It is starting to heat up and summer break is in full swing. It is nice to have a break and enjoy some down time every now and then. Having fun and spending time with family you may not see as often as you would like is also a bonus to summer break. Yet I am not satisfied, nor will I be. I am not content with taking the summer as a literal “break”, but rather an opportunity. When I say opportunity I mean a chance to gain strength, technique, and a mental edge. I am in a constant search of things to push me to the next level. I am raising the bar!

Coming off an injury has been one of the most challenging obstacles I have faced to date.  Being restricted for six months was one of the most mentally taxing experiences I have been through. As a matter of fact, I remember getting emotional and feeling sorry for myself. However, I did not just take it as time off, in fact
just the opposite. Once I knew the circumstances with my injury and was forced to come to terms with the cards I was dealt, I chose to make myself better.

There were many individuals who inspired me and kept me moving through this time.  For example, my father, who showed me that no matter what life throws your way, you take it in stride and move along. Coach Ruff knew what I was going through, as well as what I was going to need so he handed me an important key to success. This key was visualization, which soon became the biggest part of my life after injuring my knee. At first it was a struggle to focus, it took a long time to get to a point where I was comfortable. If you are not familiar with visualization, I recommend you make it a point to do so. It has changed me, not physically but mentally. My mindset is completely different.

Being able to wrestle whoever you want, whenever you want is an asset that is untapped by far too many athletes. When you visualize, you can wrestle the same match over and over and change things until you get them right. I remember one day I told myself that I was going to drill 200 single legs with a vivid imagination. It is what you make it, and it takes practice like anything else. Now that I am healthy and able to wrestle, I notice a huge difference, a good difference. I was a little rusty at first, but not for long. Once I got back into it a little bit, I started noticing I was drilling things I had never done in the past, yet I did visualize these moves in great detail.

Coach Cross was also an integral part in this trying time. His role was one that took me a while to realize, however now that I do, things are clear. Keeping me positive was no easy task, yet it seemed he knew what to say exactly when I needed to hear it. He recommended and let me borrow the book, “In the pursuit of Excellence”, which I read and got a lot out of it. Little things like that are not always noticed, yet it is usually those things that make the difference. Not to mention the fact that he is a great role model in many facets of life. His success at such a young age has inspired many young men in our program.

The other aspect that I worked on during my recovery was my mental edge. I have learned the hard way that you can have something ripped from you before you even get a chance to prove yourself. That alone has made me more humble, yet at the same time very eager. I have built up an abundance of grit and desire inside, not that I didn’t have it before. The difference this time is that I have good coach’s that know how to teach an individual to channel that desire and focus on the right things. So needless to say I am preparing to the best of my ability. You never stop learning, and I look forward to every single lesson that comes my way. All you can do is live for
today and that is how it should be. The past is the past and the future is the only thing that you have some control of.

All in all I am ready to accomplish my goals, on and off the mat. I am prepared to work tirelessly until I get there. Urgency is a word that may best describe me right now, and that my friends is a scary thought. I have always been relentless in pursuit of my goals; however another year has made me stronger, wiser, and even more focused. Along with the urgency, I have found a completely opposite asset which is patience. Being able to slow down and wait for the right moment is a huge part of wrestling. Slowing things down when I am drilling makes for a more efficient workout. Instead of just reacting, I’m now taking time to think about how and why a certain technique or setup is effective. Patience is an attribute that I have been told to acquire in the past, yet I am in a position now where it actually clicks.

It took a tremendous amount of learning and coping to figure all of these things out. I have no doubt they have made me stronger and will continue to do so. In a way my knee surgeries were a blessing in disguise. I never thought I would say that, however it is the truth. Wrestling is the greatest sport in the world. Once you fall in love with it, it has you forever. I would not want it any other way!

Have a great summer everyone! Go Blue Raiders!

-Derek Nickel

Note from Coach Ruff: There is an obvious transformation that has taken place since Derek has returned to the wrestling mat. He sold out to what his coaches were telling him, and that is sometimes the biggest obstacle. The stubborn male ego gets in the way and makes it difficult to have faith in another way of doing things, especially something new. Visualization takes practice and patience but it is a critical component all champions become very familiar with. I also wanted to note that Derek Nickel has a lot more going for him than his recent grasp of mental preparation. He currently holds a full-time job, a part-time job, and gets on the mat 4x per week and is lifting hardcore 3x per week. What are you doing this summer?

Entry 6

Signing my letter of intent to Lindsey Wilson College has remained one of the most exciting days in my life. Preceding this decision, I was leaning heavily toward wrestling at Campbellsville University. The coaches there had been actively recruiting me since the beginning of my senior season at Trinity High School. However, Lindsey Wilson came flying into the picture during the first day of the state tournament last year. I vividly recall my dad calling me to come sit with him that evening. While walking up the stairs of Trinity’s section, I noticed “some bearded guy” sitting there with my dad. Come to find out, this “bearded guy” was Coach Ruff. When he began to speak, he didn’t talk to me about how good of a wrestler I was; he talked about himself as a coach, his aspirations at Lindsey Wilson, and what my place there would be. This boldly stood out to me because he wasn’t there to blow smoke up my dress and make me feel good. He was there to continue his quest towards a national title and explain the importance of my roles in doing so. This was my first glimpse of something real after my high school career, and it revealed the truth and sincerity behind Coach Ruff’s rugged demeanor. My second and most clear memory of this decision came right after I signed my letter of intent. Coach Ruff picked up the sheet of paper, shook my hand, looked me in the eyes and said, “Congratulations. For the next four years, I own you.” Rather than being intimidated by his statement, I chose to embrace it and make his goal the same as mine; to win a national title.

Though I lack one tournament before having an entire college wrestling season under my belt, I still run into speed bumps here and there requiring adaptation; the main focus here being my balance between education and wrestling. My teacher’s expectations, not to my surprise, are proportional to those of Coach Ruff; they expect nothing less than your best effort in their class. This has been my hardest struggle transitioning from high school to college, and I wouldn’t go as far to say I have figured out the right balance of focus to give to each wrestling and classes. Luckily, two of my roommates, Josh Johnson and Isaac Thomas are also a part of the national tournament team so we can fall back on each other for support and answers to problems we run into trying to discover this perfect “class-to-wrestling” balance. I can ask them what has worked for them and what hasn’t. Having two roommates on the national tournament team makes keeping my social behaviors during season within acceptable parameters, as well. This works simply on the fact that we all have an unspoken rivalry going between us to do the best at Nationals so we can have bragging rights when we get back to the room. Don’t get this confused, though. If I was not to reach All-American status, I would be the first one behind our coaching staff cheering for Josh or Isaac.

My goal becomes larger, closer to my grasps, and seemingly more attainable this late in the season. With victories over, and close losses to top ranked wrestlers, and a seed under my belt going into the national tournament, I couldn’t be more excited. Every day the entire Blue Raider wrestling team walks in the hot, humid wrestling room eager to push ourselves to the limit and turn our flaws into a perfect routine expected to come natural during each new match. I don’t know how, but Coach Ruff finds a way to motivate us each day through our weight battles and class management to work our hardest at practice. He challenges us to dig out strength we never knew we had to finish practice just as strong as we started. Though recently, the chore of creating our own practice plan, and completing it on our own has been assigned to the national tournament bound wrestlers, his words continuously linger in my head to make this an easy task.

I couldn’t be happier where I am right now at Lindsey Wilson. The team treats each other as a family, and we all help each other out through each individual struggle. Coach Ruff, as well as assistant coaches Abe Cross and Shane Perkey, continue to retain the father figure image in my mind, and they make wrestling here a simple and fun hobby. Until the team goal and my individual goal of winning a national title is reached, I know we will continue to push ourselves to the extreme; and when this goal is reached, we will continue to climb the mountain and work to dominate any and every team and individual opponent we step on the line to wrestle. I know as long as my coaches and teammates surround me, nothing will get in my way.

It has been a hard week for the Lindsey Wilson Wrestling team, both on and off the mat. We spent nearly a week away from home in Iowa competing against Grandview University and Ellsworth Community College, losing to both teams. While it was a great opportunity to get used to being outside of our comfort zones, we did not produce the results we were hoping for, and it is hard to call the trip a success.

Grandview was the #3 ranked team in the NAIA going into our dual, and I think they intimidated us right from the start. We wrestled on our heels while they wrestled on their toes. They came to scrap and we backed down. They are an excellent team, don’t get me wrong, but we gave them far too much respect. Instead, we should have made them earn our respect. We did not do this, and the dual score reflects that. Of course, there are some guys on the team who stood toe to toe with their respective opponents, but we need a collective effort when facing a team with as much talent as Grandview. It was simply not enough.

We then had an opportunity to respond against Ellsworth with some intensity and some tenacity. Again, though, we came out flat. We did not necessarily give them more respect than they deserved like we did against Grandview, but we did not attack like we should have. I’m not sure if we were tired from training, if we missed our beds at home, or if there was some extraneous factor that I do not know about. Whatever the reason, we did not perform. Our collective attitude was down in the doldrums, and it was almost like we did not want to wrestle.

Once this attitude takes hold it has the potential to spread like wildfire. As coaches, we cannot teach a wrestler to want to win. That desire has to be intrinsic; it has to come from within. We can, however, try to keep spirits up to prevent the poor attitude we saw against Ellsworth from catching on. If we lose our desire as a team at this point it would be almost impossible to regain it before the national tournament. Negative attitudes tend to feed on themselves, growing bigger and worse with each setback.

We arrived back on campus on Saturday, and that night our team suffered one of the most heartbreaking setbacks a team, or an individual, can face. We lost a beloved teammate and friend in Rashaun Graham. It is tragic when a young person loses their life, and even more so when that young person is such a shining example of what it means to be a good person. No one who met Rashaun will ever forget the way that he laughed (giggled is probably more accurate), or his infectious good mood, or how he brightened the room with his humor. You could not look at him without smiling because that is just the kind of kid that he was. I never heard Rashaun speak an ill word about anyone or anything, which is an extremely rare quality. Instead, he showed up to practice ready to work and ready to have fun each and every day. He was a kid who was truly happy to be alive, and we can all learn from that. There is no reason NOT to be happy. You’re alive and well, aren’t you? Rashaun loved life, and I think we would be doing him a disservice if we did not at least attempt to approach each and every day with the zeal and zest that were both so abundant in our lost friend. Wherever he is and whatever he is doing, I can assure you he is doing it with the biggest and cheesiest of smiles you can imagine.

It is difficult beyond words to describe how tragic the loss of Rashaun is to everyone who knew him. But life, as it is prone to do, moves on. It has to. If we try to resist, it will move on without us, guaranteed. I am not saying that we need to close up our hearts and press on, forgetting how Rashaun’s life touched our own. Instead, we need to respond in a manner that helps us move forward. Let us learn the lesson of happiness from Rashaun, among other things. Let us remember how he made us feel when he walked into our offices, or dorm rooms, or classrooms, and let us continue that in his name. Let us never take advantage of our time here with friends or family, because that time is far too short. Today may be the only day that we have to accomplish what we want to accomplish. Take advantage of that opportunity, as we may not get another.

Like any setback, whether it is a loss to a tough opponent or the loss of a dear friend, it is up to us to respond. How we choose to respond is up to us. We each have the power and the ability to grow from this tragic setback. We have to decide to do so, if not for ourselves, then for Rashaun. I think we all know that he would want us to keep smiling. We will test our ability to handle this adversity on Tuesday, when Campbellsville comes to town. We plan to honor Rashaun with a reading and a moment of silence prior to the dual that begins at 7:00 CST.