The Vision Quest Podcast
A podcast about life, sports, and life in sports! Enjoy!
The Vision Quest Podcast
#58 - Fargo Talk With Jordan Crass!
Imagine stepping onto the wrestling mat, heart pounding, the crowd roaring, and knowing that this is the moment that could change your life. That's exactly what our guest, the legendary Jordan Crass, experienced in his eighth-grade year at Fargo, often referred to as the Mecca of wrestling. Through an engaging conversation, we explore the evolution of Greco and freestyle wrestling, the significance of Fargo wrestling, and how the pressure-cooker environment of a tournament can shape young athletes for college and life beyond.
As we wrestle our way through the episode, we touch upon the challenges and triumphs of rising stars such as Kale Roth, a promising Greco-Roman wrestler. From the grueling competition at Fargo to the hard-fought battles of Dawson from Cumberland and Will Schmitt, we unpack what it means to be a wrestler. We take a deep look at the burgeoning Wisconsin wrestling scene and give you an insider's view of the whirl of excitement and chaos that is a wrestling tournament.
But wrestling isn't just about the sport, it's also about the community and the opportunities it provides to young athletes. We talk about Crass Training and their various camps and events that offer invaluable experiences to Wisconsin's youth wrestlers. From the importance of having good mentors to dealing with a father who was a seasoned wrestler, we cover all the bases. We also share our views on the potential for toxic masculinity in the sport and the critical need for positive role models. So, put on your headphones, tie up your laces, and prepare for an episode that goes beyond the mat and into the heart of wrestling.
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Let's go All right. All right, we get this set Now. I got some music playing here, so we're doing another episode here with the man, the myth, the legend. Hey, nice, I'm digging that.
Speaker 2:Watching it right now, yeah.
Speaker 1:We got Jordan Kras with us here. He has some, some. Is that Greco going on in the back? Nope, that's freestyle. That's freestyle, nice, nice.
Speaker 2:Nice, just run the gambit right now and again, relive the glory day 45 minutes of glory here.
Speaker 1:So let's, I'm going to, I'm going to turn it, we're going to talk, for I just cut that off just abruptly, just bam, we're done. So talk Fargo. This was my first experience. Now you've had many experiences, obviously, at Fargo.
Speaker 2:So Fargo is like a unicorn right, Like it's like the coolest thing ever If you get some CIs on it and you hear about it for years as a young kid.
Speaker 2:Fargo, fargo, and like the rest of the retreat, it's like this deadbeat little town in the middle of nowhere and to us it's like the Mecca right, it's the Utah that was still. And you know, even as a little kid, I remember as my older brother went out there here and my dad coming back and being like, oh my God, it's just amazing, it's just amazing and you know. And then, so like I got to go, like my first year as an eighth grader. I was a kid and we got to go out there.
Speaker 2:Okay, we were Greco guys, we wrestled Greco and Greco used to be first and so Greco, all American as an eighth grader and then as the tattoo bet with my dad. You know, my dad, my dad would have been out there a couple of times, watched my older brother wrestle and me and my twin and all of our buddies were like always putting fake tattoos on at tournaments and stuff and we were like, hey, we want to. If we get it, if we, if we pick all American at Fargo, can we get a tattoo of my dad? Don't want, mom, he's like, don't worry, like they'll never do it, like not like they'll never do it, but kind of like we're pretty safe here. Yeah, and we both did, and the same bracket Awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But now being out there as like a first time, like understanding now I mean. So we go to preseason nationals in the super 32s? And that's all folk style stuff, right, but you don't get to see a lot of these guys in action when it comes to freestyle. So we get to see you know we could see schools, things like that but then now see them in the mix with those, with those other guys out there, which was mind blowing just watching the matches, because it was great matches.
Speaker 1:I mean, up and down the board we had five, five champs, right, and yeah, so we have five champs and juniors and not even just the championship rounds, watching those guys perform and just dominate all the way through you gotta put, you gotta put 11 matches together. Exactly, and that's that's some guys. You know we could talk about brackets and stuff like that, but I mean every guy there that I saw so far was not able to touch the guys that we had right.
Speaker 2:So yeah, we were pretty well yeah.
Speaker 1:And so now in the years, in years past, like you know, you're talking about when Greco was first. Like I mean, was the gym empty when Greco started then, and then freestyle packed up? It was all different, though.
Speaker 2:I think, I think, I think with the change of the tournament you see less guys wrestling Greco become the all American freestyle. They're a little banged up Like I'm out of it.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like yo, you go out there for Greco and a lot of guys kind of used to use Greco. I think is like the warmup tournament. Okay, you know what I mean. I think I dinged up a little bit and Greco they'd maybe bow out so they were healthy for freestyle, you know, yeah, but as many kids wrestle one style back then most guys just to both. But I just did Greco, like I wasn't just stuff, I just wrestled Greco, oh really, and that was like my favorite. And because my club coach was Scott Arnason he's a big Greco guy, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Greco and like kind of just instilled that love and that passion in me.
Speaker 2:And you know, so I kind of kid at dual team with him and that's like a, it's like a renaissance thing, you know, kind of be with him as staff and get to coach with him.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so we've been through it together. You know he was my kid at coach out there at Fargo and then you know, being out there with the boys now and going through and you know, and the cadets are a lot different than the juniors, a lot of them is their first time at that a big tournament like that, or, you know, I mean a wick, mom and dad were pretty strict through WWF on the. You know you're not staying with your mom and dad and you're staying with the team, you're staying with your buddies and you're learning how to do your laundry, manage your time and, like you know, because like, the more we do for these kids at this age to let, the more of a disservice we're doing to your parents right, like we're trying to prepare them for college and get them ready to like handle all this on their own. You know we don't want them to be. We want the parents to show up like spectators. Obviously, we want you there to love and support your child and your athlete.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that will take care of them on the floor and we'll take care of them at the hotel and you know. So it's. It's pretty cool, you know. But they can ask take a little more than the juniors, you know, by the time they're new.
Speaker 2:If we do it, by the time they're new, by the time they're juniors, they're like these guys, right, I mean, they're super obviously. These guys train at AWA and it's a freaking phenomenal club and those guys are hanging out hammers left and right and they're doing an excellent job. But these guys also just are just very high character people and that's a testament to their parents. I mean, we as wrestling coaches, we get to make an impact on these guys, you know. But but like I always say, like dude, we're just kind of warm. Well, I actually got this from my brother but he says, you know, I'm just warming up the soup, like, like you two made the kid, like this is your child. Yeah, I'm just trying to do, you guys made the soup. Yep, like, let's try to heat it up and get it nice and hot and see what we can do with it.
Speaker 2:But at a certain point I'm kind of limited. You know, depending on what you bring me. You know you bring me a high character kid that's a hard worker and got a good attitude and gives us good effort, yeah, you get great results.
Speaker 1:Well and you guys work well. I've noticed a lot that you guys kind of because you know the asker and so well, you guys work well together, as far as even the guys, the guys from the room, they know they, yeah guys and they all work out together. So it's good to see that. I mentioned this on other shows. It's really nice to see, finally, a gel. You know we're in the same state, right, we're all trying to accomplish the same thing and not every place is like that. You know we got some of the old school guys that aren't like that, but it only is working Everything.
Speaker 2:A big part of it is for us. You know we get out there, yeah, and it's like we're high-fiving and hugging each other, because it's like, dude, when we were kids we were out here high-fiving and hugging each other, wrestling together when it matches, you know, when you know stop signs for team Wisconsin, just have fun as athletes and that's just transcendent to having fun as coaches, right? And there's no animosity like we're just trying to make sure that these kids get great opportunities and it's not about Crass vs AWA or AWA vs Nazar. It's about Wisconsin kids getting opportunities to wrestle after high school, should they want to.
Speaker 1:That's right, that's right, and but, aside from Fargo, I've noticed with you guys, but as far as, like, I guess, collaborations and things like that, I mean it's the kids. The kids are putting it together and reaching out to each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because media how to get to each other. Yeah, you know what it means.
Speaker 1:It's good to see they do.
Speaker 2:They're looking for good partners and then you know they support each other. You know feel, you know the just DM, you know each other's stories that like oh he's a dog yeah. They're not even that's in the same club. But after the experience together, you know they really start to bond, even just you know, just sort of being, you know being cheesy baby being in the state.
Speaker 1:So that's enough about those other guys. Let's talk about some of your guys that went through Fargo. What, what was? Uh, yeah, what were some of the results you had?
Speaker 2:Well, you know we had, uh, we did. Well, you know we we had some four all-americans and Greco nice. Um, dale Corbin's an athlete that came to us about His father's military man. He's fortunate Station in Fort McCoy, I believe is like part of the Tomah area, so he trains at our club and trains with Corey Scanlon's club down there at lacrosse law, lacrosse professors. It's a fantastic club also about half south to here and um, so we both kind of co-train him and and he's a complete hamper and you know he was that blood rounds of that of that freestyle tournament too. Um, yeah, we've only had him for like a year but I mean, he just an easy kid to train, you get 100 out of him, but but he was injured. He had a bad back, lower back muscle.
Speaker 2:Oh really, and we ended up and then that's why we ended up for him. But that's that happened in the freestyle tournament. You know you talk about a tough kid and being tough and toughening it through, and dude makes it all the way through To the blood round and then he takes a day off in between and it makes his weight, does everything right to get his weight back down, then weighs in and uh and uh in wrestles back, go to an all-american finish and we ended up defaulting that seventh, eighth place match just because he was pretty injured and uh, you know, american man, what is?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, you know, and actually we're losing them. Now he's heading out to wyome and seminary out in pennsylvania, um, or to start here, but he's got two little they're moving it. That just moved in and they're all signed up and ready to rock and roll and uh, and they're little hammers, a lot of fun. They fit our, our 10, 12 age group pretty good. So that'll be good additions for a couple years, right?
Speaker 2:on, right on and then, uh, you know, um From cadets, um, trying to think about our other cadets of kelv, denny, yep, yeah, he's a wrestler from marshfield. Yeah, third place man, and and dude, the only, the only match he lost was that kid from ohio. And I tell you what kelv is, as good as it gets in that seat belt position. You know that, over-under grounded on a knee and actually he would.
Speaker 2:Uh, maybe a year ago he would have preferred the wizard position to the seat, to having the seat belt. Okay, but both found a way to get in. The Seat belt is bigger and and but when that position and actually made some great adjustments from the first time he wrestled the ohio kid to the second time. So we lost one match in the whole tournament 111 Yep, um and and uh, and then got the avenge. That only lost for third, you know. So that's being a savage, you know that's pretty tough.
Speaker 1:Caleb's pretty cool. Yeah, I sat and you know, you know I briefly was able to talk to his mom at the tournament. But even wrestling with him and having him on the team with Schoolboy, I mean he's always and he's getting better like it's not. It's not like he's.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's always.
Speaker 1:It's always an ascend, so it's it's nice to see him doing that Well. He's I mean, god, he's dedicated and focused, so I mean it's fun to watch. So now, another kid.
Speaker 2:He's quiet, he's, he's calm, he's cool, he's collected. When he does throw something in there, it's usually pretty funny. Yeah, you know. Yeah, he picks his spots, but he's a cool kid. Yeah, he works his butt off. You know. He trains also with valley lead out of marshfield, brad doles, oh oh. And then kody sees Really good high school coach over there and kody c and marshfield's got a great tradition, great program. Yeah, um, so that's uh, you know he's got good backing there in his hometown too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what are, what are some of the experiences that you got to witness with some of your guys at fargo, like what were some of the big moments that you had, because, I mean, I know you.
Speaker 2:I know you For when an all-american was big, you know, wrestle both styles, wrestle deep into freestyle, um, you know, and then and then kind of gets bounced out of the tournament, kind of man. I mean, he beat a tough kid, that an iron man placer, and uh, the coaches from tennis chat, you know we're kind of kind of recruiting them right there watching them and they got done and I went to college with them guys and they looked at me and the cooper tech them pretty quick. I really controlled the match, wasn't like he caught a low ankle cross body and laced him up, you know, he just attacked him, you know, and and I said, man, who was that kid? I was like let's see some cooper news. Oh yeah, he's like, let me get his number. Really, that's how far.
Speaker 2:Yeah you're wrestling around that you could be recruited from from winning that round. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, right exactly Do you? Do you take?
Speaker 2:like what's that? Let's get through to all my guys. Yeah, that place, yeah, I'm gonna talk about quick so I don't let miss anybody out while we're rolling Nope, in case he's a guy that doesn't come very much, but he's, but he's a private lesson guy because he's Greco specific when he does come over. Yeah, yeah, so, um, you want to talk about a tough, so be. We thought this dude pulled his hamstring. Yeah, um, he gets back, he gets into the, to an MRI and into an x-ray and they find out that he pulled. He's starting to pull the bone apart. Oh, so also attaches to the bone, is hamstring up under his butt Mostly. He's pulling the bone right apart. So, oh my god, that got deep into the tournament and Greco, and he's a Greco specific guy, but that kind of he had to bail.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then Kail Roth. Yeah, this you are. Just he is just getting started, bro. Like I mean his wrestling potential and wrestling like his wrestling potential has been there. I feel like his wrestling IQ, like it's just like skyrocketed in the last year and a half, like he knows where it's good, he knows where he's not and he's very disciplined.
Speaker 2:The other thing is guys like the crossfit superstar, like he's up at 530 every morning, box jumping really late clean. He's a savage. Yeah, oh Jesus, he hangs tight with them shrewl boys and them shrewl boys are savages.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:They're, uh, you know, that's certain. I mean they're just, they're just workers, man, they love to work out and uh, you look at them, they walk in, they're all just. They all got the same build, you know I mean oh yeah, yolk, right. Yeah, you know. It's like, if you can design a Greco Roman wrestler, that's like what I'm looking for, right, like right just wide out square had low center of gravity.
Speaker 2:Why did you shit through the mid-sections? You can barely got him. He's got laps so big you can barely lift Lot and he's just. But yeah. So he had a great Greco tournament and he's a Greco specific guy as well came out and you know it's kind of funny because, like you know, I train a lot of Greco specific guys and honestly he's a cooper's Pretty. I mean, he really loves Greco. Yeah, I think you know if he comes out there and just Russell's Greco, he places the lot higher because he's not beat up from three days of freestyle beforehand and another wake cut Right but but but the kid loves wrestling. Yeah, like you couldn't tell super not to wrestle.
Speaker 1:You know, he's always, he's always flying man, that kid is.
Speaker 2:Some of that college coaches look at and they know is about like, hey, who's the? But listen, they don't want you to be the best that you're going to be in high school, right, I mean, yeah, towards top. They're looking for the guys that aren't afraid to throw their hat in the ring. Guys don't want to rip on a scrap. You know what I mean. Day in and day out, and you start to get the results you want when you're ready, when you're willing to scrap a lot, you know it seems to show yeah, exactly, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Dawson from Cumberland was real close. He got deep into the tournament. Um, we got hit with a dirty inside trip. I had a nightmare about it. But yeah, His little brother got experience out there, you know. So that was good. Um will schmidt was out there wrestling another younger, younger guy from our club but but had a bad foot. He's having surgery on it. He kind of went out there, no, when he was going to be in a tough spot. But yeah, yeah, I mean I'm proud of everybody that went out there. Tristan drive went out there. He's player wrestled some Greco scrap hard one one. Some lost some.
Speaker 1:But you know, if you can go out there and put a couple of matches together, it's a pretty respectable performance I think yeah, well, I mean just to get into, like talking about the level of competition man, I mean coming through the backside we look pretty good, but you're still going to be hitting those guys on the backside that are still tough.
Speaker 2:You get to watch on grease spot. Rest a little.
Speaker 1:I did not. No, I did not.
Speaker 2:He could at like one. I think he was 182. Okay, but he's a freaking hammer. He was in the blood, Like I think he lost in the blood round. Yup, I mean he's, you know, and I tell them the boys, and like, hey man, mayor Soltowin's in place for a time they were here.
Speaker 1:Right, that's the that's. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:It'll be fine, like you can be fine, like it's not over, it's okay, you know. And that's getting nervous, you know, I think I don't get nervous, but I get nervous about their expectations Like, oh, I'm like, dude, you're right on the right path. Like just keep grinding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly so that and that was kind of like the view that I saw. Even, like you know, I saw a couple of Will Smith's matches, things like that. But, like, like I said in the video I did, we're climbing, like Wisconsin's not dropping. We're climbing now and it's only getting better. And watching you guys and watching a couple of the other matches I got so lost in just watching all matches Like I couldn't pick out who I was doing.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're a fan out there too, it's like, oh man, I'm watching the rainy kid from Kentucky wrestling the kid from New Jersey and I'm just like, yeah, we're going to get an eight. I got to run over there, yeah, so pretty chaos.
Speaker 1:Was it were you guys able to at least stick to like and I don't mean to sound like you guys are playing fair and true, but stick to your athletes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have so many guys on our staff that are, like, designated to like clubs. Sure, you know what I mean. Yeah, almost every one of Ben's manager club managers has a spot on the staff, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because they have several, we tend to.
Speaker 2:And then we have all kinds of guys on the staff that are like D two or D three coaches or you don't have any high school coaches or guys that are like the freedom club coach Cody Rowlett yeah Well, Rath came out, volunteers time to be out there, and coaches like these at love wrestling that want to help. And so we sit down a night draft and we everyone, we just kind of go through the weights and everybody, you know, there's some pack, all like 26 of us coaches into one little hotel room and we go down the roster and everyone says yeah, he changed to my club or no, he doesn't enter. Okay, what neck of the woods is he from? Yeah, Maybe coach at cadet duels, maybe coach from that junior duels. Maybe you saw him at a camp from. Maybe he came down this college and you want to help. You know, you just saw kinds of different ways and just you know it's really about making sure the athletes comfortable, Right.
Speaker 2:And there's a second, right, it's not just one guy, it's not just two guys. You know we're three deep on each kid. And then there's a massive text chain in which we kind of found out in the beginning of that first day of the freestyle tournament they must have turned like a blocker on or something. Yeah, when the turn man did, it get tough to get any single through back.
Speaker 1:Shit, that was tough.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's what made flow change your mind.
Speaker 2:Board. I just had to watch the board.
Speaker 1:Yeah Right, that's what I was doing, just standing around watching the board the whole time Like God, and then that skipped like holy shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Go on for like a second and then go to the next one and be like what the hell I couldn't even read it. Yeah, so nobody ever can add a coach. You know that's something that we're always very admirable Like man. You know we don't want any kid to ever have to take them out without a coach. You know that's something we don't have happened. So yeah.
Speaker 1:So when obviously you had some great success with, with the kids that went out there, and a lot of people look at it differently, Like we're. I mean, I've grown as far as knowing what winning and losing really means and how it matters and it doesn't matter. It's all about the performance, and that's what I ask of Liam is just 110% when you go compete. I don't know technical anymore, that's what your coaches are for, I just want 110%. You know that's it Right. So we see almost all that and every kid that we had out there, which you know, and it leaves a little frustrated at the end. You know it happens. Yeah, you get. You get that block in your mind, but at the same point, though to now, that's a learning, you know that's something you got to take away.
Speaker 2:You know it always is, so it's always something to take.
Speaker 1:What were some of? What were some of the moments that you guys had like in the back where, where you guys are kind of relaxing, chilling out and like someone throws like a spaghetti noodle at someone's face and then it starts a water fight. What any kind of fun stories that happened this year.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, you know if Fargo were doing busy running on the floor, you know where we get that kind of. That kind of is like at, like junior duels, like did you they had a big like slap fight with a burrito or a shelf, just slap and shove the face back and forth, and it was like I know, it's the littlest stuff and it's funny, though you come around the corner and, like we always hide the guys back in a corner, there underneath the mess. They can kind of hang. The bathrooms are there, there's some electrical they can charge yourself, and they all kind of conglomerate back there and you go back there at any given time and they're all snacking and they're in the huddle and you couldn't tell who won or lost Cause they're all just laughing, messing with each other, and then but then it's different, you know, you get down there in like the morning of the blood round and then they're all down there and it's like you could hear a drop man.
Speaker 2:They're pretty serious, ready to rock and roll, you know. But it's cool to see how friendly the kids are with each other. You know what I mean. Like they're all making best friends, like these are guys that you know go to each other's weddings and they're gonna. They're gonna visit each other with their kids when they're 35, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's. I know that because I've made those bonds through these trips. You know what I mean and that's why I'm friends with the guys that you know wigs and Ben and Max, and you know, and it's a punishment of AB eighters. You know Scott Armistead at Northern exposure, you know, and we had coaches like Terry Steiner was a coach one year, yeah, yeah, and it was like insane. You know, john Messonbrink was a coach one year, so I got to know John as a coach, you know, and where did he wrestle in college Break?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, okay that's, I couldn't remember, but I was like shit, this guy's got a background.
Speaker 2:Man like he won, but I mean, yeah, he was John's intense. He's a fantastic coach in person and just great human being.
Speaker 1:He's listening to him talk. He just said there's something he says when he's talking. It's like I can just take the information and you know I was like hey.
Speaker 2:Awesome man. Well, yeah, so what?
Speaker 1:uh, yeah, so what? What other types of things does crass have going on right now? Crass train you guys switching over to folks, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we're trying to pump up opportunities. You know, and my brother said to me he kind of gives me shit. You know he's a good checker for me and check my shit and he goes hey, you got to quit having all them expensive camps because your members are gonna run out of money. Dude, I said the camps are more for the kids than our members. Yeah, it's for the guys that don't want to spend two grand a year to wrestle at a private club or you know what I mean, a Box year or whatever and they want to spend $150, go to a camp and say have their kids stay overnight, I need three meals and that's just some work.
Speaker 1:That's all we.
Speaker 2:Is for the demographic. That's like, not club kids, like I'm not trying to get all. I mean, I would love all my club kids to be here too. Right, yeah, right, the real. These are like for the guy. That's like, yeah, I'm not an, I'm not a full year-round wrestler, I just in transitioning between my baseball and my football hasn't really started yet. Yep, come hit a bump man, get some Matt time in.
Speaker 2:These guys are wrestling at the D1 level. So we got Gavin Drexler coming in the first weekend, mm-hmm. The fifth, and then we got Grayson Clark coming in the 12th, and then that next Thursday we got three go for the guys coming in for the go for tough camp, get a joke, boom, Kylian's. Yeah, we're just hammering out three big camps, you know. Then September 23rd, we're gonna have Seth Gross up nice from a not Friday noon camp, and then we have an event that afternoon at the facility, a wrestling event yet to be disclosed, but we got something coming. So you know, we're just trying to give.
Speaker 2:Like I said earlier, you know it's about giving Wisconsin kids opportunities, and it's not just kids that are at the private club. Like, you don't have to be a member here to get access to training here. Yeah, this is why I have these extra camps, right, yeah, and and yeah, maybe maybe you get a kid to come in and think, yeah, maybe I'll join a member here wherever. But that's not really what it's for is for the college kids to get an opportunity to do some coaching. Yeah, and help a little bit. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Well, a lot of a lot of. It's the guys that are from here, you know, grayson Clark and the guys from Minnesota. They are bringing stuff back and I think that's the biggest thing that we've been doing in the state is Is bringing all those guys D1 guys back and you guys who wrestled at a high level to, yeah, bring them on whatever. Yeah, bring them on.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I just guys walking to wrestle some old man, so just give him a high.
Speaker 1:They can yell it's up, yeah, let's shit, but what do you? What do you guys have planned, are you guys? Do you guys do a team? You guys still doing a team for the state, like a dual team that you guys would take around in the off season, is it?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, we chose this is funny because I just sent out a thing today with Ohio Middle School Nationals. We got a tryout coming up. We're gonna do the trial on September 30th, okay, and the track Do a practice from 10 to noon at the AT up here at the Crest train, mm-hmm, and then we're gonna have a little lunch break and then we're gonna have a 1 to 3 session and we're working on building our team for the Ohio Middle School National Duel, which are in November.
Speaker 1:It's nice. You guys are building for it. That's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, we're trying to do like. I've never been a big fan of just like Calling guys together and having to meet at the airport and go to a tournament, right? Yeah, I like having a camp, sorry, getting to know each other and then I can help them a little better. Matt side you know, what I mean.
Speaker 2:I got a little you know their skillset if I've got to work out with them a few times, right, and for that one I kind of partner with law Because because he's he's got that contract and we're just fortunate enough to be friends with them and they're gonna let Our guys jump in on that team and and what we want to make it more competitive. You know what I mean. We want to make a more competitive team than we've had in the past and, and we're doing the same thing for the Virginia Beach team, that we take out the k-16. We're teaming up with um Anthony Dalia down there. Bird is there in memorial training center.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, the bad dude man, oh yeah, he ran in the circle when we were kids the whole way up um with us and and he goes way back. You know he's been to my farm as a little kid training for weeks on it and he comes from a tough boxing, an Italian boxing family. Um, they're mason trade, his father company, they're freaking hammers and the dude's just a great guy and he runs a. Even he's got a little kid. That's just a son in that age group and he's got a really good age group of kids in that demographic. You know that k through six, yeah, and he's been and cruisers, little boys in that and, uh, danny, as area has got a little boy in that. So they're all coming back. You know that that race team, park wrestling club team from the, they're all coming back.
Speaker 1:His kid was on this team right here. We won this down strike zone because I I couldn't find anybody that was like a little bit older that size and that kid was Hammering other kids like nothing Like he's a ham. He stood next to his trophy was as tall as he was. I was like you were destroying guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know we're and it's like. I think, though like so, so tom clark might not agree to this, but he might. But so so tom's a super passionate guy, right, he would get, he would lose this shit and get kicked out of dual meat tournament, right. And so then they were like so they're like well, we need to get somebody to coach the team that doesn't have a kid on the team. So like they're not like losing the and I don't know how I got picked to coach that team.
Speaker 2:But also I got picked to coach that team and it was grace and clark and braden, son and peg and like here above that it was like gavin drexler and blaine brender. So a couple of my guys were kind of on that team but it was like predominantly an off-star team that tom had developed them out, the whole state, right. And so I took that team a few years in a row to like Mcdonald duals and baltimore. And then, yep, our virginia beach tournament holiday duals. So like two term here for like two, three years in a row. And it was literally like this last group of guys. It was like wins Koy hafty would be at the tournament. Not, he was the wrestler team, but he'd be on like a different team.
Speaker 2:Yeah like riddle head mulvaney um.
Speaker 1:That's a great team.
Speaker 2:All you know, luke dukes was on those teams, gunner hoffman, in in smith, was on those teams, so it was a good mix of our kids and a good mix of those kids. Yeah, yeah, for sure, that's how I landed the gig. And it was like this guy might be crazier than tom. You know he's gonna get kicked out. Yeah, out on the bench sometimes, you know, and I'm getting a lot better the older I get. But yeah, um, it's hard man, but dude. So it was really gonna spend time with these guys on their last trip. I got to go to junior duels with them. I got to go to um.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think I think the, the group that is, you know, I'm graduating and moving up there. Still Obviously there's a few of them that are still going to be here next year, but Knowing the level that they're at, and then, like I said, with the coaches that we have now, the you know, like you and the asker ins, and we got even even out in law, those guys, I mean, they're great at developing kids. You know, and that's the biggest thing that I hear from like other states, like we want to develop kids and, right, you guys have picked up the pace on that sense, because I I only remember you were talking about camps. I only remember camps. I don't remember clubs. We had mat rats, that was it you know like, but we didn't have, we didn't have the wrestling like we do now. So you had to find camps to do, like you said.
Speaker 1:It's just something that I'm trying to, you know, get a leg up on. But now we've picked it up in, like I've shown a lot of respect towards the fact that, like I said, you and asker are working together, talking together more. All the other teams are starting to gel in it, because it didn't used to be that way when Liam first started this, there was always just ah and now everybody is starting to kind of come together.
Speaker 1:It's awesome and it's great to see you.
Speaker 2:This thing is like dude. It's like we, if we do our jobs right, like I don't need to take kids from anybody else. I know I'll pick a kid off the back Yep, but even if they come, I'll steal a kid from basketball if I need another. There's bad kids that walk into the gym all the time and wish they were tougher and look into windows.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, liam goes and works out at Ascrin.
Speaker 2:What's that? And he wouldn't have basketball kids any day. Just wave them in.
Speaker 1:It's come on. Oh, for the month, it's come on. Yeah, liam mixes it up. He, he runs with Robert Lee once in a while and then he's at Ascrin and you know things like that. I think it's good to have that exposure to all the different coaching styles. So much praise to you guys for that. So, but you, are you running a practice tonight?
Speaker 2:No, I just have guys in that can work out.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, open mats.
Speaker 2:That's right, open mat yeah yeah, I'm in the rest, I'm gonna be in here, you know. Yeah, but then I you can see me doing this because I'm looking fast the camera, because I'm like I can see them out. They're sitting on their asses and I'm like getting in here to sit on your ass. You're near to rest. You can sit on your ass at home.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Friday night at six o'clock and these are all high school kids and they're here to wrestle, so I can't be complaining. Yeah, that's right, wrestling Another shit high school kids are doing on Friday night.
Speaker 1:Are you like a Schwab? Do you get out there and wrestle with these guys still, oh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice, yeah, I love nice. Yeah, yeah, I'm actually a little better shape. You know, my son's coming up and and Mm-hmm, yeah, that's the brink is really lit a fire under me in terms of, like, I want to be that coach for my son when he's ready for me. Yeah, you know what I mean. I want to be in good shape or build on them. I want to be able to Smack them around and give it to him. You know, I don't want him to be able to roll me, you know.
Speaker 1:There's no man, there's no like getting it done back there. So, yeah, with him, with him. How is that blend with you being such a club coach and having your son coming up, do you? Do you coach him like just off to the side, but like when practice is going on, you let someone else handle it?
Speaker 2:No, you know, not really. I'm pretty hands-on with some of them. I mean I push them pretty hard. Okay, well, you know, like junior high season he's got other coaches. You know I would like it's kind of nice. You know we do like six grades included in junior high around here. So like even last year was like I coached my practice but I don't really coach my matches often. Okay, you know what I mean. Like his coach and I was junior high coach in. I'm fortunate that his junior high coach is a friend of mine.
Speaker 2:Let me trust in my twin brothers on the is coaching on the high school staff that he'll go to. So you know, I trust where he's going. I trust the guys that he's with. You know and I Don't know. You know, To me it's like you learn.
Speaker 2:You learn what you need to learn from wrestling in between the four Pratt walls in practice room. That's how you make the man you wanted out of wrestling like the big man. This is the wins and the medals and stuff and that's all cool, but like it happens inside these four walls right here, you know what I mean. Yep, so you know. I just I just put a lot of pressure on because you know there could be pressure on the kid if his dad was was fairly good at some point, you know, and there might be a little pressure on it, but it's like I just want him to enjoy it. You know, I want to be able to call him when he's 25 and be like hey, I bought us all tickets to go to the NCAA and hopefully he's not like still wrestling in college at 25, I don't know, Overdue, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah right.
Speaker 2:Shit, guys are 25 years old. You know, been in college for seven years. There's also wrestling 26, 27, you know like what he's an adult, you know, I'd like to be able to call him. And yeah, there's kids, I know that have such a toxic relationship with wrestling because of what their dads did to them, you know you know, I just don't want that, you know it's a bit of, I mean it's, it's huge, it's one of those things.
Speaker 1:And I didn't have parents that were high like they didn't play sports. I mean, if they did, they played through like middle school or grade school, and I was it. But knowing that my brother was that one that was up there, that was, I had an older Well, I still have an older brother, but I was trying to come up to him. Well, and then as I got to high school you know it's good having him around as a partner to either practice with sometimes Sometimes you didn't want to see my face, which it can't argue with him, but it was I became better, you know. Then he was because of the opportunities that he gave me as far as being a partner, and my dad would push us to a certain extent of Just, you got to go to practice, you got to go to practice, but my brother was the one that was like no dude, you suck, you need to get better.
Speaker 2:Okay, I had the luxury I had twin brother right and then I had an older brother on both of us right, yeah, and like you know, I'm really close with the mirror solos in part of it is kind of the twin thing, like I get the twin thing right and it's like you know I'm like, well, yeah, jesus Cole, you're only good cuz the Connor like shut up. You know, it's like I just tease them like that. You know, like when one of them's having a hard day, I always tell them like yeah, well, your brother's, you know, and it's always, I understand, demographic of like, hey, man, like I remember going to tournaments and get my ass kicked and then having my brother win and my parents looking at me like oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I can't like be sorrowful for you because I want him to be. You know it's like a tough spot for a parent. You know big time. Great job handling that demographic, obviously. But and those boys are originally but like man's Ivory thing is like just like built for wrestling. You know what I mean. It's just built for wrestling, so that's really.
Speaker 1:Just a little bit. I want to because I made a post, okay, and I posted about because it wasn't anything I saw, far goes. I've been watching a lot of wrestling lately. A lot I watched. I watched Utah middle school conference Championships, dude, okay. So I've been watching some wrestling. I Watched. There was a match I saw where they you could tell their friends because when they shook hands, when they got in the mat, they shook hands like hey, buddy, you know like let's do this, and they do the fall down, shit, right, yeah, and let the other one pin them. I know your friends are friends, I get it All right, but we're also in a sport where it's like, just wrestle, just right, put it out there on the line, you know like an example the frickin, jacob Herman, declan Cook, dude the wrestling.
Speaker 2:It's decided for a third and fourth and who's gonna go from fifth and sixth and their best friends and training partners. And they did, you know, it just got a little heavy, could make weight again, so we bumped up and to wrestle the hermitator. You know quite a battle. I love those guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know. So I haven't been able to watch the match, but I had someone tell me that was kind of on that level, like it wasn't wrestled very hard.
Speaker 2:It was almost like the really they. It was like it was even, and then they fought hard for like the last minute.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, that's what they said. It was like circling just hand, you know, hand, fighting, fighting or whatever.
Speaker 2:But they didn't give up If they had a plan or anything.
Speaker 1:But it seemed like there was definitely like you know, what I mean, like I I don't know, it's just kind of a bomber. But at the same time, though, too, I mean just the level of wrestling that was out there was crazy.
Speaker 2:It kind of had all their guys move away from each other last year, right, so that they could try to you know old a title, right, and you know, and it's in the same vein of like being friends, right. So I mean, if what they did like that was silly, then what those guys did was silly, right, cause it's in that same vein, You're right. So to me, at some point your college coach is going to make you guys wrestle each other, right, like they're handing out tickets right now and it's going to be Sinclair versus Mirasola. That's what Flo wants to see, right? I mean, they don't want to see anything but that, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You don't want to see, probably right? You know what I mean. Yeah, Kyle's not going to care if, uh, if, if Mirasola's buddies with Sinclair when Sinclair's wrestling from Cornell and they're going to go to hell.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Yeah, it's going to happen, man. So I mean but but I get it, you know they're, they're friends and and um, if they're comfortable with it, that's fine. You know, I had a twin brother so I had to pull that a couple of times. There were a couple of times a week full. That was where my mom they were like you guys aren't, aren't wrestling each other, because we wrestled one time in kindergarten and he beat me and I cried and we were like kind of not friends for a little while because of that, I think, you know, and my parents were like we're not going to put them in that situation again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's a situation where somebody moved forward in the bracket. Both those medals were coming home anyway to the same house in the same training room, so it was a matter of you're both going to get thrown in the fucking closet with the rest of the shit and we're going to practice tomorrow. Right, we're really going to get into the fight tomorrow, not the fight you had yesterday.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's all kinds of ways to look at it, you know, and everybody's entitled to their own opinion. And I think again you revert back to what's going to make the athlete more comfortable, where the athlete can produce at the next, you know, next best thing, what's next right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, agreed, totally. Well, man, you got. You got 37 minutes under your belt. If there's some stuff you want to touch on, I know you got those camps coming up and then you got the. You're doing some, doing some tryouts for what's the team name for that travel team that you're doing?
Speaker 2:The one we're going to take to, we take it, we call it. The one that we take to Virginia Beach is just a crash train team, but I'm probably going to rebrand it something to include BAM's you know team name in there. Yeah, like a crash or something. And then uh, uh, luck, luck. Grass area wrestling the lacrasse nice.
Speaker 1:Yes, love it, yeah, love it.
Speaker 2:That's awesome we're all in the same area and but dude those guys, watch for those guys, because they got some hammers coming up too Always, and our days of dominating Fargo are just getting started. I think these boys have done a really good job of of paving the road and setting the bar high.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:And I think we're going to keep doing what we're doing. I think we're going to. We're going to see more, more years like this. You know, um, and I think you know guys like Liam it's like remind him, man like yo, the twins didn't, didn't place their freshman here, but they also 100, right, right, they were at like like I mean, it's a little different up there. You wrestle with the big boys. You know a lot of the guys are they're 160 pound. You know cadets. So a lot of them guys are fully through puberty already. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And you're kind of not. You know that Minnesota kid. He probably used to wrestle in high school matches since seventh grade and Liam was gassed. We talk about it all the time. You know it's just it's advantages to be into having certain circumstances to wherever you are and whatever you have.
Speaker 2:You know so, not you know the way, like the biggest thing about Fargo is the weight cutting too. I mean, you know they made it such a difficult year this year. The way they did it was usually you weigh in the day before, then they wrestle, then you would, they make weight the next day, then if they win and they make it to the end at the weigh in metal day. So instead it was like they didn't know if they made a metal till the third day, cause the blood run was that morning. Then everybody in the bloods had to make weight. I was an. I would like somebody to go back through and look at how I do to miss weight. That bet a lot of dudes miss weight in the blood.
Speaker 1:Good point, good point.
Speaker 2:Like three days removed from that first weigh in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's like if you could just hand those first two weigh ins back to back. That's the way I'd like it as a wrestler.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you keep the level.
Speaker 2:And then you have kids. You know you have kids that are like hey. So I was like 0.8 over and now I'm like a pound.
Speaker 1:Point six I didn't eat anything.
Speaker 2:I didn't have anything. And you're like, bro, I've done this before. I'm like I'm straight, like three pounds of water in the middle of the night at Fargo one year, as a cadet woke up in the morning, four pounds over, like I didn't do anything, like you know what I mean. Like I've been there, like the management thing, and just like, hey, bro, like when you start the fire, I'm the guy going to come dig you out of the fire. So don't lie to me, like you don't know me.
Speaker 2:Like I take the guys that are like need the extra help, right, I take them to work, take them to the gym late. I already know me. That's kind of like my thing is like getting the guys to be, and so you know that's. I could just spend a little more time with some of those like like Declan's usually cutting a little weight and uh, and Jake is using, and so then I got to hang with those guys a little extra than some other guys, you know. So I get to know that better than the other. And it's just like you said. You know, not that I I like them any better than the other kids around, but that just by sense of the environment I've spent a little more time with them, you know, so you get to know them a little better. But those kids are both savages. They're going to be tough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, for sure For sure the next be good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:Yep. So like there's, there's never. I can't say that there's ever a kid, especially now at this level, that I've ever doubted any of their abilities. I mean, they, these kids, have been through the, a lot of them have been through the ringer. You know and you know right, so it's definitely it was nice being able to see that's kind of it's got wondering about the mix of like coaching. It was nice to be able to see some of you guys with kids that you normally aren't around. You know, like Liam.
Speaker 2:That's my favorite part. I know all my guys. I like new kids. I like to talk to Liam, I like to hang with the twins. I like visiting with, like Charlie Malar's a neat kid, you know. The man is a kid that I've always enjoyed up here as a little guy. Yeah, you know, really enjoyed Joel and his wife and the whole family is always around and willing to. Hey, we're going to grab some lunch. Do you want us to get you something like just like you know they're back type of people. You know all them. Yeah, just like. Yeah. So, like you know, we got to keep recruiting those people's kids into wrestling and people like that. You know you are who you're surrounding, right. So it's like let's get more people like that involved in wrestling.
Speaker 1:Couldn't agree more, man Couldn't agree more. Well, I am going to let you go, dude. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Argo. We'll be back next year ready to rock. Yes Again. Hey, come hit up the grass train for some camps the first three weeks in August. Members but non-members this is for you. This is for you that don't have a year long membership somewhere and you need to hit a tamp up before you get headed back to school. We got your end of the summer options covered here. August 5th, august 12th, august 17th Come hit us up. Crash trainclub.
Speaker 1:If you, if you can't find it, go on social media. You'll find them on Instagram. I think he's on Facebook. I mean, they got everything out there, so scroll through and find crass and getting figured out. So much appreciated. Dude, I'm going to talk, I want to talk to you for just a second once we're done here, but I'm going to roll some sweet music, because that's what I do, and then we're going to tell people adios, so see you later. Peace.
