Bonded by wrestling
By Rick Peterson
The Capital-Journal
Published Monday, February 12, 2007
A variety of circumstances led five Washburn Rural students to the same house.
Wrestling has turned that house into a home.
Junior Blues wrestlers Gage Deere, Jose Duenas, Darius Jefferson, John Moser and Brandon Villa all live in the home of Klint and Karis Deere, house parents for The Villages, an organization whose mission is to provide emotionally supportive families and homes for children and youth in need.
The Villages, founded in 1964 by Dr. Karl Menniger, operates five group homes in Topeka and two in Lawrence.
Gage Deere is Klint and Karis' natural son, while the other four were placed in the Deere house. The common thread between all of them is high school wrestling.
"These guys get along really well,'' Washburn Rural coach Bobby Bovaird said. "I've never had any problem with dissent between them. They're in a house where they're being set up for success beyond their time at The Villages.
"These guys come to a good school like Washburn Rural, they get good academics and, if they get involved with wrestling, they have all the advantages of athletics. I'll always preach that wrestling is a sport that goes beyond the mat. It's beyond competition, it's beyond sweat and blood. It teaches a lot of good life lessons.''
Klint Deere agrees.
"My wife and I are very happy and proud to have our son and our other boys connected to the team,'' Deere said. "It gives them a positive peer group and positive school engagement. It is amazing to see what happens when they have that. We often were warned that the kids we work with cannot successfully compete or participate in high school athletics. We are more than glad to prove that wrong.
"The life lessons of sacrifice and hard work that are gleaned from the sport of wrestling are the true payoff for the boys. We could care less if they win a single match as long as they are putting forth the effort and hard work. It can be a real emotional roller coaster for us having five guys wrestling, but it is fun and great to see them come together and truly support one another.''
Gage Deere said that support has been a constant.
"We get along great,'' he said. "We're all friends and we all have a common interest in wrestling, which we love to do. It's great support. We all look after each other and it's great having all the same goals and we all know how to push each other to reach those goals.
"We know how to help each other and pump each other up and keep each other going. It's great to have kids with the same interest and be able to build friendships.''
Moser said the teammates can be disciplinarians, mentors or cheerleaders, depending on what the situation dictates.
"Like when we all have to make weight on a Saturday morning, we're all together to watch each other on Friday night and say, 'I know you want to eat and sneak something, but don't eat,'" Moser said. "We kind of look out for each other like that.
"Not only that, but if someone's having a problem with their technique, we all live in same house so we can trade off information. And if someone's down because they didn't do so good over the weekend we say, 'It's all right man, you'll get it next weekend.' We just try to provide each other with a positive influence. We can connect on that level because it's a similar interest between us.''
Jefferson said that being surrounded by boys with the same interests is anything but boring.
"I think it's kind of fun having guys around because if you want to play a game or something you know who to go ask because they're so active,'' Jefferson said. "I think it's great.
"We do a lot. We're an all boys house and most of the guys are about me and Gage's age, so we like to play around a lot.''
There are 10 boys who live in the house and all of them are tied to wrestling in one way or another.
"The other boys in the house that don't wrestle have been involved in helping run tournaments, film matches, keeping score," Klint Deere said "and one, Brad Humphrey, a (Rural) wrestler last year, now is a referee for kids events.
"We spent a week last summer helping run the Southern Plains tournament in New Mexico and made it a really nice family vacation.''
The Deere house has enjoyed a considerable amount of success this season, led by Jefferson and Gage Deere. Jefferson was the Shawnee County champion at 152 pounds and Deere was the County 171-pound runner-up, helping Rural finish second in the team standings.
Jefferson, Deere, Moser (189 pounds) and Duenas (heavyweight) all posted varsity wins last week in a 52-15 dual victory against Shawnee Mission Northwest.
Moser said support in the Deere house is not dependent on wrestling wins, but they are a nice bonus.
"(Duenas) kind of got off to a rough start because he had no experience whatsoever, but just a couple of weeks ago he got his first win,'' Moser said. "He had been losing and got real down, but when he got his first win he was so happy.
"Everybody was running up and hugging him and stuff. Everybody was really happy for him.''
Added Jefferson:
"We're like all brothers, one big family.''
Rick Peterson can be reached at (785) 295-1129 or rick.peterson@cjonline.com
