Be Like Henry Cejudo in Your Quest to Win State or Nationals in Wrestling

            The peak of the season is right around the corner now.  State and national tournaments are no longer distant events; they are only a few weeks away!  Wrestlers who have been consistent with their conditioning programs and working their technique are enjoying the benefits.  At this point in the season an important shift in focus must occur.  Physical conditioning is still important, but the activities of the next few weeks will focus less on building a conditioning base and more on working toward a conditioning peak.  Wrestlers also need a shift in mental focus.

            Early in the season wrestlers are taught to keep the entire season in perspective and not to get discouraged with early and mid-season setbacks.  Throughout the remainder of the season, that mentality needs to evolve into a higher mental intensity.  Although this is important for wrestlers of all ages and abilities, an attitude of intensity and dominance can often help the younger guys place at the state or national tournaments.  Unfortunately, many freshmen and sophomores continue to look at these years only as building years without really expecting to see themselves on the award stands until they are juniors or seniors.     

            The younger guys need to have the attitude of  “Why not now?”  Anything can happen at the end of the season.  There are many stories of young athletes beating the older ones in state and national tournaments.  One that comes immediately to mind is Henry Cejudo, 2008 Olympic Champion.  As the youngest Olympic Champ from the United States, Cejudo had to focus his sights on the gold medal and treat every match like he deserved to win—not because he was older, or trained longer than his opponent, but because he wanted it more. 

            To make the Olympic team, Cejudo had to defeat an athlete who had won the silver medal in the previous Olympics.  What is even more impressive is that the wrestler he beat to make the team, Stephen Abas, won his silver medal before Cejudo had even graduated from high school!

            Cejudo achieved a rare accomplishment by winning the U.S. Nationals (beating wrestlers who were college age and older) while he was still in high school, but winning the Olympics was an uphill battle.  Many people don’t realize that the year before the Olympic Games he wrestled in the world championships and placed so low that most people would not have considered him a contender to win many matches at the Olympic Games, let alone a gold medal.  However, Henry Cejudo believed he could do it, and that is really all that matters.

            This is the kind of attitude that young wrestlers need to have as they go into state and national tournaments.  At the end of the year, it matters very little if a freshmen is wrestling a senior or a returning place winner or the defending champion.  In the important matches, the guy who usually wins is the guy with the most heart who is willing to give it everything he has.

            Wrestlers who go into their matches with an attitude that they can beat anybody, can truly ask themselves: Why not now?  We will recognize them, because, they will be on the award stands with medals around their necks, surprising everybody…but themselves.