Tracy,

I know of a wrestler with a somewhat similar story. He was pretty successful early on in Kids mainly due to a headlock that was encouraged by his parents. Then the family had some issues and the wrestler disappeared from the sport until Junior High. The big difference is that the competition he faced had quite a few wrestlers who had wrestled from early on all the way up to that point. He didn't have near the success against those wrestlers and yes, he did win matches against those wrestlers who didn't have all those years of experience in the Kids' circuit, mainly by headlock.

This wrestler did wrestle his freshman year in High School and by his junior year had learned many more ways to be competitive including a nasty leg ride with various combinations that could earn him back points. I would have to give credit to his personal courage to stick it out through the tough times and to his High School coaches for teaching him how to be a wrestler, not just a head locker.


Lee Girard