When thinking about how to write a story of the impact wrestling has had on my life it became like seeing my life change before my eyes. Just like all others who have participated in this great sport, we know that it shapes us more than we ever shape it. That is why it has been around for thousands of years and why it should NEVER be excluded from the Olympics! So I will try to briefly describe the impact wrestle is having on me.
Growing up in a small town in Alabama, wrestling found me as an 7th graders. It was then that my little brother signed up for the new youth league wrestling. Since I was not participating in the MS program I had to go to practices and tournaments with him. The competition in all boys meant that I ended up practicing with them and competing at the final tournament of the year. I was hooked but did not know it. I spent the next year getting thrown around the MS Lunchroom and learning what it meant to take care of property and work. Weighing all of 60lb, maybe, it was an experience. Wrestling totally hooked me as a freshman entering the HS practice room that seemed HUGE at the time but looking back was basically the size of one mat. I still remember to wrestle off match that I had decided before hand would determine if I keep wrestling. It was against another freshman who has wrestled for two years and was WAY more athletic than me. All I knew was to never give up and this is what wrestling wants! People who never give up. I won that match and knew after that match that my focus was now to win a state title. The program was part of a rich tradition in the state, having won 14 total state titles and numerous individual titles. I was part of that tradition and part of wrestling.
Over the next three year I would love to say I won numerous state titles and team titles but that never happened. We were always in the top 5 but I never achieved my dream. Something else happened during that time; I realized this sport was meant to me my means to enjoy life! I decided as a sophomore to pursue wrestling in college and major in education to teach and be a wrestling coach. After high school I attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I was a 110lb freshman trying to survive the college room at 118 then at 125. I spent those first three years battling in that room, mostly getting beat down but learning more about how the sport builds character! Through that endurance I was able to get mat time in those three years. The results were not in my favor but the work had paid off and my dream was realized. Concussions ended my career as a junior but I was still part of the team and wrestling was now definitely in me.
I have spent the past 12 years coaching wrestling along with softball, volleyball, and football. Wrestling is my passion and that has been my hook to every kid I have ever coached. When I think about all the kids I have coached and am currently coaching it is not the kids who have become champions and excelled that I think about. It is the development of all these guys into young men who can handle any challenge that comes at them. It is the bonds of former teammates that continue to grow as we reunited any chance we can and tell stories. It is watch the families grow of these same teammates. Through coaching I have been able to develop relationships with coaches who have been in the sport for decades and had them become not just mentors but trusted friends. The sport has taken me across this great nation but more importantly it has taught me that there are very few things tougher in life than being an undersized and under skilled JH and college wrestler. As long as you trust your teammate, who will never turn their back you if you are giving them all you have, you will have guys that will always support you. In that endurance you understand that you must have faith in yourself above all that people tell you. Every season is a new endeavor yet I continue to use wrestling to teach the young men about becoming responsible men in society. They get the stories of success and the stories of getting thrown around a practice room. This way they know that I have been in their shoes and understand what they face. To think that wrestling could no longer be in the Olympics drives me nuts along with these guys who are now seeing where the sport could take them thanks to the journey it has me traveling. I know God gave me to wrestling so I could use it to spread his word and show young men that life will be tough but not as tough as wrestling practice.
Nick Tucker
Auburn, AL
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