Story by Mark Harlander

I can honestly say that without wrestling, I would not be the man I am today. My story starts when I was in 8th grade. I was 5' tall and hardly 100 pounds, and I wanted to play basketball. That winter, I tried out for the team. First day of tryouts consisted of 20 layups, 20 free throws, and a series of sprints. I made 20/20 layups, 19/20 free throws, and I was one of the fastest kids on the floor. I was cut the first day. When I asked my coach what I could do, he said, "You're too short and there's no amount of practice that can change that."

My freshman year of high school started with any dreams I had of playing basketball dying 10 months prior. A friend of our family approached me in the hall and asked what I weighed. When I told him 105 pounds, he told me he needed someone to work with at practice and that we were in the same weight class. He introduced me to the wrestling coach who welcomed me to the team. Two weeks into the season, I won the wrestle off at 105 pounds.

I was never a "great" wrestler, but that didn't stop me. The lessons my coach taught me were more than double legs and half nelsons. He taught me discipline, respect, confidence, and accountability. He taught me responsibility, honesty, and integrity. Most importantly, he taught me to never give up on myself.

My junior year, I was in a match losing by 8 points. There were 15 seconds left in the match and I was trying to save a team point with an escape. As I stood up, I was returned to the mat landing on my right shoulder which had been dislocated in the past. I felt a pop and a pain, looked at the clock, and gutted it out. I knew my season was over, but I was determined to get back on the mat. I had surgery two weeks later. Three days post-op, I started what would be 8 months of physical therapy.

My senior year started and I had never felt pain like that in my entire life. Scar tissue from the surgery was breaking up, and every movement made my shoulder throb and burn. I wanted to quit. I called my coach at home and told him I needed to talk to him about quitting. He drove to my house at 10pm to talk with me. We talked well past midnight. He suggested I take a week off and then make a decision. After one day, I knew I couldn't give up and I returned to practice.

After graduation, I went to college and received a Bachelor's degree in Education. The school I was hired at didn't have a wrestling team. I wanted to change that. In 2003, I started and intramural wrestling team. In 2006, I proposed we wrestle at the JV level. My team just completed our fourth season of varsity competition this year. We've had over 100 wrestlers go through our program, and I'm proud of every one of them.

I have given my life to the sport that taught me how to live, but more importantly, I want to share the lessons I learned from the sport with each of my wrestlers. It is the only sport that relates to life itself and teaches a person to control their own destiny. I owe my life to wrestling.