The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club was just in Colorado Springs for a national team camp and the Dave Schultz memorial tournament. This was not a particularly great tournament for our club as we did not have anyone finish among the top three. This is the biggest and toughest international tournament that is held in the United States with representatives from China, Japan, Bulgaria, Russia, Kazakhstan, India, Panama and Canada, so we as a team had to test ourselves to see where we stand against everyone else. We only had Kellen Russell and Kyle Massey competing in the tournament, while Jimmy Kennedy was also in Colorado training and getting prepared for the World Cup and Belarus later this month. Both CKWC guys were eliminated before the placing matches; Kellen lost in the consolation quarterfinals, while Massey lost in the consolation semifinals.
I am proud of the way both Kellen and Kyle competed, but if they want to make the U.S. World team this summer they will have to spend a lot of time working on the small areas of their wrestling where they lost points this past weekend. Wrestling is a sport where you constantly have to make little corrections. Perfection is not an attainable goal, but the closer we can get to perfect the better chance we have to win when it counts.
I want to talk a little about Dave Schultz and his impact on the wrestling world. Dave was a World champion in 1983 and an Olympic champion in 1984. Throughout the rest of his career Dave never made it back to the top of the podium at the Olympics or the World Championships. Dave placed second three times and third twice at the World Championships. In today’s internet age, Dave probably would have been written off by all the critics sitting behind a monitor and keyboard. Luckily for us this never happened. Instead we have a lasting legacy of a man who was not just great on the mat but a man who is revered by all in the wrestling community.
Dave Schultz was 24 years old when he won the 1983 World Championships. This is a young age for an American to win the World Championships. If you look at Jordan Burroughs, he is in a very similar situation as Dave Schultz. Both Dave and Jordan won the World Championships then won the Olympics the very next year. This is actually a very rare feat and has only been done about 10 times since the 1984 Olympics. Dave loved the sport of wrestling, and he continued to try and master a sport that is impossible to master. Every time you step on the mat you have a different opponent and anything can happen. This is why we all compete. Dave was a great example of someone who strapped on the shoes and saw what happened.
In order to be great you have to be willing to dare to be great. You have to be willing to test your skills against the best wrestlers in the world time and time again. You can’t hide from anyone if greatness is what you’re after. This is what Dave Schultz taught me. I wanted to be the best wrestler in the world, and I gave it my all. I wrestled in all the toughest tournaments in the world, and I competed against some very good wrestlers. I won some matches and lost some matches, but at the end of the day, I know I did everything I could to become a great wrestler. I still strive to be great in all that I do. I want to be the best coach in the nation, and I want to help young wrestlers win World and Olympic championships. Dave Schultz will always be a legend for what he was able to accomplish on the mat. His wrestling career was not perfect and he had his share of losses, but like Dave, you have to learn from the losses and grow from them so you can come back a better wrestler and a better person.
I have been in the same situation that both Kyle and Kellen are in. Just because they failed to place at this Dave Schultz tournament does not mean they are not capable of doing great things this year. Our team tested themselves this past weekend, and we will take what we learned from our matches and use that to get better moving forward. We know where we stand at this point in the season, and we know where we want to stand in September during the World Championships.
Andy
