Blue Raider Blog – Myron Bradbury

Entry 6

Myron Bradbury enters the NAIA national tournament as the 4 seed from the East Regional

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.