Questions for anyone that has wrestled...

DH · 07-11-2008, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Flop The Nuts

DH - In the spirit of full disclosure, what are your answers to 1-3?

1. How old were you when you started wrestling?

I was a senior in high school -- 17 at the time.

2. Why did you start wrestling? Did you have a family member or someone else that was close to you who had wrestled and encouraged you to do so? Or did you start on your own?

I was the captain of the tennis and swim teams at my school. However, those were spring and fall sports, respectively, so I never had a winter sport. I swam with the boys' team in the winter to stay in shape. My junior year of HS, one of my best guys friends was the captain of the wrestling team. I always made fun of him since I thought wrestling was just some weird sport that AC Slater did wearing a skin tight skimpy outfit. So he invited me to come watch one of the only home duals we had and I did... and thought it was the coolest sport ever. I talked to the coach about joining the team the next season to see if he would be opposed to having a girl on the team. He welcomed me to come and do their weight training routines over the summer and what not. So I did, and when I joined the team the next winter, 4 other girls who were also hard core athletes joined with me. It was awesome. I am the only person in my family to have ever wrestled, so it has not been easy in terms of support and understanding from my family.

3. What city and state are you from originally? Did you live in an urban area when you started wrestling or was it more country/suburban? Tell me a little about the demographics of the area you lived in when you began wrestling.

I am from the Boston area, so very urban. My high school was kind of ghetto. Like on any given day, you would see people in the hallway getting into fights and smashing cinderblocks over each other's heads and stuff like that. Wrestling was a foreign concept to most people and wasn't popular at all in the area. In fact, when I started wrestling, the sport had recently been reinstated at my high school after something like a 20 year hiatus.

Champ Kind · 07-11-2008, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by RYou

1-15 ! as a soph !

Mojo, you're bio should be put in front of every freshman HS wrestler and then tested on it. The career is a tribute to hard work and dedication to the sport. 95 out of 100 take a hike after a 1-15 record.

I was 9-19 as a freshman with all 9 wins by forfeit. Didn't win my first real match until Christmas break of my sophomore year. Was 16-12 as a sophomore and earned All-Conference.

the518 · 07-11-2008, 06:35 PM

started in 4th grade by entering a local tournament called the "broad st. tournament" at broad st. elementary. i think it was queensbury h.s. coach jack labombard that put it on each year when i was a kid. i eventually wrestled for jack in 12th grade in 1981.

one of my older brothers was friends with a lot of the wrestlers, but he didn't wrestle. one of his friends was jim dugan, nys state champ and now known as hacksaw jim dugan of pro wrestling fame. he used to put me in the trunk of his car and drive fast around the neighborhood for fun. went hunting with him, decided to be a wrestler.

my hometown was blue collar. glens falls, ny. pop. approx. 12,000 not rural, but small city atmosphere.

ISU2008 · 07-11-2008, 06:39 PM

1. 6th Grade, 12 years old. I also won one match my first year.

2. My brother and I fought a lot so our parents made us go out for wrestling. I had cousins about my age who wrestled and my brother had gone to some practices a few years before but I never had any interest in it.

3. Gilbertville, IA, small town about 800 people in NE Iowa, but wrestling is THE sport.

VACYCLONE · 07-11-2008, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by MOJO

Thanks for the kind words Brother RYou. It's also a tribute to a H.S. coach who made hard work fun and who cared about every kid in the room, not just the ones who were good at first glance. Coach K made my one win that year seem like the first step up Mt. Olympus, and made me sooo hungry for win #2!

Now that's a coach!!!

eazee · 07-12-2008, 12:09 AM

1) Started when I was 5

2) The only one who wrestled in my family was my uncle (mom's youngest brother, only 12 years older than me). My earliest memories are watching him wrestle, I looked up to him and wanted to everything he did.

3) NoVA. Typical suburbia, although where I grew up wasn't the nicest place.

grecowrestler13 · 07-12-2008, 02:32 AM

1. How old were you when you started wrestling?

7th grade, 13

2. Why did you start wrestling? Did you have a family member or someone else that was close to you who had wrestled and encouraged you to do so? Or did you start on your own?

I also loved to fight with my brother and stuff like that and i always wanted to show off my strength in an aggresive way, so i picked wrestling.

3. What city and state are you from originally? Did you live in an urban area when you started wrestling or was it more country/suburban? Tell me a little about the demographics of the area you lived in when you began wrestling.

I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and then adopted to be brought to new orleans. It's a fairly large city.

stangwrestler · 07-12-2008, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by MOJO

My reason for joining the wrestling team was to get in better shape for the upcoming baseball season, at the advice of a baseball coach. I was terrible, but the team was so small that I was able to go varsity and wound up 1-15 that 1st season, with all 15 losses coming by fall! In spite of my lack of success, I fell in love with the sport that year and never played baseball again.

just curious, how'd you do later on??

stangwrestler · 07-12-2008, 04:03 AM

started at age 9. my dad wrestled, he was the assistant coach at the local high school that we intended to attend, because he knew we would go thru there so he influenced us. originally from long beach, california. the part i was from was suburban. kinda a tough neighbor hood though. alot of tough wrestlers that were pulled in off the streets.

Spider · 07-12-2008, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by stangwrestler

just curious, how'd you do later on??

To put it mildly, MOJO (who is probably too modest to elaborate) had a very distinguished career.

While we're discussing inauspicious beginnings, our first year as a practice team in high school I had two matches. They lasted a total of a minute and I didn't win either one of them. Next year, in out first dual meet as an official varsity sport, my pin clinched our victory. I did okay after that, but I'm nowhere in the same ballpark as MOJO.

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