Its always interesting on why people started wrestling.  My question here is who was it that first got you involved in wrestling, and maybe who convinced you to continue to participate.

For me it was my father.  He never wrestled but one of his friends kids wrestled and he wanted me to participate in a sport. 

He was also the one who kept me competing.  He taught me to work hard and have determination to reach my goals, and most important never give up. 

i was influenced by my uncle who wrestled in indiana back in the late 70's, so as soon as i was old enough to join the middle school team i did, he elped me get into shape and lift weights all through middle school i give him all the credit for were i am today.

I was influenced by Coach K at St.X.  One of the most stellar individuals in the sport, he's also the one who motivated me to coach.

For me, it was my high school coach Brett Reynolds.  When I was a freshman, he saw me walking the halls & asked if I would be interested in wrestling.  I said why not, how hard can it be .  He helped take me from a freshman who knew nothing about wresling & was just doing it to stay in shape for football to making state just 2 years later in Indiana.  Coach Reynolds wrestled at Indiana State during the early 80's.  He was teammates with Bruce Baumgartner there for 3 years and saw Bruce win the national championship in 82 or 83 (I can't remember the exact year, it may have been both).  He was very knowledgable about wrestling.  At the time, I knew all of this, but was clueless as to just how fortunate I was to be learning from someone like this.

Fo me it was my father.  He wrestled for Seneca in '69.  He wrestled his senior year, placed that year and was on the Seneca team who was the runner- up that year.  He took me to one State tournament when it was held at Atherton.  I just remember the mats and people rolling around.  I knew then that I wanted to wrestle. :-)

I was never really influenced I was forced into it by Josh Ashbrook, Bryan Wasson, and Trevor Maxwell only because I am like the only little guy in our school. LOL.

When I was in the seventh grade, a friend of mine asked me and my Dad to come watch his brother, Tony Conway who wrestled for Western H.S, wrestle in a dual against PRP.  After the meet was over I told my Dad that this was the sport for me.  When we got home my Dad called my basketball Coach to tell him that I wouldn't be back to practice.  Because I had fouled out of three games in the first half,  my basketball Coach wasn't to disappointed

I started practicing with the PRP team the next week.  Regretfully,  I never got the opportunity to wrestle at the Ridge because I moved to Tennessee my Freshman year.

Tony Conway went on to place 2nd at heavy weight that year,  and his little brother Chad (my friend form seventh grade) also placed 2nd five years later.

My grandfather who was a boxer convinced me to start wrestling when I was in the third grade, now I am a youth wrestling coach and I hope to do that for a long time.

I was in algebra 1 my freshman year and I was tiny and hyper(as coach put it). Coach Forrest ,the assistant coach,had asked me if I wanted to wrestle.At first i was like "i'm just a runner", but then the next day i told him i would try it out and he weighed me in. I was 104 with my cloths on.

Then I met Coach Latsha, and hes the one who kept me into wrestling and made me the wrestler I am today. I really look up to him as a father figure,hes one of the nicest guys ive ever met and he would do anything for anybody. I have alot of respect for him

well, were do i start! my elementary school principal was one of the wrestling coaches at the time (Indiana) and asked me when i was in 6th grade if i had any intrest in wrestling. i went to practice and really wanted to get into it.  i was also influenced by my uncle to wrestle, and Ive been wrestling ever since then

:|

I wasn't even influenced, to be honest i thought i was gay at first. Then the wrestling coach got me out of a bad jam and said,"Now you're on the wrestling team.

:|

I wasn't even influenced, to be honest i thought i was gay at first. Then the wrestling coach got me out of a bad jam and said,"Now you're on the wrestling team.

uh...wha??

uh...wha??

I meant to put "IT" LOL. Don't try to call me out like that man. But yeah i did think it was gay :-D

I meant to put "IT" LOL. Don't try to call me out like that man. But yeah i did think it was gay :-D

Actually I wasnt the one who replied to that post. My buddie at school did. I forgot to sign out and he used my screen name. LoL.

Well Joe powers thought it was the gayest most useless sport he'd ever seen because he had to feel like a "ballerina" in the spandex. The next year and a half he won state and tried to convince coach to let him keep the singlet lol. coach latsha wouldnt give it up either.

My dad got me wrestling. He wrestled in high school and got me into the sport and I eventually fell in love with it. Now we have something we can always stay close with. Wrestling is a great father and son bonding sport. Besides when you lose.. and get your head slammed into a wall, haha just kidding, my dad knows better. Hahaha

My brother told me in the sixth grade that I wasnt allowed to apply to Manuel in the eighth grade, and that I had to go to seneca and wrestle or else he was going to beat me up...

Fo me it was my father.  He wrestled for Seneca in '69.  He wrestled his senior year, placed that year and was on the Seneca team who was the runner- up that year.  He took me to one State tournament when it was held at Atherton.  I just remember the mats and people rolling around.  I knew then that I wanted to wrestle. :-)

did he know any of the kushners? whats his last name?

Howard Founder- I remember him telling me about the Williams and Tommy Nelson.  He told me he did not even finish the tournment because his ride was leaving so he did.  He has his medal somewhere.

I talked to my dad and he did remember the Kushners.

thats cool I'm a real close family friend

i was influenced by my dad, David Barnett, i was also influenced by a lot of the high school coaches as a youngster

nobody really got me started wrestling i just said why not and to this day i love it. i give credit to coach york and coach ramirez at anderson middle. that was my 8 grade year and now im in 10 and i thank coach castle, dillhoff and downing for pushing me to the limit.

My dad wrestled on the 1976 Union County State Championship, so I guess it was just fate. We both had a great time. Kids keep me interested in the sport. I coached for two years after college. I still help out, Wrestling will always be a part of my life.

I came into highschool as a freshman and saw this kid daniel "thunderman" thueneman, and how everyone was stuck on him because he was so legit at wrestling.

he told me that if i were to wrestle the same thing would happen to me, and i would learn alot about myself

daniel influenced me to wrestle.

since I was little in elementary I always use to watch WCW and WWF at the time the biggest things when I was little

I always wrestled my little cousins and anyone and everyone and even the bullies in school because I was always smaller than the other kids

I convinced myself one day I'd be a Pro Wrestler for the scripted wrestling WWF,in 9th grade I went to Central and my Navy JROTC instructor convinced me to come in and after doing piledrivers and powerbombs like rampage lol,I learned and although had a hard head I became a man through wrestling, I then went to eastern and placed twice in the state tournament and even wrestled at two colleges,never even won a state title  either,which I now enjoy and compete in mixed martial arts

Dang what would I be today without that singlet and headgear? :?

when i was in sixth grade Neil Crawford(2000 state champ, 130 seneca) sat next to me on a the school bus. He said he used to be small like me and that if i wrestled people would fear me.