Shorewood is a school filled with decent athletics — our boys cross country team won state this year, our girls tennis team won state this year, and we’ve had consistent success in track and field. Something unique about Shorewood athletics this year was our wrestling team’s success — the team made it to team state, where we placed top four, and Shorewood sent its first varsity wrestler to individual state since the ‘90s: me, Bodi Kothari Schmitz.

It seems far-fetched that I would be the one to make it to state. I’m not naturally athletic. Coming into freshman year, I was skinny, shorter than the average height, I don’t have good hand-eye coordination, and I’m not flexible. However, those attributes were either mitigated or overcome throughout the four years I competed. Consistent effort, informed decisions, a resistance to setbacks, and a strong support group was the difference between a normal progression, ending on varsity, and elevating to being a state-qualifier. There’s a very formulated way as to how a student, in any sport and starting with any ability-level, can become a decent, if not great, athlete.

First of all, what is ‘consistent effort’? That would be a schedule throughout the year. I believe you can only get so far by doing a sport ‘in-season’ and then forgetting about it the rest of the year. A ton of promising athletes fell off because they didn’t even practice the sport out of the season. Don’t be that person. Also, overwhelming yourself with many sports can hinder your progress. Complimentary sports, like cross country and certain track events, are fine, but if you do four sports with distinct skill sets and biometrics, you’re going to have mitigated progress, and a larger chance to be injured.

Injury-prevention is also a key component of success over time. There are ways to proactively protect yourself, like strength training, flexibility training, and in some sports, learning to fall and cover your head effectively. However, if you are risking being injured, it’s time to make a decision about ‘what comes next?’ Do you play the next game with a shoulder that hurts? Or do you sit that out, do some active recovery, and keep an eye out for what lies beyond in the season? This caution should also extend to weight-lifting: if you’re doing it for a sport, you should keep in mind what builds durability and strengths that are integral to your performance, not just lifting to have larger muscles or to lift more.

Resistance to set-backs is also one aspect of how I accomplished state qualification relatively simply. Over these past few years, I’ve lost around 50 matches. They were more concentrated in my freshman and sophomore years, but even this year I lost around 10 matches. It’s not something that really hurt me in the long run — even state champions experience losses over the season — but I’ve seen a lot of other athletes get defeated as they’re making progress, and let themselves be held back by a loss of hope. If you want to be a better athlete, it’s straightforward advice to disregard losses as ‘events’— only take moments from them that can shape you for the better.

The final part of my success came from a will to socialize. Even in an individual sport like wrestling, you aren’t alone until you step on the mat in your match. All the other moments will have you practicing, working, and progressing alongside your peers. If you have good friends in a sport, and they become better, you will become better. If you become better, and they follow, they will improve. I didn’t start off with many peers from Shorewood- (just one, actually). However, a continued commitment to being an agreeable and enthusiastic personality goes a long way, and my teammates- at Shorewood, in our co-op, and through my club sport, have pushed me to be a better wrestler.

So, how do those four aspects combine, with more specifics? I went from a record of 12–14 to 35–10. I went from losing all my matches at regionals to being top-10 at state, I gained about 20 pounds of muscle, our team grew from two Shorewood guys to 14 people, including both genders wrestling, managing, and supporting each other. Most importantly, I made countless friends through the sport. I encourage any athlete to do the same.