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- [00:00]
A
I want to say this as a father for a second. The thing I was always proudest of wasn't always the wins. It was the young man you were growing into. It was the fact you were a nice kid off the mat.
- [00:10]
B
The one thing I remember you told me was, you'll beat him there. Like, you might not beat him this year, but you're going to beat him in the future. Trust me, you always will. Trust me, you'll beat him in the future. You know what? I always did. So, you know, he was right.
- [00:19]
A
Youth sports in America are at a crossroads, and I'm here to help lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olson. Each week, week, we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches, and more to talk about what's working, what's broken, and what's next. Welcome to you think.
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B
Welcome, dad.
- [00:38]
A
Great to see you.
- [00:39]
B
There you go. All right. When you think back on our early years, what principle mattered the most to you? I think I know this one.
- [00:46]
A
Yeah, you know, it's. It's something that was always important to me. The most important. There was kind of a couple principles. One was it was important for me and I think other parents to realize that this is your sport, not ours. So, you know, because, you know, wrestling is one on one, it's very, very competitive. And when you're out there, it's easy to get really engrossed in it. And as a former wrestler and judo player and all those things, too, but it. Those are my sports. Those are my time. This was your time. So it was really important that I recognize that this was your sport, not mine, even though I wanted to help you and support you in every way possible. And then second part of it was to have fun to the best of our ability, to make sure that the sport is fun and the journey is fun, you know, because that, that's, you know, that's really important. As you know, when we ran practices, at the end of practices, we always had a game or something that we did because I wanted to leave the young kids with something that was really fun, you know, so, yeah.
- [01:44]
B
Oh, yeah, that would be my. My answer would have been fun because that's the first thing I tell parents, like, when a kid's like, oh, my son's a state champion, he's nine years old. And I look at him, I go, hey, make sure it's just fun. Just keep having fun. That's the most important thing. Because if you don't love it, then why are you doing it? It makes no sense. You shouldn't be doing the sport if you don't love it. Because if you don't love it, you're not going to want to be the best at it. You can't. You can't, you know, half, you know, what yourself into a world Olympic, national state title, whatever your goals are, you just can't. And that's something he definitely instilled in me. You got to, you got to love what you do, you know, and I'm still doing it now. I'm 26. So, you know, I plan on doing, you know, do this next cycle at least. Right. And maybe another one. So I, I obviously used to love it. So that's something that, you know, he instilled upon me. And it's pretty awesome that I can, you know, tell you guys that that's the most important thing. Have fun. I mean, nothing wrong with playing games, stay healthy. But it definitely, it definitely. That was definitely the one I would have said. And yeah, I like your first answer too, though. You know, my dad always told me right here, he always told me, dad, I can't want it more than you, you know, because if I want it more than you, then we have a problem here, you know, so you got to want it yourself. So I like that. So, all right, number two, were there moments where you had to trust the long term process of immediate results? Yeah, that's for, this is a. I hear this a lot from you.
- [02:57]
A
Yeah. You know, this was so important to me and for parents out there too. I would say if there's one thing that I believe is more important than really other principles is to take a long term mindset, is don't mortgage the future for the present. I, you know, and I want to tell you a real quick story. When Spencer was young, you know, there, you know, he was very competitive and I remember he was, he, he was seven years old and, and he took some losses. And there's this, this, this, this one young man who was a really good wrestler and he beat him one day and, and Spencer came to me and said, dad, I want to wrestle year round, you know, And I was like, no, we're not going to do that right now. And he goes, no, but, you know, but, but I want to, you know, I'm tired of losing. And I'm like, well, you don't lose that much. I said, spencer, we're not going to mortgage the future for the present because right now play baseball. Because you played baseball, you played youth soccer, you played little Gritters football, and you ran across country. So I thought Those things were really important because as I told you then look at your mom and I, who's 411 and me 5 6. I said, you're not going to play football for a lot of years.
- [04:05]
B
No, that's true.
- [04:07]
A
Have fun, enjoy it. Because you won't play it when you're older. So just enjoy the journey of being a kid. And that was really important to me. And again, we probably lost a few matches earlier, but I used to tell you all the time that, you know, and this is really important too is I used to say that, you know, middle school becomes more important than elementary and high school becomes more important than middle. Then college becomes more important than high school and then, then you get to the international level where you're chasing your big dream. So each time is a progress. So you can't put everything into winning eight and under Pennsylvania junior states even though you won, I think four of those. But it wasn't all about that. It was about having fun, enjoying the journey and continuing to progress. So you still wanted it when it really mattered. And that's when you start getting in high school and college and those things. That's when it really matters when you're a kid. I used to tell Spencer all the time, hey, I want to win too when I'm in that corner. I want you to too. But. But it's in the moment. Yes, but long term, it's better to take a long term approach.
- [05:17]
B
The one thing I remember you told me was you'll beat him later. Like you might not be in this year, but you're going to beat him in the future. Trust me, you always do. Trust me, you'll beat him in the future. And you know what? I always did so you know he was right. I don't think you're ever wrong. He never, I don't think you're wrong even one time. Every single time he said, you're going to beat him next time you'll beat him. And I always, you know, so just made me laugh thinking about that because I always tell kids that too. Like, you know, just, you know, it's important to win at your age, but it, there's always levels to it. Exactly. So you just got to enjoy what you're doing. It comes back to the first question. Have fun, enjoy. Because the junior high state title, you're not going to remember. You're going to. If when you're in the national finals, you're not going to. No one's going to remember your junior high state title. No one's going to remember your elementary school state title. They're awesome to win in the moment, but they, they really don't matter. I mean, I don't really. I mean, they were great when I won growing up, but all that matters is the next big thing, right? So that's what, that's what he, he instilled upon me. And I still speak like that to him when people ask me questions. So I think that's great. All right, let's talk about some of your background. You know. You know, how'd your background, like in judo shape, you know, the way you are, your thought process, like, what did judo teach you about discipline, failure and growth that you wanted to pass on to me? You know, because I didn't do judo, there wasn't much opportunity when we, where we grew up, but I would. How that teaching or discipline, the difference in styles or make it. So you taught me that way. Like, what did you use from judo to teach me in wrestling? You know?
- [06:40]
A
Sure. Well, yeah. You know, what was interesting is, is in the sport of judo, when you're on the national staff, at least back then, you had a certain area that, that, that you worked in. And I worked with coaching development. And so I saw a lot. I saw a lot of overbearing parents that really pushed their kids to, you know, where I thought was far too hard at too young of an age. And I saw those kids never made it. Many of them didn't make it to the next level. They. They would burn out. So. So judo taught me and, and this was really important. I used to tell you this a lot. Is that a wrestling too? Is that if all you get out of the sport are the awards and accolades, then I will have failed you as a father. But if you get the traits and characteristics, determination, the resilience, the persistence, the work ethic, you know, all those things that it takes to be successful in either wrestling or judo, you know, you know, if you learn to apply those in life to your job, then you're going to be successful at whatever you choose to do. Because the one thing our sport is, does. Is it doesn't let you cheat it. You get out of it what you put into it. So it's the same thing in life. You know, I'm a college president now at a small college in Illinois. You know, I started in athletic administration, became a college athletic director, moved up to administration, Now I'm a college president. It's the same work ethic, determination and persistence that I applied when I was competing, wanting to be the best, that I could be. And even if I didn't achieve all my goals as an athlete, the characteristics and traits I took from it have allowed me to progress in my career. And that's really important. And to me, that's what I took out of my experience was it wasn't all about winning at the youth level. It was about, just like we said, having fun, progressing through. Through the journey, and again, learning the characteristics and traits that. That when your shoes come off, all you have is the person that you grew into on that journey, and that person is who you've got the rest of your life. So. So that's what was key to me. And, you know, and I want to say this as a father for a second, the thing I was always proudest of wasn't always the wins. It was the young man you were growing into. It was the fact you were a nice kid off the mat. You took time to sign autographs and take pictures. You wouldn't stop a line until, you know, the line was go on, even if it meant hours. And I always enjoyed that about it because those, you know, that's a lifetime trait, not just a sport trait. So, yeah, that's what I took from it was, was I wanted you to get life skills out of it, not just sports skills.
- [09:34]
B
I mean, that's exactly it, though. I mean, Tom preaches the same thing. He's like, if you came to this program and you don't become a better man and learn how to be, you know, successful outside this room, then I failed you as a coach. You know, it's the same thing. Same. Same exact thing, just different wording, but the same principle. You. You get what you earn, and it's the same thing in life. You get what you earn, you work hard, you can be successful. If you don't work hard, you know, you're taking chances, and you don't want to take chances in life. You wanna. You wanna earn those, right? So, yeah. How'd your own training experiences shape? You kind of answered that already, so we'll move on to another one, because it's the same thing. You did the same thing. You used your training experience as an athlete to, you know, be who you are today. And I've never met, you know, a harder worker than you, even to this day, honestly. So. Makes sense. But were there moments where you had to bite your tongue and let me fail? That's pretty interesting. Honestly. That's. That's a good one.
- [10:27]
A
Yeah, that's. That. That is interesting. Because, you know, I don't. We were Very fortunate that you know, you know, you certainly had a lot of success. But there's one story that I will say is that when you turn seven, it was your seventh birthday and we had a birthday party, lots of kids over, and I said, hey, when everyone left and, and I said, hey, I thought something was wrong. And I said, everything okay? Do you have a good birthday? And you said, yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, no, something's wrong with it. He goes, what, what is? He goes, you know what I really want, dad, is what's angles? I want to go to a wrestling tournament. And this was in October. And I'm like going, son, boy, I haven't been on the mat yet, right? So the whole point is you want to go wrestling tour. So I got you the tournament. And that tournament didn't go as we
- [11:19]
B
expected because that was bad.
- [11:22]
A
It was a, it was, it was a pool tournament. And the lowest because it was early in the season. The earliest age group was nine and you, you just turned seven and then, then it was a pool. So he pulled you by record because you'd had a really good record as a six year old. They pulled you in the top pool, right? So you end up getting beat on pretty good, right, for several matches. And I'll never forget that because you came off the mat after getting, getting beat beat pretty good. And I'm watching your next opponent and he, and he beat a guy that you had lost to pretty handedly. And I remember thinking to myself, we're in way over our head here, right? And I remember sitting down with you saying, son, let's just go home, you know, and you looked at me kind of odd. I said, listen, you haven't been on a mat, you haven't trained. These guys are older, they're bigger, you know, I was like, I, there's no, it's okay. I, I don't believe in quitting, but in this case I think let's just call it a day and new, just no, I have one more match. But I'll never forget that because that's when I knew there was. And then you wrestled the best match of, of of the tournament. So I bit my tongue then because I actually wanted to pull you, but I would have been wrong. And you taught me a lesson that day because you were going to finish. So anyway, and that was important. You lost that match, but you wrestled the best match. I lost all the matches of the tournament. And I think that was a really good lesson for your dad because again, I had to step back and say it's his sport. He wants to do it. And I didn't want to see you get beat again because I thought you were going to, you know, but you did the right thing in that moment. So anyway, so, so yeah, I, I, I, I definitely had to bite my tongue that day. But, but you proved, you proved to be right, and I was wrong.
- [13:12]
B
So I hate that story. It's the only, that's the only story you can tell. Like that there's any more like that. I'm just kidding.
- [13:19]
A
It is.
- [13:22]
B
Looking back, is there anything you've done differently during tough stretches?
- [13:25]
A
Yeah. You know what, though? I'll be very, very, very candid on this one, is there's one thing that I remember apologizing to you when, when you got older, because, Spencer, you were so competitive. You were, you were always so competitive.
- [13:40]
B
I know you're gonna say, oh, oh,
- [13:42]
A
my word, hey, if someone even touched your leg in practice, you'd lose your mind. You'd get so mad. And I remember talking to you one day, and I'd get so mad at you because, Spencer, just wrestle the next point. It's no big deal, you know, oh, I shouldn't get taken down or I shouldn't give up a point. I remember you were so mad, there'd be tears in your eyes, and you'd be so mad, and I'd say, spencer, just relax. Just Russ. But, And I used to get so mad at you. And what I didn't realize is it's who you are. It's what made you who you are. And that's one of the things I have to say is it's your sport, not mine, you know, so, so I knew if I had to do it over again, I, I would have, I, I would have accepted that and kind of mentored you more into that instead of being critical of you, getting emotional when, when, when you weren't perfect, you know? You know, so, so, so, so, so. And, and I've got tremendous regrets about that because it used to really bother me. I'm like, oh, don't get so upset, you know, and, but, but you know what? At the end of the day, just like, I don't change who you are, just manage the emotions in those moments so, so you can get off the mat. And then, you know, and then, you know that be, be yourself. And that because it's those high expectations that has allowed you to win at the highest level, you know? You know, you know, at every level, you have found success. And it's because you have those expectations of Yourself. So, so, so, so again. And that's something that I learned from you on that. So yeah, I def have would have done that a little bit better as a father.
- [15:17]
B
The only thing I remember is you used to just tell me instead of being upset, just score the next point. Like use, use your anger to, you know, score the next point, you know, and I'd be so mad. But that's, I mean that's just who I was. So def, definitely not like that anymore. But no, no, no, no, no. What's something you intentionally avoided saying or doing after my matches? I think it depended how I did. I mean if I lost, I think you just avoided me.
- [15:41]
A
But well, sure. And oh for sure. You know, I, I will tell you, I'll tell another story, although I'll leave names out, but this is a good one here, you know. You know you went to a world championship and you were really young. Matter of fact, you were so young and a good thing I was there because I had to sign a waiver to let you compete because you were too young for the bracket at the time. Um, and, and it was your first world championship and you came out and you started rolling up. But back then takedowns were only one point, so you're only up three nothing. They had this crazy rule that a throw equal three and two throws meant you would you attack fault. So you know, so it was a strange, strange rule format back then. I'm glad they changed that. But anyway, so you go out your first, you know, and you take a guy down, you dominate and then he catches you in a scramble, throws you, they call a three and then you jump right back up and you charge at the gu and the guy caught you again and, and you get up and the match is over and you are clearly the better wrestler, but the match is over. Right. I remember that night at the hotel. I told one of our coaches, I said hey, you know, I, I, I, I, I don't wish Spencer ill will here, I think. You know, I, I know how he's going to do tomorrow, but I know he's super young and first world championship. You were out of weight class probably you were up a weight. I, you know, I, I, I should have had, had you down a weight. And um, I said I'm not sure. I just kind of give you a little advice. And he said what's that? I said if he does happen to lose, give him five minutes. Let, give him, let him get off the mat and give him five minutes before you try to coach him up. And the coach kind of got mad at me and said, I know what I'm doing. You know what? I said, okay, so sure enough, you lost that match. You came, you started to come down the steps, he grabbed you. You remember this?
- [17:30]
B
Oh, yeah.
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A
And he started to coach you, and you just said, her, you go.
- [17:35]
B
And I remember that he was baffled I wouldn't threw my shoes away.
- [17:41]
A
Yeah, oh, no, you did. You threw your shoes. You got rid of everything.
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B
He was like, what is going on?
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A
But I remember he told me later, he goes, dad, you are right. I should have given him a couple of minutes, because once he calmed down, he was easy. I'm fine. He was just fired up. And that's just who you are. And that's. That's why you are the. The competitor that. That you are.
- [18:02]
B
But yeah, yeah, yeah, that was funny. Funny times. I had to fish the shoes up. Finished tournament.
- [18:09]
A
Well, you know what funny is? You were so mad, you like, that guy's not going to win. So I went. And so you. You throw in your stuff and stuff, and all of a sudden I was like, find you. Because the guy made it to the finals, you were back in.
- [18:22]
B
Yep. No, I remember. It's ridiculous. What. What advice would you give to a parent who wants to be supportive but not overbearing? Sure. It's kind of tough because, like, I feel like every parent's gonna be a little bit overbearing, you know, just because it's your kid. Right. But how can you keep your hands off a little bit less, I guess. Yeah.
- [18:42]
A
Well, you know, the key thing is, and I hope I did this okay, but the one thing I tried to do is I'm a planner. So I would plan tournaments, and when we're going to travel, I had everything laid out, and back then, Pennsylvania had a really good junior wrestling website. It posted all the tournaments. And you'd look things up, and I'd have a schedule. And then you'd come home from school and you'd say, hey, dad, Zach Bosego or someone invited me to his house to spend the night. And I'd say, okay, sure. All right, go ahead and go. And you'd go to your room, and your mom would look at me, say, wait a minute. Aren't you going to a tournament? I mean. Nope. You know, if he. If he's got a chance to spend the night somewhere, I'm good. Let him be a kid. So I never once denied you to do something fun with a kid or birthday party or something, because we had some local regional tournament to go to or something. I would just say, okay, nope, that's it. That's good. So I think that's important to find that balance of, of how often you go. Now if it was Tulsa Nationals or something, yeah, that's fine. But then you would have known it's on the calendar. But I'm talking going to some tournament, you know, and I would say no. Yeah, you bet. Just go. And I'd encourage all parents to do that because it's so important, you know this, there's a lot of tournaments out there, you know, and you're going to get plenty of matches as a kid. And so, yeah, so that's something I would encourage parents to do too, is find that balance between being a kid and not. But what's really hard is, and I always say this because your twin sister was a swimmer when she swam in a meet and she touched the wall a fraction of a second behind another girl, she took second place. Right. Well, in wrestling you're getting your shoulder ripped off, you're getting held on your back against your will, someone's tilting you, someone's turning you and it's hard to watch, you know what I mean? So, so as parents, I think because of that, then you gotta go to one more club, one more club, practice, one more this, one more of that. Because you gotta get em all the top. You gotta beat that kid from, from you know, Fox Chapel or this kid over here, you know, so, so just don't get caught up into that because if you just measure growth incrementally and if they're having fun, if they're enjoying the experience, when it really counts, like you said, when it really counts, you'll win. Because something I'll say is there's, there's a few kids that you lost to growing up that you beat on big stages in college, you know, so, so. And you know, awesome kids, awesome wrestlers, good parents, all these things too. But, but you know, we just kept trying to progress so, so that you would still want it as much as you did as a, as a, as a young man when, when you got to college.
- [21:40]
B
Absolutely. I think one of the things that I would definitely like reiterate is that it's not about matches when you're growing up, like my, you, you, you would make sure the tournament was like there was someone there for me to wrestle. Like you would seek out opponents like you like hear was it rumblings of how good this one kid is from wherever. We'd go there, but we wouldn't go to like we we only had one year, I think, where we wrestled a lot of matches. And I remember you going, that was just not worth it. Like, it's too much time. Not, like, most of the times I'm on the mat for, like, three minutes for a whole tournament. You're standing in a. In a place for 12 hours. You know, it's like. So he. He just did all his research, did the terms that were the best for me, you know, and then we mostly did, like, practices and things. We're focused on getting better more than matches, you know, most of the time, you know, as you get older, obviously, that's probably better. I mean, maybe sometimes you need matches. Growing up, every kid's different. I was a little bit different than most people, probably. But matches aren't the important thing. I hear Dad's. He's had 170 matches this year. I'm going, oh, my gosh. Like, are you okay? Like, is your son okay? Anyway, that's not what I want to hear, you know, I want to hear, you know, he's having fun, he's doing a good job, he's working hard, he's enjoying it. Like, you know, he's. He's getting the matches that he needs, you know, but not overbearing. That's overbearing. That is, like, ridiculously overbearing. We never did that. We wrestled, like, 30 to 40 matches max, you know, like, you know, and you guarantee you're gonna wrestle 10 between your, you know, qualifier and then the state tournament. Right. So we only did, like, you know, not that many. You know, three matches a tournament maybe. So it just didn't make any sense for us with that many matches.
- [23:13]
A
Yeah, and something else that we consciously did that I took a lot of criticism from, from, you know, other parents is I would never double bracket you.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And I was there all day because I was coaching youth team. Right. So I'm there all day anyway, so other parents would always double bracket their. Their. Especially the ones who. Who. Who. Who were really good and had success. So they'd wrestle in a 9 and 10, then the wrestle 11 and 12, or the wrestle 11, 12, and they'd wrestle 13, 14. I never did that to you. And people say, why don't you wrestle him up? Why don't you put him in 13, 14, or. Or one or the other? Sometimes I'd wrestle. Yep. I wouldn't. Then I wouldn't wrestle in a. And I'd say, because I wanted to be a kid. And I'd say, what do you mean? Because you used to love playing Game Boy and stuff. And, you know, and when. When you finish your tournament, I'd see you outside playing with the kids. I'd see you playing Game Boy up in the stands. You were having fun. You're being a kid, and I love that. I. I love that. And so it wasn't about getting 12 matches that day or pushing you or, you know. You know, you did your tournament, you got your matches in, and now you got to be a kid with lots of other kids. And I think that made tournaments fun because you did get the player on. People used to come up to me and say, is that the same kid that I watched wrestle earlier? Because you'd be up there playing Game Boy or something, laughing. I'd say, yep, that's him. And they'd say, wow, what a different kid. And that was awesome. That's what I wanted, was you to have fun. So I think from parents perspective, you can get so caught up in matches. Yeah. And matches. And I drove all this way. I'm getting eight matches in. I just never got caught up in that.
- [24:49]
B
Right.
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A
Yeah.
- [24:50]
B
Well, there are tournaments that you go to where you would get matches. Like. Like there were. There were reasons for that, you know, like, big dual tournaments and stuff, like where you went for that, you know, or school duels, you know, those things that we did. But that was. That was, you know, we. We knew what we were getting into. It wasn't. It wasn't like, we have to. Because we did this, you know, So
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A
I think that's back in your day.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Schoolboy duels were 20 matches.
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B
Yep, 20 matches. 10 freestyle. 10.
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A
And then you wrestled 10 freestyle matches in four days. That was crazy. Right? But. But, you know, so you got plenty of matches in. Or Tulsa Nationals or Lubini Nationals and, you know, Rio Nationals or all this stuff. You'd get a ton of matches there. Of course.
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B
Yeah.
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A
But. But locally, it was just really. Just about wrestle and then. And then have fun.
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B
Yep, that was it. Let's see what Pete was one piece of advice you give to parents considering getting their children into wrestling. Like, is there anything that you'd.
- [25:45]
A
Yeah, you know what, though? Find a balance there. And. And what I was gonna say is that get the right coaches with the right attitude. That. That, again, makes it fun, you know, it teaches the. The. The technique and don't rush them. Something I did with you and something that I was very careful about, especially when you were younger, when you're like, six and those things, too, you know. You know, would go to a Tournament and stuff. And you do, do you do really well. And then I'd find another tournament. You know, something that in Pennsylvania they do a really good job is like when you're a new wrestler, you could wrestle in what they call the novice division with two years or less experience and then, or then you could wrestle in what they call the, you know, the open bracket when you have more than two years where when you were seven, you technically was in your second year because you started as a six year old. But I'd bump you up and wrestle you in division and then, then sometimes I let you drop back down the wrestle and a novice because again it's a balance of gaining confidence, trying new things, getting better at the thing. You know, it wasn't all about getting you beat at that early young age, you know, even the, you know what I mean? It was just about watching you grow and develop. And then another thing too, I'd say find the level that your kid can compete at. What I mean by that? Some kids mature faster than others. You know, some kids, you can tell that, you know, they start getting facial hair earlier and they're so they have all this success earlier that doesn't, that's not a precursor to what's going to happen later on. So find the lane where your kids have the success because again, if you're not having success, wrestling is not a sport that is fun if you're losing 90% of the time. So you know, there's lots of tournaments out there that you can find and I'd say find you because you never know how good your kid's going to be when they hit puberty or when they mature or you know, when their equilibrium catches up to them, you know, you know, so. But they might be out of the sport by then, right? Because you kept running them in these really hammer tournaments. And again with, you know, so a lot of times I find it to be a puberty race at those things too. So anyway, find that right balance of the right, right tournament. You want to go. You love to Tulsa Nationals. You love that tournament and that was a great time for us to go, you know, so, so you always enjoyed that. You always got, you know, really good competition there. And so, so we would go there because you could and you found a lot of success there. I think you only lost the first year you went and then you never lost again in all the years we, we went. But it was just so much fun. It was a big stage. I mean.
- [28:35]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like the lights, you run out, shake Hand it was like the first big tournament. You know, those are smoke good experience. You don't, you don't forget those. I mean, I don't forget it.
- [28:44]
A
Yeah.
- [28:44]
B
26. That was, I was 8 when I went first time. It was a 10 at the 8 in the 10 under division. There's 8 under.
- [28:50]
A
Yeah.
- [28:51]
B
Or whatever.
- [28:51]
A
Yeah.
- [28:52]
B
Pretty funny. But what mindset, like, what mindset should a parent bring in into it as a family for like a new wrestler or, or just, you know, the wrestling family, like, is there a certain mindset you they should have? Like, I mean, I, for me it'd be like, you know, together, you know, support network. I mean that was a big thing that, you know, I always talked about was if I had a support network I had as a new mom, you know, coaching the staff, that I wouldn't be who I am today. So people don't realize how much, how important that is, you know.
- [29:25]
A
No, I agree. And something we always try to do is right. Try to do fun things. You know, I, I remember going to Wildwood and going to the beach or going to the Virginia beach after the tournament.
- [29:33]
B
Yeah. Ye.
- [29:34]
A
And your mom could be outside at the beach having fun and then I'd, I'd text them and say, okay, he's in the hall and they're coming running in, you know, you know, you, you know, to watch your match and then they're back outside having fun. And that's how they enjoyed it too. So, you know, they got to watch you wrestle. So we always tried to do some fun things, go in the caverns when we're on a trip, would stop and do a little sightseeing and you know, and then always, always, always we always. Since we all eat ice cream. Right, right. So, you know, when the tournament was over, it would always stop and go and go get ice cream and eat someplace fun. And it's something when you were really young, I always had a lot of fun is I'd always bring a trophy in with us to the restaurant after we'd go eat, I put it on the table and you know, it was always fun to serve her. Come and say, well, that's a nice trophy and you'd see you beam up and light up because anyway, it's just fun. But it was a family thing and we all enjoyed it. And even your sister, go play with all the other sisters and those things too. But again, you know, there's a lot of fun vacation destination tournaments out there too. And we, we certainly did. Did our share of those. Daytona beach one Year the duels were held down in Daytona. So.
- [30:43]
B
Yep.
- [30:44]
A
Yeah. Yeah, that was fun. So, so, so we always tried to do those Disney duels.
- [30:48]
B
Right?
- [30:48]
A
We did Daytona tools, Virginia beach duels, you know, so. Yeah, I would say you can have a lot of fun in this sport as, as a family.
- [30:56]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything they should not worry about too early? Like what should, like what should they not be worrying about too much? Like early in the sport? Those.
- [31:06]
A
Yeah, yep. Winning.
- [31:08]
B
Yeah. Okay, I know, you know, that's true. No, that's a good answer.
- [31:12]
A
It's, it's. You get so caught up in it. You take shortcuts.
- [31:17]
B
Yeah.
- [31:17]
A
And then you over train and I remember there was a. I remember.
- [31:22]
B
I know you're thinking of.
- [31:23]
A
Well, what's that?
- [31:24]
B
I know, I know the name you're thinking of.
- [31:26]
A
Yeah, no, no, I just remember one young man being in two clubs and you know, going to two, you know, two clubs and training six days a week. I had a personal training, you know, at 7 to 8 years old. I'm just thinking to myself, and you know what? He never made it, you know, so, so, so. But very successful.
- [31:48]
B
He's a man growing up.
- [31:49]
A
Oh yeah, very successful, but up in high school, not as. And then never made it to college. So. So, you know, I, I used to say all the time, like I said before at the beginning of this, I wasn't going to mortgage the future for the present. So, so, so I, I just didn't do those things, you know, we didn't get up and run in the mornings, you know, when you were young.
- [32:13]
B
Yeah.
- [32:14]
A
Personal trainer. No, you know, so, but, but, but anyway, we certainly have fun and we were competitive and traveled and we worked
- [32:21]
B
out and did things.
- [32:22]
A
Yeah. Went to clubs and all that stuff too, of course. But I didn't want it to be, oh, over the top. So.
- [32:27]
B
Oh, you're not a professional athlete at 8 years old.
- [32:30]
A
Yes, that's right.
- [32:31]
B
You know, that was the thing I remember he's telling me, listen, you're gonna do those things when you're older and then you're gonna beat that guy. Like no problem. Like you're gonna catch up. Everyone's gonna catch up to him. He's doing the things that they do. High school, senior year, junior college, you know, eight year old kids shouldn't be doing that. Like it's not, it's not healthy, it's not mentally healthy for the family, the parents. Like it's overbearing, like we talked about earlier. I mean, that's ridiculous. You should not have a personal trainer at 7 years old for a kid, you know, I mean, morning lifts, like, what are you lifting at 7 years old for? You know.
- [33:04]
A
Yeah, there are many that can sustain that. And even when they do, watch them, when they get to be a sophomore, junior in college and those things too.
- [33:12]
B
Right.
- [33:12]
A
Because the rest of the world is doing what they did as a young person, and you watch and you don't see that level up. A lot of times you see wrestlers when they go to college, you see them level up because the training changes. Well, those guys aren't, you know, so. Because they've been doing that for so long. So you won't see that. You won't see that level up. In, in, in, in. In my opinion.
- [33:34]
B
Yeah, it's increments. Every level is. Every level is more important, like we said. I say you do more every level, so. All right, well, that's all the questions I had for you today. Appreciate you getting on, dad. Funny here. The things I've heard quite a bit in my life, but, yeah.