Blue White Illustrated

n most days, Penn State's wrestling room is occupied by top-end Di- vision I athletes and Olympic hope- fuls, full-grown men whose grunts, groans and slams reverberate as they toss each other around like luggage. But on Tuesday nights and Sunday mornings throughout November, a com- pletely di4erent crowd sets the scene. At those times, it's high-pitched voices and laughs, the scurrying of little feet across the mat, attempting summersaults and cartwheels, that create the ambience. The participants gather as part of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club's Youth Recreation Program. "We couldn't get more kids in here," head coach Cael Sanderson says. "It's full. It's fun" The No. 1 goal is to ensure the elemen- tary-aged youngsters have a positive 3rst experience with the sport. "That's one thing in our sport we've lacked across the nation," says Sanderson. So, kids' hour has little to do with wins and losses. In- stead, it's aimed at casually teaching fun- damentals while also helping potential wrestlers develop body control, core strength and balance. But maybe most important, the approach breeds compe- tition without harping on one-on-one results, like the older wrestlers must do. "You want to make sure they love com- peting," Sanderson adds. From his years as an athlete and coach, Sanderson has discovered that success 3nds not only those who are the most skilled or hardest working – although those qualities help – but those who are driven by the will to simply compete. Case in point: two of Sanderson's rising stars, Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal. To open their Penn State careers, the redshirt fresh- men – starters at 157 and 174 pounds, re- spectively – have 10 wins apiece and zero losses during the 3rst month of the season. While their seven-minute motors and ar- senal of moves are the most obvious rea- sons why they've found success, coaches believe it's their intrinsic motivation that has helped li5 them to top-10 rankings. For both of them, the eagerness to test their mettle has been present ever since they 3rst joined the sport. "The competitive drive was already there," Nolf, a native of Kittanning, Pa., said as he discussed his 3rst experiences in wrestling at 5 or 6 years old. "I just wanted to win all the time. If I got taken down I'd go home mad and I'd want to beat the guy next time. I got better that way." Nickal, who also began wrestling at age 5, has similar memories. "I just always had a knack for it," said Nickal, who graduated high school in Allen, Texas, a5er growing up in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. "I remember when I was little, I was pretty competitive just starting o4. I didn't like losing too much. I lost a little bit at 3rst, but a5er that I decided that it wasn't really some- thing that I enjoyed or wanted to do – that being losing. I always just loved wrestling. It was something that just stuck as soon as I started." Sanderson has seen how they've chan- neled that determination, and it further validates his reasoning that natural, un- tamed competitiveness is the No. 1 quality of a high-caliber wrestler – and explains why that's the greatest emphasis in the NLWC's rec program. Whether they're racing back and forth in warm-ups, "play wrestling" as the coaches call it – a drill that even the col- lege team practices – or engaging in a game of dodgeball, Sanderson just wants to see the fire. The ones who shine the brightest stick out. It's really not much different than Nolf and Nickal this season, who, although they're the young'uns, are quickly becoming a couple of the more well-known names on the NCAA scene. "They are con3dent," Sanderson said WRESTLING THE WILL TO WIN Freshmen Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal make a strong first impression | O NOLF NICKAL CAEL SANDERSON // PENN STATE HEAD COACH These guys know they don't need to wait for two years or a year before they compete for a national championship. It's their choice. They can contend for one now, I think, and that's important for our program." "

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