Picking My Team

My mind. It is a strange place to be. Thoughts that perhaps on one else has ever thought often travel through. I found myself daydreaming today. What if I could go back in time and coach myself in high school wrestling. What would I have my younger self do? What advice would I give him? How would I coach him? How would I motivate him? What could the 31 year old me teach the 15/16/17/18 year old me?

As I contemplated those thoughts, they grew into other ideas. What if I was able to go back in time and form an entire wrestling team? Who would I want on that team and why?

I tried to keep it within my contemporaries. Guys that wrestled around the same time I did. I did add one guy to the team that would have been a senior when I was in eighth grade, but other than that everyone else was in high school during the same time I was.

The guys I would want on a team I would coach, would be kids with good attitudes, who for one reason or another fell short of their goals. Kids who had the potential, but something that stood in their way, be it themselves or something else.


Here is my team.....

103 lbs - Jerrod Thompson (Sigourney) - Now by the time Jerrod was a senior he was bigger than 103 lbs, but I wanted him on this team, and it's my fantasy so I make the rules. In real life, I got to be on the Sigourney Savage wrestling team with Jerrod for two years. I really enjoyed being on the team with him. His problem was a case of too little too late. There was a big difference between Jerrod as a junior and Jerrod as a senior. His junior year he came to practice and did what was expected of him. Nothing much else. His senior year, he took it a lot more serious. He came to morning runs and lifts and he turned up his intensity in the room. It showed on the mat too, as he qualified for districts. I'd get him to make the realization sooner. I think had he have, he could have developed into a state qualifier.


112 lbs - John Graham (Sigourney) - Like me, John relives the past from time to time. Wishing he had it to do all over again. He probably knows better than I the advice he'd give his younger self and what he would have his younger self do. If it were at all possible, I'd like to give him that chance.

119 lbs - Brady Little (Tri-County) - Brady has always had a very positive, optimistic outlook on life or at least the Brady I knew always did. Wrestling teams need someone who smiles a lot and looks at the bright side of life. It can't be all straight-faced business all the time. I'd want someone on my team like Brady to lighten the mood and make it fun.

125 lbs - Adam Graham (Sigourney) - All successful teams need a leader. Someone they can look up to and come to for advice. Adam would fill that role on my team.

130 lbs - Sean Stutzman (Sigourney) - Seeing how Sean and I don't see eye to eye today, it may seem a bit odd that I would want him on this team. During that time of my life Sean was one of my best friends, and as individual of a sport as wrestling is, strong bonds help individuals to grow as wrestlers. Besides, when it came to butting heads and having fierce battles, Sean was never afraid to give or receive a black eye.

135 lbs - Tyler Stutzman (English Valleys) - I'd want Tyler on the team for two reasons. A, he'd be the comedy relief for the team.  I remember hanging out with Tyler at tournaments and he was always making people laugh.  B, his unorthodox style. Some stuff you just can't teach, yet you need to know how to wrestle against it. He had that.

140 lbs - Greg Ford (Twin Cedars) - Style, past, what we should have accomplished vs what we did....Jesus....Greg Ford and I could practically be twins. I'd want Greg on the team because I think wrestling the younger me every day in the room would make the younger me better and make the younger him better.

145 lbs - Me (Sigourney)

152 lbs - Tyler Rash (Sigourney) - Said it many times and now I'm saying it again. Tyler Rash is one of the hardest working individuals I've ever known. Need someone in the room to push the younger me to the limits.

160 lbs - Tyler Lappin (North Mahaska) - Not sure what happened to Tyler or why things didn't work out for him at N.H. Like to see him have that opportunity again.

171 lbs - Hobey Holder (BGM-HLV) - As much as we like to talk about hard work and what could have been/should have been, sometimes it really is simply nothing more than a case of luck. Hobey was as good as many of the kids that qualified for the State tournament his years of high school wrestling. He could beat many of them. It just wasn't in the cards for him. Hopefully in my world, maybe luck would be with him this time.

189 lbs - Tommy Fowler (Sigourney) - A wrestling team is hard to lead on your own. Tommy would be Adam's helper. More of a mental motivator.

215 lbs - Jake Uhlenhake (Moravia) - Wrestling is not a sport for nice guys. Some think that was one of my biggest flaws. Perhaps it was. I know it was one of Jake's. My pee-wee coach Paul Graham always said that the best wrestlers were downright mean. I'd want Jake to remain the great guy that he was/is off the mat, but on the mat, I'd want to develop him into one mean s.o.b. He'd have been outright scary. I'd like to have seen that.

HWT - Adam Gent (English Valleys) - The list of kids who should have qualified for state, placed and had their moment of glory but never did is a long one. Gent is one of them. Can't say for sure, but I think confidence may have been a factor. In wrestling, we as fans admire humbleness, humility and honesty but you need an edge. A little arrogance, even to the point of being cocky is what some need to believe in themselves. I know I could have used it. I think Adam could have too.


This would be my team. These would be the guys I'd want on it.