship this year. His time had come.
Here's a few videos from the OURWAY District Tournament. That's another youth league that has a State Championship tournament. The first opponent is DJ Skiba from St. Ed's feeder program Westshore, and the next is our friend (but always game and competitive rival) Cody Surratt from Wadsworth. DJ ended up being a teammates of Nick's at Brunswick High. He's a great young man who always worked hard. He's currently serving in the U.S. Air Force.
These pictures and videos bring back a lot of great memories for me, and I am sure they will for others who either had kids wrestling at that time, or were coaching. Good times indeed!
A complete protein source with every meal, starchy complex carbs to fuel their muscles, and fruits and vegetables for them to get the fiber, vitamins & minerals, and phytochemicals to grow and have the energy needed for solid sports performance. Plenty of water. Fueling an athlete is important, and sports nutrition is a vital piece of the puzzle. Two things an athlete needs more than the average person is better quality nutrition and more sleep. Especially when their young and growing! I saw many young wrestlers whose dads were restricting their kids diets too much...I personally felt they were crazy to do so, but hey, to each their own.
So let's get to the wrestling season and talk about another outstanding wrestler who Nicky competed against. Antwon Pugh was yet another wrestler who Nicky had to contend with. Antwon was heavier than Nick in past years, but Nicky put on weight every year and that put him in new weight classes with new faces to wrestle. By Nicky's 6th grade year we were in Antwon weight class.
Antwon was a sensational wrestler. Another all around athlete. He was from the Akron area and I had watched him over the course of the last several years. Super impressive. Antwon was the 2009 OAC 75 lb. State Champ in his age group and was the 2010 OYWA 86 lb. State Champ.
Nick wrestled Antwon two times within a month when the wrestling season began. Once at the Green Bulldog Round Robin and once at the Medina Fall Open. Although Nicky wrestled him tough, Antwon tech falled him the first match (12-0) and pinned him the second.
Tom Roehlig, who was corner coaching Nick during the Green tournament, turned to me and said "That kid is really good." When you have a kid as good as Nicky was, who is pinning and tech falling his way through a tournament, and then himself gets tech falled or pinned by a wrestler, you just have to accept it and acknowledge the other wrestlers ability. And so that's exactly what we did. Here's a few pictures of Antwon back then.
I felt that our best bet to win a youth state championship was to not be in the same weight class Antwon was in. And what made it the best strategy of all was that I could wrestle Nicky at bodyweight. He would be well hydrated and fed properly...ready for the competition.
More strategy.
The Brecksville Youth Club lost most of the kids who were in the practice room for the past two years. The only wrestler that remained who was tough enough...and skilled enough...to drill and wrestle live with Nicky was Luke Strnad. However, these two were very used to each other and knew each other so well that it was a dog fight whenever they went live. I knew that the best thing to do was to get Nicky in a fresh room with as many good wrestlers as possible.
Mike Heil had settled into the Brunswick wrestling room and had a good relationship with Brunswick High head wrestling coach Mike Koshar. This was to prove very valuable for Brunswick Wrestling moving into the future. Coach Koshar is deeply committed to the program and had a number of good wrestlers came through under his watch...including two time State Champ Richie Spicel. The influx of talent he was about to receive in a few years, because of his open mindedness, was going to elevate Brunswick wrestling to new heights. More on that later. Here's a picture of Coach Mike Koshar with Nick and I during Nick's Freshman Year.
I needed an OYWA youth team...like Brecksville...for Nick to wrestle out of. Mike Heil's Team Wrecking Crew wasn't participating in the OYWA. He suggested to me that I approach Jeff Jarrell about Nicky wrestling with his Cardinal Club. It made perfect sense to me for a few different reasons.
I was never the kind of guy who held any resentment towards another parent or coach of a wrestler who could beat my kid. I brought Nick up with the belief that every kid he would ever face out on a wrestling mat had a warrior's heart, and that regardless of a match's outcome they were deserving of respect. That would become a trademark characteristic of his. Win, lose or draw, he was always a great sport after a match. There is nobody out there that can say they've seen Nick lose his cool or anything remotely close to that. That being said, I was excited to reach out to Jeff to see if not only could Nick wrestle varsity at 95 lbs. for the Cardinal Club, but would he be willing to bring Hammer Tanyon in to work with Nick, especially in regards to getting better with his legs.
It worked out great. Jeff had a great line up with some super tough kids. Among them was Brendan Price and Stan Bleich. Stan was a regular in Mike Heil's room and wrestled for TWC and Nick and Stan already knew each other well from going to a few tourney's together. Brendan was a hammer. Tough, and a great scrambler, he was going to be the Cardinal Clubs 90 lber. Between Brendan and Tanyon at the Cardinal Club, the boy's in the Brunswick room wrestling under Mike Heil, and going to Chanel's practice room once a week to wrestle with Austin Assad, LJ Bentley, and other tough Firebirds, I felt confident that Nicky was getting not only great drill partners, but great coaching as well. Here's a few pictures of the Cardinal Club members. What a fun group of kids.
Jeff went above and beyond with Nicky, having Tanyon work with Nicky, especially tweaking his leg turks, cross wrist tilts, and the figure four leg ride. They had great chemistry and Nicky responded well to Jeff's coaching. Nicky had become a serious wrestling shoe buff and collector and bought a pair of red John Smith's. Jeff played with Nicky constantly, talking up "those shoes" and Nicky loved it. So he was having a lot of fun as he was working hard and learning. It showed too. Nicky was catching on quickly and it was showing in the live goes with Tanyon. More importantly...it was showing in competition.
One example of this was when Mike Heil took Nicky on two consecutive weekends to a couple of bruiser tournaments in PA. The Winter Storm and Young Guns tournaments. These tournaments had some elite level youth wrestlers attend from both Ohio and PA. Nicky placed 2nd in both of these tournaments. He lost to the same kid, a boy who was a year older named Greg Bulsak. Greg went on to become a 2X PIAA State Champ and Super 32 placer. Very tough youth wrestler at the time. Very solid. He teched Nick 11-0 at the Winter Storm, but at the Young Guns tournament he only lost by a score of 5-3. Nick normally does very well in rematches and this would show itself to be true later throughout his Jr. High and High School career. Mike said that Nick listened well and that Nick showed "great improvement." I was very proud of him.
My next post will cover the OYWA District and State tournaments. For now suffice it to say that during the course of the regular season he was an absolute wrecking ball. Up until the post season he only lost 7 out of 54 matches! Those loses were to State Champs and a few oddball matches where they combined weight classes with older or bigger boys at a couple open tournaments. He was clearly head and shoulders above 98% of the kids in his weight class and his coaches and I were very optimistic...and I would say even confident about his winning a State Championship this year. His time had come.
Here's a few videos from the OURWAY District Tournament. That's another youth league that has a State Championship tournament. The first opponent is DJ Skiba from St. Ed's feeder program Westshore, and the next is our friend (but always game and competitive rival) Cody Surratt from Wadsworth. DJ ended up being a teammates of Nick's at Brunswick High. He's a great young man who always worked hard. He's currently serving in the U.S. Air Force.
These pictures and videos bring back a lot of great memories for me, and I am sure they will for others who either had kids wrestling at that time, or were coaching. Good times indeed!
