Getting my wrestling career going I’m not going to lie, I thought I was the man. Before high school even got started I had two state championships and a state final appearance. I was on top of the world and thought things were going very well. I took third at Cadet World Team Trials, that was good enough for my first Pan Am team. I had Fargo coming up that summer as well. I was going to be a busy guy. My Dad thought it would be a good idea to take me out to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs after the school year was over with, and I couldn’t have agreed more. Prior to going out, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like wrestling in the Apple Valley room (which was extremely tough in its own right). I was just excited for the opportunity Coach Brandon Slay was giving me. Looking back on it, I feel like it kick started something that benefits USA Wrestling development today.
Like I said, for 15 years old, I was pretty good. I thought my progression was great up to this point. Being a boy among men was a little different for me, though. From the beginning of summer (end of May) to the time school started (early September) I wrestled a grown man every day, sometimes twice. For weeks I got frustrated. I went home wondering what I could possibly do to get a takedown. ONE TAKEDOWN. I worked harder than I ever have. I was doing new things, like running and The Incline (I could write a blog on that alone). I had never been so sore. I was wrestling people like Chase Pami, Derek Moore, Jordan Burroughs, Jared Frayer, Moza Fay…. One time I asked BJ Futrell if he wanted to wrestle, and he told me he doesn’t go with kids. I’d like to get a piece of him now but I’ve outgrown him a bit. The list, along with the beatings go on. Even though I was running the gauntlet day in and day out, I quickly learned to hold my own. No matter how tired or discouraged I was, I got up and I kept fighting. Mostly because I didn’t have another choice.
With all that darkness from getting beat down, there was some light as well. After a couple of weeks I started scoring points. After every point I scored, I learned another lesson. Old guys don’t like to get scored on by the young guys. They would turn it up, and beat on me even worse than they already were. Like what they were already doing to me wasn’t enough already. One time, I ALMOST took down Jared Frayer in a simulation match, and he leg laced me and teched me very soon after. There was no mercy. It was so bad it made me not want to score anymore because I knew what was coming if I did. Regardless, I would keep looking for scores and finally I learned that after every takedown I got, I better fight along with them. Sometimes it got physical and I knew that wouldn’t have ended okay for me either. I had to gain some type of respect soon or else I don’t know what was going to happen. So no matter what the circumstances, at the ripe age of 15, I learned to fight for every second because the guy across from me didn’t care how old I was.
Something pretty cool about being there at the time I was, it was an Olympic year. As a competitor I paid very close attention to how the Olympians ticked. I looked at the things that made them excited, how to stay on their good side, learning their best attacks, scrapping with them, no matter how big or how small. Just getting my paws in there and making the most of the experience was key. Not only physically being around them, but mentally being around them helped me as well. There is so much more to wrestling than just the physical aspect, and being around them for the Olympic Team Camp helped me see that. You are who you put yourself around, no matter how bad you try to deny it. That entire summer I hung around champions, and that was all the motivation I needed.
The summer ended well, I took first in both styles at the Pan Am championships in Venezuela, flew back to the United States and won Fargo pretty handily, only losing a period. I learned a lot. Actually, that summer I learned the Mark Hall Single from Chase Pami. That is the shot I used to win me the Junior World Championship last year. Unfortunately, Flowrestling broke it down on there website, so I don’t do it much anymore. If you want to learn it, it is on there for EVERYONE to see (even if you’re from Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, etc.)…. There are so many little things that I learned being able to train with older guys that I still use to this very day. I credit that to the world-class coaching I received. I was around guys like Lou Rouselli and Zeke Jones all the time. Zeke Jones was literally named the best technician in the entire world at one point. Coach Slay was the person I was around the most. The fundamentals he screwed into my brain are the things that I now teach when I help out with practices and camps. I teach them the exact same way he taught me because it works, obviously.
For the next four summers that is where I was. Colorado Springs, Colorado, putting myself around the nation’s best freestyle and greco competitors. I did it because freestyle is important to me and one day I want to be an Olympic Champion. At the beginning I had said “I feel like it kick started something that benefits USA Wrestling development today.” The last two years, the Junior World Team was invited to train with the US National Team and Senior World Team. The Cadet World Team and Junior World Team held our camp at the same time. Daton Fix and I got to be training partners at the Senior World Cup (which they should totally consider having at the junior level as well because that tournament is awesome). All the opportunities of young men being able to train along side World and Olympic Champions for a couple of weeks at a time is so beneficial to not only themselves, but wrestling as a whole. We don’t even have to be training with them to get the full effect. Being around them is good enough because they’re very spirited individuals that take the sport seriously.
I will leave you all with this. Those of you who want to be an Olympic Champion, the only way you can do that is by training freestyle or greco. Whatever it is, you have to put yourself around men and women who have the same goals you do. My start was the 2012 Olympic Team. You might not get that exact opportunity, but I am forever grateful. If you are capable and those are the beliefs you have in yourself, truly consider stepping out of your comfort zone for a summer. It won’t only make you better, but it will make our country better as well. The worst feeling is heading back to the locker room after losing to Iran in the World Cup. I didn’t even compete at the World Cup and I was still upset seeing everyone like that. There is an opportunity that is open to pretty much anyone who will take it seriously. It helped me, so I know it will help those of you are getting into the international styles as well.
Thank you for your time, if you have any questions I am always open to them. My twitter is @baybeemarky_psu, and my email is mjh85@psu.edu.
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