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.   

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 1

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. 

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.