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 3

Chasing Down A Youth State Championship---Part 3

Nick Gets Up On The Podium At The OYWA State Championships

After the excitement of his first trip to both OYWA and OAC States it was back to the business of having fun!  Riding around on his Yamaha 50 and Polaris 4 wheeler, playing in the woods and the creek that was besides our house in North Royalton, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pit that we dug out in the back of our yard, playing plenty of basketball on the court of Albion Elementary which was directly behind our house, trips to the zoo and the parks and beaches of Greater Cleveland, blowing off the case or two of fireworks that "Uncle" Mike Mennozi always gave them after our annual Fourth of July parties, fishing and boating on Lake Erie with my old friend Gary Gottschalk and his son, and just hours and hours of Nicky and Kevin playing with Alex Ashworth, who lived next door and was Nicky's age.  I wish I had a dime for every time I pulled in the drive from work to see those three playing in one of our yards.  Good times.

My philosophy continued to be "if it's not broke than don't fix it." So I continued to have Nicky strength train under my watchful eye, attend a few camps at Tom Roehligs, wrestle in a few tournaments, get ready for football season that began every August, and attend Tom's Fall Wrestling Club.  That was the nature of Nick's off season schedule.  Once again...very moderate compared to many of his youth wrestling peers.

Nick continued to play football and showed super athleticism. Another great youth wrestler in the Brecksville Club, named Luke Strnad had a father who was aware of Nicky's ability.  Luke played on the Brecksville Bee's and Nick played on the N. Royalton Bears. Luke's dad, named Lee, decided to put together a Pop Warner football team to play against the tougher football teams in the Cleveland area.  

He formed the Southwest Seminoles and approached me to see if I would be interested in having Nicky play with Luke. I jumped at the chance because Luke was an incredible athlete and I wanted to see them play together also.  They had a blast and although they took their lumps in the Pop Warner league, I feel they were better for it. Luke went on to have a very good high school football career, becoming the starting quarterback for Brecksville-Broadview Hts. High School.  Always a favorite of mine.  Here's a few pictures of him, Nick, and future Brecksville High State Champ Austin Hiles...yes three wrestlers from the same club who also played football together!     

When wrestling season resumed the Brecksville Club was in high gear. Even though I really had no need to take Nick to additional rooms...I did...to get in a few practices ran by Mike Heil.  It was a way for me to have Nick drill and wrestle live with his group of boys who, as I noted before, were exceptional and who Nicky was now friends with.  

One practice room that I neglected to mention before was the Chanel Firebird wrestling room.  I use to take Nicky there also. Chanel closed down in 2013, but they were a powerhouse wrestling program over the years and had a great youth practice room also.  

Todd Assad, a friend from the city I grew up in, Bedford, had two exceptional sons who were developed there.  Their names are Aaron and Austin.  Both were high level wrestlers who went on to wrestle for Brecksville High. Aaron, the older of the two, would win a State Championship and Austin would become a 4X State Placer...and a 3X State Runner-Up.  

Austin was probably the best Ohio high school wrestler I know of who didn't capture a State title.  That being said, he more than made up for it by becoming a 2X National Freestyle Champ at Fargo. Aaron went on to wrestle for Missouri, and Austin wrestles for Michigan.  

Another very successful high school wrestler who came out of that room (there were many) who Nicky took his lumps from was LJ Bentley. LJ wrested for national powerhouse St. Edward's in high school and wrestles at the University of Pittsburgh now...so you can see there was some serious talent in that room.  Austin and LJ both had a few years worth of physical maturity on Nicky, but were both lightweights so Nicky was able to wrestle with them as he was a bigger young boy.

Nicky opened his 5th grade season up with a match against LJ.  He lost 10-0 but didn't get teched or give up the fall, so I was happy with that.  He had a very solid season and because he weighed 82 lbs. he had many tough sixth, seventh and even small eighth grade opponents to contend with. It was obvious he was still progressing. 

   
After a very fun and competitive regular season we were anxious to see how Nick would fare in the post season.  He won his OYWA Sectionals by pinning his way through it.  Dominant.  

At the OYWA Kenston District Tournament he pinned his way through...until the Finals when he ran into a total hammer of a kid...Tanyon Jarrell.  Tanyon pinned Nicky.   

A little bit about Tanyon.  Tanyon was the 2009 OYWA 76 lb. State Champ. Tanyon was wrestling out of the Cardinal Club that was put together and ran by his dad Jeff Jarrell.  Tanyon had been on my radar for awhile.  This kid was one of the toughest young wrestlers I had seen.  A brute.  He was solid in all positions and just a complete hammer on top.  Knew how to throw legs in and use them.  Nick wrestled him at the beginning of his 4th Grade season at the Valley Forge Tournament and lost a close match to him 6-4.  After that loss I knew he was tough and followed his matches.  He was exciting and fun to watch.  Here's a few pictures of Tanyon. All around athlete. Super tough. Just like Nick.  

I thought that Nick had grown considerably in his wrestling since Tanyon beat him.  And he did.  The only problem was so did Tanyon. His skill set was clearly above 99% of the Ohio Youth Wrestlers. He used his boots to turn Nicky and at that time Nicky just didn't have the defense or horse power to deal with him. 

Nicky was wrestling tough though and we still felt good about his chances to win a State Championship this year or at least place very high.  At OYWA States he won his first match by pinning the only girl he's ever had to wrestle, a girl named Katie Bender from Brookfield. He won his Quarter Finals match by a 2-0 decision over another tough kid, Victor Marcelli. Unfortunately he lost his Semi Finals match to a boy named Corey Simpson. Corey was another outstanding wrestler and, like Tanyon Jarrell, ahead of the pack.  

I truly believe Nick would have placed third at this State Tournament had a huge upset not occur.  However, as fate would have it, Tanyon, who was in the lower part of the bracket, was upset by Massillon wrestler Noah McCumbers 4-2.  I personally believe strongly that Tanyon would have beaten Simpson in the Finals. As it was, Nicky had to face Tanyon in his first Consolation match. Tanyon pinned Nicky and went on to capture 3rd place after a rematch with McCumbers who lost in the Semi Finals to Wadsworth's Joey Baughman.  So Nicky wrestled for 5th and 6th place against Wadsworth's Cory Surratt, a familiar foe.  It was a close match but Nick was able to win by a 6-4 decision.

We came away very happy as Nick earned his way onto his first State Championship podium.  And we learned a lot.  So we felt very optimistic about the upcoming OAC District and State Tournaments.

At OAC District's Nicky wrestled his way to the Finals by beating Midpark's Justin Clarke, Team Myron's Ben Tate, and Wadsworth's Cody Surratt.  Of course waiting for him in the Finals was none other than Tanyon Jarrell.  Hey! In wrestling if you want to be the best you have to beat the best! They had a good match and this time Tanyon won by Major Decision 13-5. Still...it wasn't a pin and we felt progress was being made. We absolutely respected Tanyon and his abilities and was happy to find ourselves competing against him in a District Finals for the second time.  We're on the right track I assured Nicky.

At OAC States we suffered huge disappointment.  In the second Championship round we got robbed of not only back points but a pin. I have it on my video tape and I assure you the referee who officiated the match was absolutely incompetent.  Joe Hiles and I shook our heads in disbelief as he made one officiating mistake after another. Our pleas fell upon deaf ears and a feeble brain.  So Nick's opponent, Robbie Oswald from Elder Kids, won by decision 7-5. Tanyon had a dominating performance, techfalling his first opponent and pinning his way to a State Championship in the Finals against Oswald...who made it through his bracket. We feel absolutely sure that outside of an injury occurring, getting caught, or horrible officiating (which is what happened) Nicky would have wrestled Tanyon in the State Finals.  

Nicky dropped down to consolation and won two matches in row before losing and bowing out of the tournament.  He lost 10-2 to Josh Herhold...the second year in a row that he was one match away from placing in the OAC.  To be honest he just wrestled poorly.  

We learned (or I should say had reinforced) a few valuable lessons after this tournament. Lesson number one: try as hard as you can to keep the match out of the refs hands and lesson number two: you have to wrestle better and not give your opponent so many opportunities to score off your mistakes as in the Herhold match. Lesson number 3: Have to learn how to bounce back strongly and be ready to compete after a setback.

And that wrapped up his fifth grade season. 

Season Five Record: (42-17)  Pins/Techs (27)

The big takeaway was that he earned his way up on the podium and that he was only losing to the very toughest of opponents...most of whom would be moving onto Jr. High School the following year.  We felt more confident than ever that Nick's youth State Championship would be accomplished next year when he was at the top of the mountain as a 6th grader. Here's an example of how Nicky was wrestling in 5th grade.



And here's Nick and the rest of the 82 lb. wrestlers on the OYWA State podium!  This was the Hammer bracket of the tournament.

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.