Born to be an American

Submitted by tyler.lewis on

The dimly lit gym, the soft wrestling mat, the faint scream of coaches as they shout advice to their tense wrestlers. 3… 2… 1… the whistle, and everything around fades out. The competition has begun and nothing else matters.

 These were some of the feelings felt by senior Brooks Robinson as he competed on the U.S. Pan American Wrestling Team in the 2013 FILA Cadet Pan American Championships. From August 6th to the 12th Brooks traveled to Colombia with his American teammates to wrestle kids from all over North and South America. Brooks competed in a weight class TEN pounds heavier than his own! Despite this disadvantage, Brooks went on to dominate in his matches and won both the silver medal in Greco-Roman and the gold in Freestyle style wrestling. Brooks recalls how he felt as he stood on the podium when receiving his medal. He states, “It’s such an amazing feeling. There’s just nothing like it.” As impressive as this is, Brooks gives credit to his coaches. He remembers “my coaches told me something when I was nervous because I was wrestling kids heavier than me. They told me, ‘the outcome doesn’t matter. You’ve put in your time and worked hard for this. Just be the best you can be.’”

To compete on the U.S. Pan American Wrestling Team, Brooks wrestled in a tournament in Ohio. He wrestled 50+ kids and took second place, one match short of making the U.S. World Team. However, he went on to make it onto the Pan American Team. Other MMHS wrestlers, Tanner Cox, Taylor LaMont, and Kimball Bastian, competed at the same tournament and made it onto the U.S. World Team and wrestled in the world championships. Out of the four Utah wrestlers that made the U.S. World Team, three of them attend Maple Mountain.

Attributions
Story by Seth Robertson. Photo by Tyler Lewis.

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