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.  :)