Beyond the Mat - Brad Bailey

All it took was a little encouragement. Although he originally believed his athletic calling to be baseball, Brad Bailey’s father, once a wrestler at Columbia, gave his son a stern nudge towards the direction of wrestling at a young age.

“When I was younger, I didn’t really have a choice,” Bailey said, chuckling. “My dad wrestled for Columbia and he made me do it when I was younger. I didn’t really like it at first, I always saw myself as more of a baseball player when I was young. However, in middle school and high school I started to like it a little bit more; I started to like the challenge. I just don’t think I was ready for it at first. It just kinda grew from there.”

For Bailey, he never felt like he had to wrestle. Rather, because of the wrestling heritage that exists within his family, he believed not to wrestle would lead to disappointment.

“There was a little bit of pressure and [my dad] expected a lot of me,” Bailey said. “I guess he never made me do it, but it was highly important that I [wrestled]. I could’ve quit if I wanted, but he would have been very disappointed.”

As he has grown as a wrestler, Bailey has come to enjoy having a father who strongly encouraged him to become one. Now that Bailey has grown into the sport and come to love it, he is reaping the benefits of having someone so close to him who knows everything there is to know about the sport.

“It’s great to be in a house with someone who has been through [everything]. Just drawing on his experiences, knowing that he’s been there…is pretty cool,” he said.

Like every other wrestler, Bailey has days where he struggles to make it through on the mat. It would probably be easy to quit. Thankfully, Bailey has his father, who is ready to pass along the knowledge he gained as a wrestler at Columbia to his son.

Despite the immense importance this advice and wisdom has played in Bailey’s wrestling career, he doesn’t recall one or two pieces sticking out more than the rest. Instead, Bailey relishes in the fact that his father will always be a phone call away, ready to reassure him when times are tough. In many ways, Bailey is happy that he almost always knows ahead of time what his dad will say to him when he picks up the phone.

For Bailey, having someone to rely on who is removed the immediate situation has paid huge dividends.

“Just stick with it,” Bailey said when asked what his dad usually tells him. “It’s always stuff I know and I can predict what he’s going to say. It’s always good to get the perspective of someone who is outside the situation a little bit. I think he provides a bigger picture.”

Perhaps as a result of all these conversations, Bailey is confident that, despite his father’s previous allegiances to Columbia, an EIWA rival, he has managed to convert his father to a Diplomat.

“He’s an F&M fan now, I’d have to say,” Bailey said with a smile.

Beyond what his father has taught him, Bailey has garnered a lifetime worth of lessons and knowledge from the sport he now loves. Like every other wrestler at F&M, Bailey has taken the lessons the sport has taught him and applied them to the real world.

“Responsibility,” Bailey said when asked for a specific example. “You have to hold yourself accountable because your opponent is always going to hold you accountable. Hard work. If you work as hard as you do in the wrestling room in real life, grades, or social situations, you’ll be fine. The real world can’t be as hard as wrestling. It can’t be.”

alma mater of current F&M head coach Mike Rogers, made the connection that would eventually put Bailey on a course to become a Diplomat.

“I ended up here because my dad is the trainer for the Lock Haven wrestling team,” Bailey said. “When F&M brought Fullowan down to the tournament there last year, my dad knew [coach Rogers] just from operating on him or something, and he said, ‘Brad is looking for someplace to wrestle.’ I had never heard of F&M before that. Everything else just seemed to fall into place.”

Despite his lack of knowledge of F&M, Bailey liked what he heard when he spoke with both Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg. Their message stuck with him, and he believes wrestling at F&M provides him, in conjunction with his fellow first-years, a tremendous opportunity to not only grow individually and as a class, but to help grow the program as well.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to come in and do something for the program,” Bailey said. “It was an opportunity for myself to grow along with the program because obviously no one is as good as they need to be when they first get here. I though it was an opportunity to grow with the team.”

“We actually talk about it a lot [outside the wrestling room],” Bailey said of the program’s future. “It will be cool when we’re seniors, and I mean no disrespect to the current seniors, juniors, and sophomores, but knowing we’re such a big class and we can get so much better, we talk about when we’re seniors how we’re going to kick butt.”

Off the mat, Bailey is following another one of his father’s life paths: medicine.

“I’m a premed focus,” Bailey said. “I’m glad they didn’t let me pick my major right away because I would have picked physics. Now I think I may want to switch to chemistry. It’s always good to get the first few courses out of the way to find what you’re interested.”

“Definitely,” Bailey added when asked whether or not his father’s involvement in medicine influenced him. “Since I was little, my dad has always been a doctor and him doing surgery has always intrigued me. Some people get queasy; I don’t.”

His reasons for pursuing medicine are

“The fact that…it’s really just helping people. It’s not even saving people, but just giving people a better life,” Bailey said. “You know, fixing knees so they can run and stuff like that. As an athlete, that’s important to me because I don’t what I would do if I couldn’t compete. Just helping people participate in athletics or when they get older helping them stay in shape.”

When he’s not on the mat or hitting the books, Bailey leads a relatively relaxed lifestyle. Ever since winter break when the wrestling team was on campus largely by itself, he has noticed the first-year class becoming closer all the time.

“After winter break, [the first-years] became really tight and we hang out a lot now,” Bailey said. “We play video games, go see movies, and just hang out. We play a lot of Madden.”

Whether it’s as a team doctor or a coach somewhere, Bailey has aspirations to remain involved with wrestling for a long time after he graduates. He seems unsure of what form his involvement will take, but he hopes it will be significant.

“I would love to coach a local high school team,” he said. “I would definitely love to get involved, maybe through medicine. Not sure what path I want to take in medicine, but we’ll see.”

It took him awhile, but Bailey finally came around to wrestling. Perhaps it took a little nudge from his father to finally dive right in, but at the end of the day, Bailey couldn’t be happier that he did.

Beyond the Mat - Paul Alessandrini

Most people remember a specific moment or a long lasting influence that steered them towards the sport they chose to play. Whether that is a passion or spontaneous moment of inspiration, this moment usually prompts a moment that lingers in the back of one’s mind for the rest of his or her life.

For Paul Alessandrini, wrestling just seemed like the best sport for him, and he was introduced to the sport at just the right time.

“When I was like five year old, I played football and my dad was my coach,” Alessandrini said. “When I stopped playing, I never liked basketball, so I picked wrestling, and here I am.”

“When I was a child, I always had too much energy and I enjoyed being really physical. So I made that into a sport and wrestling was what came out of it,” he added.

To Alessandrini, wrestling just seemed to be the natural choice. It appealed to his slightly reckless, high-energy personality. Whatever sport he chose had to contain some element of aggression as an outlet for his always running motor.

Alessandrini’s father also played a critical role in his athletic development, coaching him in multiple sports for years.

“My dad was always my coach from football to little kid wrestling,” Alessandrini said. “He was always a big influence and always pushed me through it. He never forced me to do anything, but he always kept me going.”

“He was always a great coach and was always a great dad. He was always there for me.”

Even though Alessandrini experienced some early success as a wrestler and his dad encouraged him every step of the way, he never thought he would be a division one wrestler one day. That isn’t to say Alessandrini never dreamed about it, however; as he noted, thinking and hoping are two unique emotions.

“Thinking I was going to be one and dreaming I would be one are two different things,” he said. “I always wanted to be one…I used to watch the counties and the states on TV and always dreamed of being there.”

If it was unlikely that he would wrestle at the college level, it was even more unlikely that Alessandrini would end up at F&M. Prior to one of his club wrestling coaches reaching out to head coach Mike Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg, Alessandrini had never heard of Franklin & Marshall.

“My club coach…I wrestled for him for two seasons…he was there for me,” Alessandrini said. “During the recruiting process, he contacted F&M. He contacted a lot of schools. I finally got a chance to talk to Coach Greenberg going into my senior year and we just clicked.”

“Initially I had never heard of F&M,” he added. “As soon as I talked to Greenberg, I started doing my research and yeah, they didn’t look that great, but I started talking to coaches and Rogers and they convinced me that this was going to be the start of something new and something good.”

After being contacted by F&M’s coaching staff, Alessandrini did his research and was a bit skeptical after seeing the records the program had assembled the previous few years. Like many of this year’s freshmen, however, Alessandrini was sold on the message both Rogers and Greenberg pitched when he spoke with them: This was his chance to make a true, lasting impact on the program, unlike any other mark he could leave on any other program.

“I think it was just the message that this might be a struggling division one program, but we’re really putting our best foot forward to make this a better program,” Alessandrini said. “Their whole message about making this a legitimate program is what really drew me in.”

AlessandriniAlessandrini considers each member of the class to be entirely unique, with wrestling as the string that connects them and holds everyone together.

“We’re all a bunch of individuals,” he said. “If you put us all in a room and took wrestling away, we would have nothing in common. But we do have one thing in common and that is that we want to make this wrestling program relevant again. I think this is going to be a really good team someday.”

Despite his optimism, Alessandrini’s collegiate wrestling career did not kick off with a bang. After tearing his labrum, he has struggled to get back on the mat, missing a large majority of the season. He claims this weighed on him more mentally than physically, as he always had to keep his shoulder in mind.

“I definitely didn’t think this was my best season. I tore my labrum last season and I am finally getting it fixed on March 9,” Alessandrini said. “I’m just looking forward to next season.”

“It was less not being able to wrestle and more not being able to wrestle to my potential,” he added. “Mentally, being outmatched during some matches really didn’t help when I was thinking, ‘don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t put your shoulder in this position.’ It was a drain on the season.”

Off the mat, Alessandrini remains a sports junkie. He claims, despite his history with football, he would be a lacrosse player if wrestling wasn’t his calling, and he enjoys watching all types of sports with his father and his friends whenever he has the opportunity.

“Wrestling takes up quite a bit of time. In general, when I say I wrestle all year round, I really mean it,” Alessandrini said when asked how he occupied his free time. “Other than wrestling, I enjoy watching sports, playing other sports, and I live on the water and enjoy that an the outdoors.”

“I’m a little short to play football in college,” he added. “But I’ve always loved lacrosse. If there wasn’t wrestling, I would probably be playing lacrosse.”

Even though the freshman has several years to sort out his goals and aspirations, Alessandrini aims to follow in the footsteps of his father after graduation, which would not surprise anyone who knows him.

“My Dad, my grandfather, and my uncle, they all work on Wall St,” Alessandrini said. “It’s kind of leading me to finance. I’ve always wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps in everything he does. He’s always been a huge influence on me, whether it’s been athletically or in the professional world.”

Itching to get back on the mat, Alessandrini has few goals for his collegiate career: Graduate with a good reputation, have good friends, and become an All-American wrestler. Perhaps little different than what most of his colleagues aim to accomplish during their time in college, but Alessandrini was adamant that, above all else, leaving his mark on the wrestling mat was what mattered to him the most.

There was little hesitation in his voice, and his eyes confirmed the seriousness with which he simply, abruptly, and passionately laid out his short list of collegiate goals.

“I definitely want them to remember me as a division one All-American,” he said. “I don’t care if that sounds bad, but that’s what I want most. I want to be an All-American. I want to graduate with a good group of friends both in and outside of the wrestling team.”

He sat back and smiled; it is clear Alessandrini is rather simple and, above all else, he is committed to the team and his teammates. Few things, if any, will get in his way as strives to achieve his ultimate goal.

Alessandrini, All-American.

“That would be a good enough name for me.”

Beyond the Mat - Colin Lahiff

Sophomore Colin Lahiff wasn’t always a wrestler. For most of his early years, he practiced judo, a form of martial arts. It wasn’t until his older brother picked up wrestling in high school that Lahiff began to contemplate picking up the sport he now loves.

“I had done a lot of judo, which is a lot like wrestling with a lot of throws and a lot of use of the hips,” Lahiff said. “I had done that for years. My brother, who is a couple years older than me, started wrestling in high school and I thought that was pretty cool, so I picked it up in seventh grade and I have been wrestling ever since.”

Fortunately for Lahiff, Alexander Konovalchik was his high school coach. A graduate of Harvard and a captain of its wrestling team, Konovalchik instilled a passion for wrestling in Lahiff. As a professor, Konovalchik impacted Lahiff’s path off the mat as well, jumpstarting Lahiff’s passion for both history and government.

“In high school I had a pretty good program,” Lahiff said. “Our coach, he was a captain at Harvard. He was also my football coach and government teacher. He had an amazing influence on me and is still a huge role model for me today.”

Despite his newfound love of wrestling, Lahiff didn’t initially think he would become a division one wrestler, at least not at F&M. In fact, prior to receiving a letter from F&M encouraging him to submit his information to then head coach Peter Schuyler, Lahiff had never even heard of the tiny school in Lancaster, PA.

Even though he had never heard of F&M before, he opted to give the place a shot.

“The first thing I learned about F&M was that there was a wrestling program from the letter I got in the mail recruiting me,” Lahiff said. “That was actually under Coach Schuyler. I then got an email over the summer saying that they were changing coaches. I came here and didn’t even know who the coach was going to be, which was a little unsettling. As soon as they brought in Rogers, I think they all knew it was going to be great.”

As to be expected, the Schuyler’s departure was shocking to those incoming wrestlers expecting to compete for him, Lahiff being no exception. For Lahiff, despite some initial concern, Rogers quickly eased any worries he had with his intensity and “mission.” This determination made clear the new path the program was on, something that encouraged Lahiff early on.

“I was definitely a little worried about it at first. Right away, the first week of practice, you could tell by tempo and the energy that we were now on a mission.”

“I had an idea that we were, I guess you could say in a slump and had had a few rough seasons. But I got the feeling the program was on the upswing,” he added.

Both Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg have challenged and supported Lahiff over the course of his collegiate wrestling career. While Rogers has consistently challenged Lahiff on the mat, oftentimes personally wrestling Lahiff in practice, Greenberg has acted more as the calming influence on the sideline. Particularly in tournaments, Greenberg has somehow always known what to say.

“I would say, obviously Rogers, he’s the main guy in the room and he sets the tone,” Lahiff

“Greenberg always seems to connect with me well,” he added. “He always gives me a good advice. He somehow always knows what I’m feeling and what I need to get going.”

Unfortunately, Lahiff’s sophomore season did not go as planned. Following the team’s first meet against the University of Maryland, Lahiff tweaked his knee. After some initial attempts to make it back to the mat this season, it was eventually determined that Lahiff would be better off sitting and preparing himself to make a strong comeback in his junior season.

Although the injury disappointed Lahiff greatly, he has embraced his role this year, recognizing that his greatest contributions to the team have yet to come and will only be realized if he fully rehabs.

“I got injured the first weekend. Maybe I tweaked it before that weekend,” Lahiff said. “I hurt it against the University of Maryland and I knew I had done something pretty bad. I was debating about what to do, but it was getting worse and worse and so we got surgery just so I could get going for next season. I’m doing a lot of rehab right now and I’m trying to do stuff now that will put me in the best position to succeed next season.”

Lahiff’s determination and poise are just a couple factors that make him important to the future growth and development of the F&M wrestling program. Despite the recent lows the program has endured, Lahiff has noticed the program is on the upswing. He credits much of the recent improvement to the strong first-year class Rogers brought in this season.

“As soon as we started having a little more success last year, it started attracting a little more interest,” Lahiff said. “These freshmen, I see them going through the same things I went through as a freshman. It was clear that they came here ready to go and they’re making an impact.”

Off the mat, Lahiff is a relatively quiet kid. You won’t find him partying all over campus or on the member lists of multiple clubs, but you will likely find him buried in a textbook or in his notes in the library. He unashamedly claims to love learning and he hopes to one day turn his love and passion for history and government into a long-term career.

“Other that wrestling, which is one of my passions, I love learning,” Lahiff said. “I’m a little bit of a nerd in some ways. Some people say I go to the library too much, but I love learning, particularly government and history.”

“I’m going to pursue a career in one of those fields, or just stay in academia and keep studying after college,” he added.

Lahiff contributes most of his desire to Konovalchik, who taught him in multiple history and government classes while he was at high school in Massachusetts.

“My interest in government started in high school with my government professor,” Lahiff said. “I just loved every bit of the stuff he was teaching.”

Not surprisingly to anyone who knows him, Lahiff’s goals are rather simple: he wants to be a nice guy and he wants to leave F&M as a role model. Lahiff is a relatively quiet, respectful, and unassuming individual, so to hear him say he simply wants to have a positive impact on the community as a whole should come as no surprise to anyone.

“My main goal is just to be a kind person, always kind to everyone,” Lahiff said. “One of my own goals is to be a great leader. Not just with wrestling, but in the dorm as well. I want to be a positive figure for those around me, someone people can go to. I just want to be a positive influence on people.”

As the team prepares for the EIWAs this weekend, Lahiff is a bit sentimental as he recognizes that his time with seniors Colin Ely, Matt Fullowan, Matt Latessa, and David Pucci is coming to a close. He credits this senior class for preparing him for his life as a wrestler and recognizes he would not be where he is today without their contributions.

“I particularly want to thank these four seniors who are graduating. I have been able to wrestle with all of them a fair amount,” Lahiff said. “When I go injured, that was one of the things that made me the most upset, I wouldn’t be able to wrestle with these guys ever again. They’re great leaders and they’ve given me a lot of tools to work with over the next two years.”

Lahiff didn’t wrestle much this season, however is impact on the team was felt nonetheless behind the scenes. With two more years left before he graduates, it’s fair to expect big things from Lahiff, both on and off the mat.

Building a Bridge to the Future

On senior day, the laundry list of goals is pretty short. The first is to appropriately recognize the seniors on the team for the accomplishments they accumulated during their time as a member of the squad.

The second is to pummel the opposition.

For those in attendance at F&M’s final dual match of the 2011-2012 season last Friday, they saw both goals accomplished. With the Rupp Cup on the line, F&M’s four seniors, Colin Ely, Matt Fullowan, Matt Latessa, and David Pucci, lead the Diplomats in what became a thorough beating of visiting Millersville.

“I felt like the team was finally clicking,” Ely said. “It took us awhile to get there. Like the coaches said, we had different people turning it on during different matches.”

“Everyone wants to beat Millersville,” Latessa added. “It’s a little different walking out onto that mat. They can’t hang with us conditioning wise. Even in my match, even though I lost, I think I would have worn him out if I didn’t have to take that injury timeout.”

The words of both Latessa and Ely ring true for those who witnessed the Diplomats triumph over Millersville for the second consecutive season. Few of Millersville’s wrestlers appeared to be on the same level as those of F&M, and it’s true that, had Latessa not sprained his ankle late in his match and been forced to take an injury timeout, he would have likely won in the end.

“It’s a motivator, when you’re out on the mat, to know you’re outworking kids and knowing it doesn’t come down to size or strength or speed, but it just comes down to effort,” Latessa added.

Wrestling Millersville is important for every Diplomat. However, for some, it is a little more personal.

“For me, it was a bit of a personal match,” Ely said. “I don’t know if anyone remembers, but we were up my freshman year and I was up in the last match and I ended up losing. I kinda lost the entire match for us my freshman year. Ever since, I just…I never wanted to lose to Millersville again.”

Knocking off Millersville and keeping the Rupp Cup at F&M for a second year is a special reward for a small group of seniors that has persevered through some of the most difficult times in the program’s history. The win vindicated the work these seniors have put in for the past four years.

“For most of us, we’ve been here year round for four years,” Fullowan said. “I’ve probably been home for a maximum of three days in a row. Wrestling has become a second family. It also gives you the work ethic to get through the ups and downs, it teaches you how to deal with what happens in the real world.”

Given the trend the program was on when these four seniors first joined the team, it’s a little surprising the team has done as well as it has.

“From where we started, we came in here with a class of nine, and there’s now four of us,” Pucci said. “When we came in, we were told we would be the foundation. Now a lot of that has been washed away. But first we got Greenberg and then we got Rogers, and that marked the split from the old to the new.”

Despite the tumultuous beginning, all four seniors now look back on the entire experience as one that has been incredibly rewarding and gratifying.

“I don’t want it to end,” Ely said. “We’re the only four people in the world who understand the change that has happened. This year, I had so much fun. It was awesome.”

“It’s not a chore to come to practice anymore,” Latessa added. “Even though we had the same amount of wins as last year, the level of competition this year compared to last year is so much better. The program is coming around, but people may be skeptical because of the wins and losses.”

Latessa is generally correct; simply looking at the win-loss record would indicate that F&M did not improve this season. Unfortunately, most people will stop looking after seeing that sole statistic. For those close to the program and for those who are intimately involved with it, the change and the improvement is far more obvious.

“If you look at the record, you don’t see the progress,” Ely said. “But if you look at anything else, any other barometer for success, it’s obvious. Just hang out with the team and it’s obvious. It was depressing three years ago. People were saying, ‘I hope it’s a short practice,’ or, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’”

“I don’t think it’s too bold of a claim to say that in five to ten years F&M will be, or at least be in the discussion, one of the best wrestling programs in the country, because of what the coaches have done,” Latessa added.

Although head coach Mike Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg have done a lot for the program, Ely has focused on what he believes to be the most critical aspect of the coaching staff’s job: recruiting.

“[This year,] we have ten freshmen who are all legitimate recruits,” Ely said. “Yeah, that’s awesome to say, but if you look at what Rogers had to work with, coming from where our program was, how do you sell that to a kid who can probably get offers from other places? Just the fact that Rogers brought in ten guys makes me confident that he will take this program through the roof. I don’t know how they do it. I think recruiting is an underrated part of how this program is turning around.”

While their final dual meet as Diplomats has now come and gone, these four seniors still have a great deal to look forward to. In less than two weeks, the Dips will travel to the EIWA Championships with an opportunity to make it known just how much they have improved in just one year. It is also a chance to make it known that F&M is here to stay.

“Coach said it’s important to peak at the right time. This our last shot of the year and we don’t want to go out and get beat at conferences,” Fullowan said. “It’s our last shot to go out and show [the EIWA] what we have and really prove ourselves. I know that, with these guys here, we’re going to go out with a bang. We’re going to go out there and really put up a fight.”

It’s a sentimental moment for all four of them. While they recognize that their wrestling careers are officially coming to a close, all four acknowledge the EIWAs are a way to boost the profile and stature of Diplomat wrestling.

With all these thoughts combined, all four seniors look back on their experiences with fondness, even though not every moment was a high point.

“I guess, I’m just really proud to have been a part of this team,” Ely said. “Our class is the bridge from what it was to what it’s becoming. I’m proud of the fact that we’re turning it around. When I visit in the future, I’m going to be very proud to wear my [wrestling] gear.”

All four wrestlers were appreciative of the F&M student body for the visible boost in attendance this season. While in past years the Mayser Gym has been relatively quiet on wrestling nights, this year saw raucous crowds and pumped up students pack into Mayser to watch the Diplomats compete.

That and the coaches who allowed him to wrestle are what Fullowan is most thankful for.

“Thank you to the coaches for giving me the opportunity to go out there and wrestle,” Fullowan said. “And thank you to the fans for coming out and helping us win.”

“Thank you to all the fans who came out to the home matches,” Ely added. “Our attendance has been a lot better this year and that really helps.”

For Latessa, his wrestling experience boils down to his relationship and his bond with the other three seniors on the team. He recognizes that the four seniors who persevered are special and that nobody can take what they have accomplished away from them.

“It’s about the guys in this room right here,” Latessa said. “My father always told me it takes a special breed to wrestle. We’re in the company of a special breed and that’s something I’m going to have with me past graduation. We did this together and there were a lot of times it would have been easy to say screw this, but we didn’t and we stuck it out.”

Of the four, Pucci probably had the most tumultuous experience, thanks to the many injuries he has sustained over the course of his career. But even he looks back on his wrestling experience with pride and is excited about what is in store for the Diplomats.

“I’m just really appreciative of the opportunity I had,” Pucci said. “I appreciate it so much. I’m just looking forward in a few years to watching someone from F&M on ESPN wrestle for the national title.”

To that, Fullowan simply smiled.

“You mean this year,” he quickly chipped in.

All Pucci could do was grin.

“Yeah,” Pucci said. “This year.”

Beyond the Mat - Alex Henry

Most everything about Alex Henry and his life is big. The 285-pound heavyweight towers above everyone he meets. He is from Texas, where everything is bigger, and he was recruited to play defensive tackle on several collegiate football teams, a spot reserved for large individuals. According to Henry, he was approached by and considered big southern schools as well.

Somehow, despite everything, he ended up in Lancaster, PA at the relatively small F&M, a move that not even he thought he would ever make.

“I knew it was in Pennsylvania and I knew it had wrestling,” Henry said of F&M, recalling his first experience visiting the College. “I knew it was a liberal arts school and not much else. I knew what the coaches told me, but that was really it.”

“I did my official visit to F&M and the coaches told me that had a plan, a dream, and a vision,” Henry continued. “I bought into that.”

Fortunately for the Diplomats, both head coach Mike Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg had developed a rather convincing hook to get Henry to buy in. The heavyweight fondly recalls a conversation he had with both coaches in the wrestling office during one particular visit to F&M. He remembers it fondly because, at the end of the day, it was what the coaching staff told him there that convinced him F&M was where he needed to be.

“They sat me down, and they did this to all the freshmen, we were in their office. At that time, I was looking at UNC-Chapel Hill, I was looking at Duke, and other schools like that,” Henry said. “They looked at me and said, ‘You can go to UNC or you can go to Duke, but you’ll just be another name. We’re doing something special here and we have a clean slate. You can come here and rewrite the whole wrestling history here at F&M. You can have your name engraved in history.’”

“I just think that’s cool. They want to do something special and they want to turn this program around. I believe in them.”

So far, Henry admitted his transition to the Division I level has not been as smooth as he might have liked coming out of high school. After enjoying a lot of success on the mat as a senior, he hasn’t seen the same number of wins as a freshman in college, a fact that weighs on him a little bit.

“It’s tough, it’s very tough,” Henry said of the transition. “I went to private school in Virginia, which wrestles in prep leagues, and I was pretty dominant. I think I lost a total of maybe five matches senior year and I think I have at least quadrupled that so far this year. It’s been pretty mentally challenging and daunting, but I guess it’s baptism by fire as Coach Rogers likes to say.”

Despite the struggles Henry has had, the discipline that comes from that is one of the things he enjoys most about the sport. In Henry’s eyes, wrestling is a bit unique from most other sports, as it demands so much more out of its participants.

“Wrestling is one of those sports that makes you suffer through it and it makes you much more mentally tough,” Henry said. “You’re able to take on a lot more stuff in life and get through it easier than before you started wrestling and before you put a lot of time into it. It’s just one of those sports that demands so much of you that, at the end of the day, you realize you can do so much more if you remain mentally tough.”

“In my first year of high school, my advisor was the wrestling coach. I was originally going to play hockey because I played hockey when I grew up in Russia. He kind of laughed and said, ‘No, you’re not.’ It was sort of forced upon me, but it ended up being a really good thing for me and I really enjoyed it.”

Although for most of his time in Russia he was too young to notice any significant differences in his life compared to the one he leads in America, Henry has fond memories of his two stints living there.

“Because of my dad’s work as a tax consultant for PriceWaterhouse Cooper’s, or he was, we lived in Russia for roughly ten years on two different trips,” Henry said. “On the first trip, I was about two years old and then we moved back to the States where we lived in New York for a couple years. Then we moved back Russia for about five years. I’ve kind of lived all over the place.”

“There’s not much I miss [about Russia],” he added. “I didn’t really know it was different than America at the time. Looking back on it, I probably missed out on a lot of stuff. You never really thinking about in the moment though.”

Academically, Henry is fascinated by the world of politics and hopes to be a lawyer someday.

“A lot of people tell me I would be a good lawyer,” Henry said.

While he still has three years to shape his legacy, Henry said he hopes that people at F&M simply remember him as being a good overall guy. He also hopes people remember him as a “badass” on the mat.

Like most other things in his life, Henry is aiming to achieve big things at F&M. He views his time at F&M as an opportunity to achieve something special, to take a clean slate and create a legacy out of it. He is just one member of a large and talented freshman class tasked with achieving that goal.

The initial going may be difficult. However, as Henry says, wrestling “makes you suffer through it” and, in the end, those who work through it are better on the other end. Like most everyone on F&M’s roster, these initial steps have been difficult and have worn on Henry. However, thanks to hard work, perseverance, and a coaching staff that truly believes brighter times lie ahead, the future looks bright for F&M wrestling.

Beyond the Mat - David Hershberger

David Hershberger didn’t quite realize what he was walking into when he signed on to wrestle at F&M. Perhaps it was the anticipation that he would need to wait his turn before starting, or that, when he began the college search process, he just wanted to get into a good school and didn’t have many expectations about collegiate wrestling. Regardless, Hershberger’s path to where he is now has not been ordinary.

“I always knew I wanted to go to college, whether it was for wrestling or something else,” Hershberger said. “I wasn’t exactly sure. Once I started getting letters [from wrestling coaches], however, I was pretty content to start looking at the schools and seeing what their wrestling programs were like.”

Like many of his teammates, Hershberger started wrestling young. He was encouraged to dive into the sport by his stepfather, who, according to Hershberger, greatly influenced him as a child.

Wrestling is a big thing where Hershberger is from. Growing up outside of Dover, DE, as a young wrestler Hershberger was exposed to a lot of competition on the mat, as the sport seemed to attract most everyone in his area.

“I started [wrestling] when I was seven,” Hershberger said. “My stepdad got me into it. Ever since then, I have basically loved the sport, and I just kept doing it.”

“That was in second grade,” he continued. “We had a lot of wrestling programs where I live, so everyone grew up with it. There were a lot of people who wrestle where I’m from.”

For Hershberger, the sport has acted as a support system. Like many others who step onto the mat, he believes wrestling has helped mold him as a person and has played a critical role in determining the course of his adolescent and young adult life. The sport has done more than just that, however. It has buoyed Hershberger through some of the most difficult times of his life.

“[Wrestling] has had a major impact on my life. It makes me a better person,” Hershberger said. “Wrestling showed me the discipline that I needed and it makes me work harder at everything. I definitely would not [be where I am today] without wrestling.”

“After my dad died, when I was 15, there was a, I was going through some hard times,” he continued. “Both my mom and my stepdad were helping me through it, but the one thing that really got me through it was wrestling. I could just go out there and clear my mind and just go. [Wrestling] let me let out my anger and it gave me the friends who I knew would support me.”

I offered something of weak analogy, offering the comparison of a lifeboat. Hershberger paused and simply said, “Yeah, you could say that.”

Although wrestling has undoubtedly shaped and prepared Hershberger for the world around him, wrestling is not the only sport he has dabbled in. Much like his stepfather encouraged him to try his hand at wrestling, Hershberger’s stepdad made sure his stepson at least tried all different kinds of sports.

“My stepdad, he was the one who got me into all the sports I played,” Hershberger said. “I didn’t see my dad all that often, so when my stepdad came in, he just got me into sports. I tried baseball when I was younger and I played football up until high school, but that was on a community team and I didn’t play in high school because I was too small. Then in high school I did cross country, I wrestled, and I played tennis.”

Fortunately for the Diplomats, wrestling was the sport Hershberger stuck with. During the recruiting process, Hershberger

“I thought Coach Rogers was very nice. I actually though everybody here was very nice and I felt right at home [at F&M],” Hershberger said. “I actually didn’t really know about F&M until they contacted me. I wasn’t really discouraged by [the struggles F&M had had recently]. I was just excited I was going to be wrestling in college.”

“There is a great opportunity here,” he added. “To be the incoming class that could change it all, to be the class that comes in and makes it all turn out for the best. I think Coach Rogers, and everybody else, is going to bring this program forward, and we’re going to be a lot better than what we are now.”

Off the mat, Hershberger leads a relatively relaxed lifestyle. He generally seeks out friends to simply hang out with or heads to the movies when he has free time on his hands.

“There’s always something to do,” he said.

“I’m thinking of getting into business,” Hershberger added when asked about his academic pursuits. “There are also a lot of classes out there that I’m interested in that aren’t necessarily on that track. I’m into philosophy and I like history a lot too.”

As he progresses through his time at F&M, Hershberger hopes he can have a solid overall impact on the school and his goal is not be remembered solely as a wrestler, but as a model citizen as well.

“I want to have a good impact [on the community],” he said. “I want to be remembered as being a good person, good student, and being well-mannered. Just a typical, nice, human being. On the mat, I want to be remembered as the kid who did whatever he could.”

“After college, I want to be in some kind of IT business, maybe start my own business,” Hershberger added. “I love computers. My stepdad got me into that too. He’s an IT person as well.”

Hershberger is dead set on being the best overall person he can possibly be. He strives to be more than just a wrestler. Although the label is one that suits him and is one that he is proud of, it’s important to remember that Hershberger has no desire to simply wrestle or to simply get good grades. He wants to do it all.

As a freshman, Hershberger has a lot of room to grow. However, he has already displayed maturity beyond his years and has made his impact felt as a member of the Diplomats. As the 125-pounder, he may look small, but Hershberger has a big heart and even bigger aspirations.

“I hope this program is known as one that just works hard and doesn’t cause trouble,” Hershberger said when asked what he hoped F&M’s wrestling program would become. “I hope we’re known as athletic and smart student-athletes. Just well-rounded.”

Just like him.

F&M Topples Sacred Heart for First Win

Trotting out onto the mat Saturday, the Dips as a team were winless. Some close losses coupled with several performances that didn’t meet their expectations left F&M searching for ways to tally that first victory and erase the donut that occupied the left side of the win-loss column.

It’s easy to become discouraged during a season that begins 0-11. Many teams throw in the towel and call the season lost. It’s not difficult to understand why; sacrificing so much for so long without receiving the desired results can wear on people. But to F&M’s credit, the word quit doesn’t appear to be in their vocabulary.

Spotting Sacred Heart 12 points before the match even began didn’t make F&M’s chances of getting its first win any better. Due to injuries, the Dips were forced to forfeit both the 149 and 165-pound classes. Although for many it would seem to be an insurmountable hole to climb out of, for an F&M team that came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, the 12-point deficit proved to be little more than a speed bump.

David Hershberger, Robert Ruiz, and Richard Durso all pinned their opponents to open the match, giving the Diplomats 18 quick points. Eric Norgard followed with a victory, as did Matt Fullowan. Colin Ely and Isaiah Cromwell finished the match on an emphatic note, pinning both their respective opponents in matches that were never really in question.

All but one wrestler came out on top Saturday afternoon. The final score was 36-15. To many observers in the stands, the score did not justify what happened on the mat. Without the 12 free points, Sacred Heart had been thoroughly dominated 36-2. It was a performance that cannot be fully appreciated unless you saw it in person.

There was an immense sense of relief on the faces of F&M’s wrestlers as they walked off the mat. It seemed to be a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. The victory of Sacred Heart made all the work every wrestler has put into the season worth it; it showed that the hours spent in the wrestling room in the basement of the Mayser Center was worth it.

F&M would go on to lose to Rider in the second match of a doubleheader. Even so, the victory against Sacred Heart seemed to lift a weight off the Dips’ collective shoulders. There were a number of close matches and many of F&M’s wrestlers appeared to be looser and more confident as they made their way onto the mat for the second time. It’s a credit to the attitude and approach these wrestlers take towards their preparation and their individual matches.

Anybody can be dedicated amidst a winning streak or a winning season. However, it’s when a team is struggling and rebuilding for the future when the truly devoted and those who sincerely love the sport show themselves. Fortunately for head coach Mike Rogers and F&M in general, the Diplomats appear to have a roster filled with the latter types.

That’s what made Saturday’s victory over Sacred Heart so much more special than any other win. Although they have struggled to accumulate wins and they have not thus far had the season many thought they would have going into the year, for those who have been consistently watching the Dips, it has been fairly obvious they truly love wrestling. You can see it in the frustration they exhibit after a narrow loss, the exuberance on display after a win, and the general dedication they display on a nightly basis. To see them pour so much into each match and come away with a result other than a resounding victory is disappointing.

This is why the victory over Sacred Heart mattered. Those outside the program will think little of a winless program succeeding in finally snagging its first win. For those who are involved with the program and for those emotionally invested in the team, Saturday’s victory was sweeter than most others.

Even more promising is the future. F&M starts a number of freshmen, all of whom have displayed the raw talent and desire to make it at this level. Good things take time to develop. F&M may be on the track to success, but there will be growing pains along the way. Eventually, everything will come together and the results will begin to show on the mat.

Sometimes, all a team needs is a little boost.