The Wrestler

*Edit* I talked with the guy who had the cross drawn on him, and he believes that the retelling of it made it sound more ridiculous than it really was. Apparently nobody said “Jesus will heal you”, that’s what he told me was unspoken (when he originally told me the story he used that phrase, but the nurse never said that).  Also she handed him some iodine, not a need, and told him to have a man (not a woman) draw a cross on the spot that it hurt.

I had a weird feeling last night about some of my achievements from high school and college, as well as some of my failures. I realized I often go into things from the beginning full of optimism, new ideas, and most importantly motivation. After the adrenaline wears off, and the real work begins I become lazier and I don’t put as much effort into the things that I could. It means that I go from having the potential to do great things--to only being mediocre, and then regretting it.

The big example I could think of, that still bothers me today was wrestling. As a freshman I had a pretty much even record, and I never considered myself that special. Our coach, Mr. MacDougall would help us all out, and sometimes after wrestling him he’d give me a nod and say something like “you’re getting better, Mr. Lyon”. He would also sometimes compare my older brother and I by saying I was not as strong as Dean, but I was faster and a better technical wrestler (seriously the last time I thought of wrestling Dean he said, “Boy, I don’t know how to just pin somebody to the ground, I was trained to cause pain and kill people”). This was a big compliment considering how much my brother would/could beat me up. Also, freshman year was a turnaround for me. I had wrestled on and off since 4^th grade, and I had a really hard year in 8^th grade. In 9^th grade when I started really improving I felt pretty good, but I’d never top JT Hutchinson or Dan Bessler to get a Varsity spot that year. At the wrestling dinner at the end of the season I went to shake Mr. MacDougall’s hand and he grabbed my hand and said “there are big things in store for you in the future Mr. Lyon, big things”. He told my father the same thing.

I was really excited, and just pictured myself trying to fulfill the faith Mr. MacDougall had in me at the time. I knew I needed to work out more, and I needed to train all year long. I also knew I should attend the wrestling camp the next summer—I didn’t do any of those things. My sophomore year was also a pretty good year for me on the JV circuit. I won 2^nd place at the all around JV tournament that year and I had a few stints filling in for Brady Dearden at the Varsity level. One match against a much better opponent in which I refused to let the guy pin me. I don’t remember my JV record that year, but it was pretty high. Once again, MacDougall told me big things were headed my way.

My junior year started off really strong. After the New Year I had a 3-2 record (my two losses were against some of the state’s top ranked schools). I wrestled guys who were considerably stronger than me, but I could use technique around them. I had one hard fought match that when I walked off after a Major Decision victory Mac shook my hand and just said “See. I told you so”. At the same time, I also started dating my first girlfriend and my attention was taken away from wrestling A LOT. Mac really didn’t like his wrestlers dating much, I don’t think, and I could see why. I missed practice one day for dyeing my hair blue, I would occasionally miss practice to hang out with her but it started out as a good VARSITY year. Then I got dropped on my head. I was set to wrestle that day but I had the flu. Mac told me “Perk up, Tom, you can’t look like you’re about to fall over without a fight”. Still, I was not too happy about wrestling that day, but the team needed it and the only other 125 pounder was a freshman I refused to use as a partner because he was too much like a rag doll. Well, in this match I was the rag doll. Maybe I was overmatched, maybe it was because I was sick, but the guy got me airborne and I came back onto the mat (not from a huge height) on my neck. Man, I went from “ouch my head hurts” to “hmmm, where are my toes? I can’t really feel them.” So, I got my first ambulance ride ever, and the whole team pretty much lined up as I was taken out. I was too out of it to really notice though. Turned out I got myself a concussion and a sprained neck—immediately out for 2 weeks. But, after my match our team won the rest of the bouts—go Pirates.

Then when I got back I started seeing a little round spot on my arm. At first we thought it was ringworm, but then it turned out to be a type of Lyme’s disease. I probably could have continued wrestling, in fact I should have continued wrestling but I didn’t. Part of it was being embarrassed about being brought away in an ambulance, and also being scared about it happening again. I missed a LONG time, and I could tell Mac was losing his patience with me. The rest of the season was short and unspectacular. Beat a wimp in the County Tournament, then got beat by the guy I beat earlier in the season. As MacDougall put it, “woulda, shoulda, coulda”.

In the off season I became much more active in staying in shape and practicing with my friends. We’d have our own practices and things went well. I knew my senior year would be my last year, and I wanted to make the most of it.  Still, I completely lost interest in wrestling at the same time. Sometimes it felt like I was just going through the motions. The wrestling camp started off great, and the group of us stayed in the college dorms watching TV and playing games. Onne night we were doing some game and I was hiding in the closet waiting for the other guy to surprise me. I heard him coming and popped out to accidently get my eye nicely scratched—It hurt a lot. At that point I didn’t want to be there anymore. The end of the camp tournament started off pretty well for me. I headed to the next round but decided I wanted to go home. I looked at my opponent and just said, “I don’t really want to be here anymore, let’s get this over with”. The guy was a chump and I had to pretty much lead the whole match, even TRYING to lose. I had to practically throw myself on my back to get this guy the win. As for me, I was headed for the eye doctor.

That was my last competitive wrestling match in high school. Coach Mac left that year and I did too. Probably my biggest regret was not wrestling my senior year. I talked to other seniors who said the team sucked, practices sucked, and everything was weird without Mac. They told me it was a good move not to wrestle that year, but I still regret it. Since then I’ve wrestled for fun here and there with people. Nothing serious just for fun. I’ve always done pretty well and I can only think of one time I’ve actually lost (to a guy in ROTC), but I’d take on guys much bigger than me and have Harley go “Wow Tom, I never knew you could do that”. Yeah, most people are pretty surprised when I do wrestle, because it’s nothing something I regularly do or talk about. It makes me really miss wrestling, but also makes me disappointed that I could have done more.

Again, this little narrative was more about how I was given an opportunity. I had the chance to go from good to great, but I let it all go. Somewhat because I was interested in spending more time with a girl, but mostly because I was lazy and didn’t want the hard work. I was like Rocky from Rocky III before Apollo Creed took him under his wing. I look at my college career in the same way as well “woulda, shoulda, coulda”. There are times I feel really lazy in Georgia, too. Times when I just don’t feel like writing my lesson plans, studying Georgian, or writing the grant I need. The little bit of extra work is always a pain in the butt to do, but after I do it I feel so much better. I am still trying, but I think it will take a year or two after Peace Corps for me to really decide whether or not I was working to be a great Volunteer, or settled on being a mediocre Volunteer.