I'm sure Coach Kolat would find a way to get him in the room if Nate decided to wrestle again.
I bet he'd be MUCH better off under Kolat than with Brands.
I bet he'd be MUCH better off under Kolat than with Brands.
Jesuroga article
- Thread starter Ocy Docy
- Start date
Good for this young man. Burnout in youth sports is a real problem that's only going to become worse. I don't know this kid's backstory so I'm not talking directly about him, but the youth sports landscape is littered with kids whose parents love the sport more than the kids. And so many of them are just over it by the time it starts really mattering.
I think Clark would’ve only had 1 year under Sebolt, if any. Sebolt Wrestling Academy opened in 2011 and Clark was at Iowa fall of 2012 I think. Schriever and Ayala were the first true “blue chip” recruits that I can recall out of SWA. Some others obviously started college before those two, but they weren’t as big of names nor as high of expectations. So really his first crop of guys who came up primarily in his program are redshirt sophomores or younger in college.
I don’t know if there’s been an exodus likes somebody else alluded to, but I do know that Nico DiSalvo out of Southeast Polk (in eighth grade this year I think), who transferred in from Pennsylvania to wrestle for SWA was only there for one year and is now wrestling for Immortal Athlete out of the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area. Beat a SWA kid in the state AAU finals last month.
I believe Nate could still enroll in college after his contract is up with the Navy. Assuming he signs either a four or six year contract, he would be able to wrestle as a college freshman at 22 or 24 years old. His eligibility clock wouldn’t start until he enrolls. But I wouldn’t anticipate somebody who goes into special forces would want to put their body through 4 to 5 years of college wrestling on top of what they’d already been through.
For our own selfish reasons, I think we should all be happy as Iowa State fans that we don’t have to face this guy in an Iowa singlet. Sounds like a smart, intelligent, thoughtful kid, who is at peace with his decision, and doesn’t seem to have any regrets. Good for him and his family and everyone who has supported him.
Looking at clubs for our boys...underlying tone is to stay away from SWA? any particular reason? Seems to be some good ones here in the state.
“I don’t know why it was so sudden,” Jesuroga says. “I had never thought about not wrestling, but then one night, I just decided that I didn’t want to do it.”
Shortly after, Jesuroga suffered a concussion while at practice, which freaked him out, he says. Constant migraines and headaches that lingered even as he eased back into a preseason routine. It frustrated him, so he took more time off … and enjoyed it.
But he also thoroughly enjoyed not wrestling. For the first time in probably a decade, his days weren’t regimented by practices and workouts. He’s up to around 150 pounds now — he wrestled at 120 last July — and exercises on his own time.
Best of luck to the young kid but I can’t help but think maybe the special forces aren’t for him. He got burnt out of wrestling and didn’t like it so he couldn’t even finish out his high school career. Instead of moving up a weight or two and just enjoying the sport he quit. He also didn’t like having a concussion but he’s going to take the riskiest job of all time that doesn’t care about injuries and you get shot at and risk a lot more than a headache. Good luck to him but one extreme to another probably isn’t it.
Shortly after, Jesuroga suffered a concussion while at practice, which freaked him out, he says. Constant migraines and headaches that lingered even as he eased back into a preseason routine. It frustrated him, so he took more time off … and enjoyed it.
But he also thoroughly enjoyed not wrestling. For the first time in probably a decade, his days weren’t regimented by practices and workouts. He’s up to around 150 pounds now — he wrestled at 120 last July — and exercises on his own time.
Best of luck to the young kid but I can’t help but think maybe the special forces aren’t for him. He got burnt out of wrestling and didn’t like it so he couldn’t even finish out his high school career. Instead of moving up a weight or two and just enjoying the sport he quit. He also didn’t like having a concussion but he’s going to take the riskiest job of all time that doesn’t care about injuries and you get shot at and risk a lot more than a headache. Good luck to him but one extreme to another probably isn’t it.
My kid did youth wrestling for two seasons when he was in 2nd and 3rd grade. There were tournaments every weekend and a few times the wrestling club sponsored buses for kids to attend and many did. They even had open mat time during the summer months. I thought it all was a bit insane.
High school friends of mine had their kids in youth wrestling for many years. They went to tournaments all the time and they always posted pictures of parents tapping kegs in the hotel rooms. The kids wrestling was nothing more than an excuse for the parents to party like they were in college. And none of them went to college.
They are good but TJ uses the same formula his dad used and that formula caused TJ to burn out and drop out of college before every finding out how good he was. Not Jesuroga burns out and can’t finish high school. They cut too much weight and wrestle too hard too early and burnout. If you want early success, sure. But your kids wins are at the expense of hating you and hating wrestling down the line. Not all, but it’s a possibility.
I won’t say you’re wrong but also something to think about. The level of wrestling is so high right now and skill levels are off the chart. When a kid can go pin another kid or beat him up pretty easily in high school he doesn’t take that much punishment to his body. The really good kids can go through a high school career (look at Kueter) without hardly any damage, even if he wrestled 1000 times. It’s that matches are much more punishing in college because everyone is at the same high skill level and a lot more scrambles and heavy hand fighting. These things add up and cause wear and tear
Imo it’s the youth, not high school, that’s the problem. There is simply no need for youth wrestlers to ever cut weight or wrestle a ton of matches. Teach them the sport. Let them have fun and develop a love. Then as they get older if they want to pick up the intensity, by all means go ahead. Would never even consider sending one of my kids to someone like Sebolt prior to 8th grade.
I think a lot of parents are getting smarter and trying to do the right thing. There’s always the select few who are ego driven. And some kids love the sport and want to compete that much and have some success early on then are done with the sport. It happens. It’s the magic sauce of balancing too much and too little. Kids also get bored with practicing and not going out and testing themselves. That’s what makes wrestling hard, it’s an art not a science
I always told my kids I'll match their level of intensity. If they want it to be a fun thing they do with their friends, great, we'll just do some rec level stuff. If they want to truly compete we could do a club or something. I think that's the balance you kind of want to strike with them.
I think it depends on the age. I really don’t care how intense or hard my 7 year old wants to go. Im pulling them back, keeping it casual and fun. As the get closer to high school, I completely agree you follow their lead.
TJ was doing stuff out of the NIACC wrestling room before that I’m positive.
Moen wrestling academy is still considered relatively new and doing great.
2x champ here in Iowa around the same age as TJ. Runs a club out of Indianola now I believe. He’s got a good thing going and very competitive with the top couple clubs like Sebolt, Immortal/IAWC, DC elite Powerhouse and Big Game. Former cyclone wrestler Dwight Hinson also runs a club in the Ames area
Won't necessarily disagree, but I won't judge the young man. He likely won't be accepted into the Navy if the concussion is too serious. And it's a long way from enlistment to Seal status and he'll have 10,000 chances to opt out in between.
If you want your kids to be great youth wrestlers send them to Sebolt. If you want your kids to be great when it matters send them anywhere else.
