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The Vision Quest Podcast
A podcast about life, sports, and life in sports! Enjoy!
The Vision Quest Podcast
#92 Lyric Hetzer: From Early Wins to Olympic Ambitions: Inside Lyric's Wrestling World
What does it take for a young athlete to transition from the world of gymnastics and cheerleading to becoming a rising star in wrestling? Join us as we explore the remarkable journey of Trinity award winner Lyric Hetzer, who opens up about her evolution from a "funky" folk style wrestler to mastering the intricacies of freestyle techniques. Lyric's athletic background brings a unique twist to her wrestling prowess, and she credits strong training partners, particularly Chloe Derwester, for pushing her to new heights. From early beginnings to her current victories, Lyric's story is a compelling testament to passion and perseverance.
Youth wrestling through Lyric's eyes is nothing short of inspiring. Her early achievements, including earning third place in her first tournament, set the stage for a career driven by determination and a supportive family that values effort over mere victories. Lyric's strategic approach to challenges like weight cutting and studying competitors reveals the depth of her commitment to the sport. Anecdotes from memorable matches and the joy of achieving long-term goals further illustrate the resilience and dedication required to excel in wrestling. Lyric’s ability to analyze and adapt her strategies showcases her relentless pursuit of excellence.
Lyric's ambition knows no bounds as she sets her sights on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Her journey includes competing in major tournaments like Fargo, Super 32, and the Pan American Championships, each experience bringing its own set of challenges and triumphs. We also delve into her pre-match rituals, dietary habits, and the balance of training with a non-traditional schooling arrangement. Lyric discusses competing against boys versus girls and how she maintains her confidence in both scenarios. This episode offers an intimate look at the life of a dedicated young wrestler, brimming with practical insights and personal anecdotes that highlight the essence of pursuing athletic dreams.
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Thank you, guitar solo.
Speaker 2:Thank you, boom, we're live, ready to roll.
Speaker 2:So okay, I obviously I had some country you guys could hear, like in that reel that I did is the construction is a little heavy in my house right now. I have such a mess down here. I have dogs down. We like live in the basement right now, so my studio is now our house. Yeah, it's kind of where we're living. But I want to announce we are happy and excited to have on the show the Trinity award winner One of them, lyra Ketzer. I appreciate you joining us. I understand you are a busy girl, so I appreciate it.
Speaker 3:I'm so happy to be on here.
Speaker 2:I'm so it's, it's cool. So I think I think it's important to note that you aren't just an average wrestler. I mean, you put some work in your, your mom's I'm it's like me driving your, your kid, all across the country making sure they're getting the best competition right. You got your good good. You got, uh, good teammates. You got good partners, got good coaches and you're showing it um, you're killing it, man. I mean, how's it feeling so far? How are you feeling about the season?
Speaker 3:I feel great. I I love folk style, but I'm I'm starting to like freestyle more, with the big throws and with your teams all surrounding the mats. It's, it's so fun. I love freestyle now. I just love it so did you?
Speaker 2:did you start out in folk style or did you start in freestyle?
Speaker 3:I started off in folk style and I think that's why I still like it, because I didn't really do big throws, I would just do like blast doubles and all that yeah. I was that type of kid and then my coach was like hey, we're going in the freestyle season, let's start start doing guts. And I'm just like, okay, I got in the hand of it and I was. I was pretty good at it.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay. So do you do what? Well, before we start getting into the story story, do you feel like that once you got into freestyle, it was a little easier than it was a? It was a easier technique and easier type of style for you.
Speaker 3:I felt like it was like really hard because I would used to go to my back so much I got roll like I was a funky wrestler and so I would wrestle differently, like in freestyle, like I would like be, like I can't do this move or I'm gonna go to my back. And so I started getting the hand of it and I'm like, oh, I'll just wrestle folk style, just don't go like any grambies or any of that to my back yeah, and so I started getting the hand of it, and so I got into the style, back in wrestling folk style, just in freestyle okay, okay, so let's go back to the beginning.
Speaker 2:We talked a little bit beforehand. You said you started around. What was that? Six years old, six, six and a half somewhere around there. Was that your first sport? I did gymnastics and cheer before that okay, I heard something about the cheer thing, but I didn't know about the gymnastics. A hand in hand, great, great combination to go with wrestling. Did you like gymnastics? Was it something that you want that you currently still do?
Speaker 3:I love gymnastics. I didn't like cheer, on the other hand, I did not like it. That's why I got into wrestling. But gymnastics I just loved like flipping, and I think that helped me a lot of wrestling because of the stretching and being flexible. So when I get in predicaments where I'm like put on my back, you can just bridge out easily without any it being like painful or like being hard to do okay, okay.
Speaker 2:So when you first got going you, like you said you started in folk style. Were you predominantly wrestling? Because now you're I mean you're young, so girls wrestling has been around. But in the area you were in did you have to start wrestling with boys first, or were you able to practice with girls right away?
Speaker 3:I practiced with girls right away. I lived in Harrison so it was like a big top, like girls wrestling. There wasn't like so many boys, but there was, so I was able to train with. Her name's Chloe, deer Wester and like oh yeah, we know Chloe. I'm so grateful that I got to train with her. She definitely built up who I am now, how strong I am and my technique, so I'm really glad to be training with her.
Speaker 2:So I just read and heard something I think David Taylor said something about it. As far as the partners, it seems like a lot of you young, just kids in general right now, because the sport is growing so much and the level of partners that you wind up getting, it seems like that when you guys are able to get your hands on really good partners, you're killing it. You know what I'm saying. So you learned a lot from some really good teachers. So when you started learning, did you, did you kind of find yourself? Maybe I'm obviously everybody struggles a little bit, but did you ever want to quit when you first started Because it felt like it was too hard? You're wrestling really good people.
Speaker 3:I never like felt that I was just like on it, like I started. Yeah, my first time I got third and I wrestled some really good girls that tournament. But it was like right, when I got in the practice room like I knew what to do, like I blast double these people so far across the room and I just wanted to stay in the sport. Obviously, the cutting weight I did not like. I don't think any wrestler likes cutting okay no, no, they don't, no, I don't like it so did you start when you were young?
Speaker 2:were you kind of cutting weight a little bit when you were young for certain tournaments? Not all the time not, not really.
Speaker 3:It wouldn't be many like at that time. It would feel like so much, but it was like a pound or less oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:You just had to not eat the gummy worms that day yeah, it would feel like so much weight cutting, but it wouldn't be that I remember with liam, when we, when we first it was, it was the same thing, it was like two pounds or something like that, but it was as simple as just not drinking milk that day or for a couple days you know just little things and maybe having some carrots instead of having cookies, you know kind of thing. So it's pretty common, pretty common. And when you remember starting wrestling, were you in competitions, right? Where did you practice a lot first?
Speaker 3:it was, uh, I think, the day after practicing I went to competition. It was like straight after I was just like oh, I should do it, and so I just went to athena nationals yeah, I got third. I had, I had competition, they were, they were good, oh, you did well. Third that's not bad yeah, I was just like oh, that's pretty good yeah, I was so happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I pinned my finals ah yeah, that's fine, that's all right, that's fine, so that's cool.
Speaker 2:You seem like not a lot. I mean, obviously I'm sure when something goes wrong or something bothers you, but it seems like you're able to roll with the punches. So I mean it sounds like you have a pretty good support system, because a lot of that comes with that. You know what I'm saying. So when a loss comes along, do you have the parents that you're doing the hour-long car ride of? Why did you do that? So it doesn't sound like you had that at all it.
Speaker 3:It did like if I don't put in the effort, they're like why didn't? Why didn't you put in that but? They never get mad if I lose, if I put the effort in, like yep, I lost at the usa pan am trials this week and my mom was like you put in the effort, you put in the work yes and so I'm gonna.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna like focus on beating those people that lucy, like I'll train, find them, scout them out at tournaments. I'm like focused on beating them, training, watching their matches, all that well done, and that's the same thing we do.
Speaker 2:It's not because I and plus sometimes you can't. You kids are getting to a point where a lot of us parents it's kind of beyond us, where we we expect you to kind of know that stuff and the technique that you're getting from your coaches. So it's really good to have that attitude of just at least as long as you're putting 110 effort in.
Speaker 2:That's all I care about too yeah that's it, because there's so much stress otherwise, on top of that right, I mean especially with you young guys, it's in girls it's just one of those things where you don't want to put that much pressure on. So that's, I kind of had a feeling, that's all. Mom was with it because that's why I wanted to kind of drive into that yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3:It's just like another match. It's not like the end of the world, like you won't grow up when you're like 35 and think about it losing sleep and start drinking because of it.
Speaker 2:Right, that's not let's not do that, yeah, so when you started your first company, you went in that tournament. You took third. Were you because I mean, you're getting your first wins, you're getting your first competition in? Did you kind of, uh, why you're like I want more, I want to do more? Were you hungry for more competition and wanted to, like, dive into it even more?
Speaker 3:yeah, I was so hungry I ended up wrestling the three people I lost to or the two people. I was like scouting them out for so long like the first place girl I trained. So I trained like for like three years the beer to beat that girl and I ended up beating her. I was so happy, Like after that match I like raised both hands, I ran up to my mom and I was like so happy that I beat that girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you put the work in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I put the work in to meet her and the second place she's really good too, but I ended up beating that girl.
Speaker 2:What's one of the first matches that sticks out in your, in your mind, the most the like?
Speaker 3:one of the first ones which one do you remember the most for girls? Yeah, yep, I would say I wrestled this girl and I got like cradled and I got put on the internet like everywhere in my back. It's like it's. It's so bad. I see it like now. Now, like two weeks ago, I was like at the hotel looking myself up and it was just a video right there of me like getting pinned with the cradle and I was just like bro and they wouldn't take it down or anything. I remember I texted like I put a note, reported it. I I'm like, take this down. I was like this is me, take it out. I was so Get out of here. I really wanted it.
Speaker 2:That is awesome.
Speaker 1:You reached out to them to tell them to take the video down.
Speaker 3:I was so embarrassed for losing that.
Speaker 2:But did you get her? Did you get that match back? Did you get her back?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And you beat her, I tech fought her nice, that's even.
Speaker 2:That's even better, that's even better. You dominated, that's even better that's cool. So now you said that for girls, is there one that you remember the most wrestling against the boys?
Speaker 3:probably. Yeah, it was supreme killer duels against. His name was Carter Smith and that just stuck out to me because I was like so young and like before that match I was like so nervous, like I didn't even know who the guy was until my mom looked him up on track wrestling. He was like a five star and I'm like who is this kid? Like I've never heard of him. He looked really good and I ended up beating him, I think seven or four or eight to four and I was like so happy and then I ended up like losing to my wrestling partner the next match. I got tech fault. I was. I was just like no, and my mom was like what just happened? You just like beat like a top kid and then you lose your partner. She was just like what happened what's?
Speaker 2:what's the farthest you've traveled for a tournament I would say washington, just just then.
Speaker 3:I wanted to go to I don't know what the name of the tournament, but it was out of the country, just like a couple weeks ago hey and m's huh and m? No, it was. I don't know you it's. It's some country and like it's girls and boys and they go there.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:I don't know the country, but I really want to go next year.
Speaker 2:Did it Estonia? Yes, yes. So okay, liam, just got back from there. Liam was there. He was at the Tallinn open.
Speaker 3:I really want to go. I heard it's like a really fun tournament, like everything is new.
Speaker 2:It's not like the us. I really want to go there. And this year they did, as far as I remember, is the first year they did an event before the freestyle greco started. They did a dual event, um, I believe wyoming seminary was there for that, and their girls girls team competed against their girls team. I think there's a boys team as well. That it was a freestyle duel, um, but it's great, uh, liam loves every year that he goes there, so they wind up doing a camp. The only downfall about the camp is that that so that there used to be a guy that ran it that was kind of really into the actual like uh technique of the camp. Now it's kind of like you're just wrestling live the whole time, which is okay because you're getting some, you know, foreign people you get to wrestle against and stuff like that, just without having to worry about the competition part. So get over there. I'll text mom.
Speaker 2:I'll be like get her, get her to the talon open because it's worth it for sure, I definitely need to go if you can, if I can suggest, I'm sure you have people out by you, but I would suggest contacting maja casey from victory School of Wrestling here in Wisconsin because he takes a group over there every year and his is actually especially nice because the group that they go with they get to stay at certain kids houses, then you get to go to school sometimes with certain kids. You get to experience that whole thing. So I'll get you and I'll get your mom in touch with Maja. That'll be a good one for you yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so let's, let's get back on track here. So you started out at about six. You told us about some memorable matches. Let's talk about what your, what your goals were when you first started wrestling and you kind of got into it. You're starting to really love it. What were some of the goals that you were looking to accomplish?
Speaker 3:I'm going to try and pull up some comments here too. Oh, you got ariana. Ariana says hi lyric. My goals um, definitely my first goal. I really wanted to go to the olympics in 2028. That was like my first goal. I was just like I want to go to. I want to go to los angeles and win it, and so I think that got. Like the drive. I'm like, wait, what up, you're not just gonna like easily get the ride to go to Los Angeles. Like you need a train for it. And so like I'm going step-by-step, like I'm going to try to go to Fargo next year and then go to super 32 this year, go to Pan Ams, then make it up till 2028 to go to the Olympics.
Speaker 2:Nice, well, that's cool. You mentioned super 32. We'll be able to see you down there this year because we go. We go every year for liam especially.
Speaker 3:We've been going since the sixth grade year. It's a great tournament. You're gonna have a blast out there. I wrestled boys a couple years ago and I was doing good. I think I won my first, like two or three matches and then I lost and I was like no, and so I tried going back and I won like one or two and then I lost again and I was just like I was so upset because, like I would see like other girls like go in the super 32 and they were like doing good, I'm just like all right, and we haven't been back since. I remember on my way to weigh-ins, our flight got canceled and we were like five, six hours away and my mom booked a car and drove like 100 miles per hour down the highway and because we would have been late by like 25 minutes and oh really they're like shook, you got to be on time and so my mom's zooming.
Speaker 3:I'm like I'm gonna just go to sleep because I didn't want to like deal with any drama, so I went to sleep. I ended up waking up five minutes before weigh-ins.
Speaker 2:I like rushed in there they run a tight ship there, that's for sure. That tournament definitely runs a tight ship, so glad you made it. That's awesome. That's quite the story. I mean I can't. I can't remember the last time we went to a tournament where we had to do it, because I drive everywhere. I I hate relying on planes. Man, we're going, we're taking a plane to ve for US Open, but I hate relying on airplanes and stuff. So I always love driving everywhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we drive the day before, just in case our flight gets canceled.
Speaker 2:It's a good idea.
Speaker 3:It's scary, it's a good idea.
Speaker 2:So, with the competitions that you've been in, what do you think was the toughest one that you've been in so far?
Speaker 3:Boys or girls or both, both oh, I would probably say super 32 for boys. But okay, for girls I would say just pantyhose they. They had like I've never been in a bracket that stacked like in so long. I've never, um. But I mostly go to boys tournaments. Like I'm starting to like not wrestle like too many boys, I'm trying to wrestle mostly girls. But I have another year to wrestle, so boys, until I get to high school. So I'm trying to wrestle as many girls. So when I wrestle the boys I go in the girls and like I wrestle the same because I'm trying to wrestle as many girls. So when I wrestle the boys I go in the girls and like I wrestle the same because, like I used to wrestle like differently, like when I go to I'd wrestle less pressure and then the boys I would have so much pressure against them so I'm trying to get like the confidence of like having them the same, so I can wrestle the girls the same as I do in the voice.
Speaker 3:Just a good balance.
Speaker 2:Okay. Okay, I just had a question in my head. I was going to ask it. I can't remember, it'll come back to me. But when you go to competitions and we talked a little bit about cutting and obviously it's not like you're cutting major weight but when you go to competitions, what do you find? What's your favorite meal Like? What do you like to get Like after weigh-ins? Where do you guys go?
Speaker 3:So most of the time I get a steak so I can like, but, um, most of the time I will not eat clean. But I have to eat clean Like I used to. I see, like I'd go to Outback and I'd get like a root beer float and I get like seven of them. I get so many and just, and then the next day I'd like be so slow and so my God lyric. I could and so for Pan Ams like I had like a bagel and liquid IV after. So I wasn't like crazy.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah, it was at least somewhat healthy. Root beer floats lyric. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3:seven of them last week I went to viper pit and I was eating like crazy and I had two celsius before I went to bed and I didn't sleep at all. Yeah, yeah, I had at least 10 minutes of sleep that night and I woke up and I don't even know how I wrestled good, like I was like fueled, I was like let's go, and then at the end of the night, like I passed out on my way back. I was so tired.
Speaker 2:I'm surprised you didn't crash midday. That's crazy. It's root beer floats, celsius's. You guys are young. I mean you guys can burn off a lot of different calories in different ways. So I mean it's just funny to hear that, because you're talking to all these high level athletes like I'm gonna make sure I'm watching my proteins and watching my carbs. And here's lyric over here having seven root beer floats just before she goes into a tournament. It's like holy cow man okay they were good. I I guess they were good.
Speaker 2:You had seven of them I I enjoyed them so much let's tie that into the the what the stuff that your mom would give for for, like when you guys got a win in a duel, what was she giving out?
Speaker 3:gummy worms gummy worms.
Speaker 2:And then you wound up robbing the gummy worm bag.
Speaker 3:You said right yeah, it wasn't just me, my friend rain, she also took them oh, you're throwing Rain under the bus. We both grabbed them, we like snuck behind the bleachers and we started eating them like crazy and then they ended up finding out we were just like no, but they were really good. I enjoyed those gummy worms.
Speaker 2:So what were some of the big and these don't even have to be wrestling moments. What were some of the big moments that you've had in just like in around wrestling or whatever, like meeting someone or, you know, being being able to watch someone wrestle? What were some of the more like memorable, just kind of just being around wrestling moments that you've had?
Speaker 3:um, when my mom she used to like talk about bo bass like all the time, and so when we were at super 32, I remember he was wrestling on the big stage with anthony knox and I was just like I don't know who this guy is.
Speaker 3:And she she was like you'll love him, he's really good, and so I ended up watching him and he ended up like losing, but then like we're there that you're too like finished and I'm just like he was good and so like he's like pacing, he's like jogging around the mat in the back and I'm just like I'm gonna go get a photo. And my mom's like no, he just got done. And so I walked back there and I'm like hey, can I get a photo? And he was like oh sure, I got a photo. And I was just like so embarrassed I just thought because he was like he looked upset about losing and so jogging around the mat for like I think endurance and all that. And I just like went up there and I was just like I got like five more photos with him that's a pretty hyped up match.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of I. There's a lot of hype, I think, between flow and then the tournament and then other people and that happened a lot with him and that anthony knox match. We were there that year too and that was a crazy match. We I think there was one that liam and I'll flip, especially at those finals, uh, tournament, their final matches, and a lot of times we'll we'll both try to pick the same guy that we know is that we know is gonna win right just kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, I think I wound up picking. I had to pick anthony that day because liam picked bow and I was like all right and I kind of got lucky on the draw and anthony knox won it. So it was kind of kind of fun. That's a cool moment you got. You got to meet someone.
Speaker 3:I had no idea where either. I was just like who are they?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, while you're what. So this was that was like three, wasn't that three or four years ago? That was about four years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was pretty long ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're like 10 years old around that time, so that's a pretty cool moment. I think. Those tournaments and being able to shine yourself, especially when you're trying to put in that competition against boys, that's a pretty big deal, so that's fun. So when you go to tournaments, what is your pre-match workout or pre-match like ritual? What do you do?
Speaker 3:So most of the time I grab like someone I know, or like if I don't have them, because I want them to know like my drill.
Speaker 3:So I mostly grab like the same partner when I see them, like if we go to the same tournament, if it's freestyle or folk style, we do like shots to the double. Like we do neutral, then we do top, bottom, top moves and bottom moves, then we go live for like 10, 15 minutes so we can get that and it mostly gets me ready. I stretch before that. I I don't. I'm not really big on running, like I do not like running, but I know I should before a match. I just never do it like so many wrestlers, man I, I hate running.
Speaker 3:I don't know what it is, but I just don't like it. Like I, I jump rope, but no, it's a good replacement.
Speaker 2:It's not bad.
Speaker 3:Get your heart rate going, you know I heard it's better, but I don't know, because jogging, you're pumping your arms, but you're doing that with jump rope yeah, with jump rope, and that's right yeah, so that's.
Speaker 2:It sounds like it's pretty regimented, like you've been doing that for a while. Is that something your mom helped you set up? That kind of that kind of ritual for warming up for matches?
Speaker 3:Um it was. It was just kind of out of pocket, Like I've just been doing it for so long. I was just like, hey, let's do this. And so my mom, she's like go live before wrestling, that's like the main thing, because if I just go out there drilling, I'm going to wrestle like I'm drilling and not going like live competing. And so he always tells me get a live, go before you wrestle like no matter what.
Speaker 2:For sure. That makes sense, Totally makes sense. And you know, as you grow up you may find your own type of. You know, kind of, as you get older, whatever you might find your own type of workout and things like that. Like Liam, I used to have him doing certain things and as he kind of grew into his own wrestler he started to kind of find his own, his own uh, workout or ritual and he wears certain things and he does. He won't wear certain things and listens to certain music. You know things. Are you a pacer? Are you a pacer just before the match?
Speaker 3:yeah, I definitely I put on my headphones. Nice, I. I lost like my beats like four times, like I had to get four new pairs because I just keep losing them at tournaments. And so I'm determined not to lose this one because they're pink and I really like this pink one and four pairs of beats.
Speaker 2:Man, I probably would have bought you like the gas station earbuds after that, and I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1:That's crazy, crazy.
Speaker 2:Four pairs.
Speaker 1:I got to text your mom here.
Speaker 2:man, you got to slow her down. I'm buying all these beats for you. That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Holy cow.
Speaker 2:So what's? Uh? What's some of your favorite music to listen to before a match?
Speaker 3:Um, I have a mix. I, in my opinion, I just don't like Eminem. I know a lot of people do. I'm no hate on Eminem, but I mostly listen to Drake or Kanye any of those to warm up.
Speaker 2:Are you tired of the Lose Yourself song at every tournament from Eminem?
Speaker 3:Yes, I do not like that song. It's like that main song because on my way when I was younger, on my way to the tournament, he would just play Eminem blasting in the car and I was just like no, no more, Eminem, no more.
Speaker 2:Liam, listen, every every time they turn it on, he'll go get something to put over his ears, yeah.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what I do in the car. I'm just like no, block it out.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Do you have a favorite pair? What are you like? Favorite pair of shoes, like what are you? What are you? Uh, what are you rocking most of the time? See that. See that slang I use what are you rocking?
Speaker 3:mostly um. I don't know what they're called. I call them jesus sandals. Uh, oh, birkenstocks, yeah there's.
Speaker 2:oh okay, I was gonna say I I got these those are similar, but I love Nike.
Speaker 3:Nike's like my favorite thing ever.
Speaker 2:I'm an Adidas guy. I'm really partial, because a lot of these college teams use Nike for everything. It's like oh, I don't know if I want to wear Nike, it's only the swoosh. I want the three stripes on there, I don't like Under Armour. I'm not an Under Armour guy either.
Speaker 3:I. I'm not an Under Armour guy either. I'll be honest with you I don't like the symbol.
Speaker 2:The symbol is so weird I don't even get it. Yeah, it's like two U's and whatever. It doesn't mean anything to me either. It's more baseball. They should stay in baseball.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So what do you? You recently came back from some tournaments. What is the next tournament you're looking forward to?
Speaker 3:The next tournament I'm going to is ultimate club duels oh or five, or it's nhsca duels okay those are the two I'm going to so far that we know of okay, okay, I know they just had the high school ones.
Speaker 2:That was yeah, you're gonna go to the the middle school ones. That was in Virginia Beach and you're going to go to the middle school ones. That's a good tournament. Liam's been to those a couple times. But I think if you were to go to a college we kind of talked about it a little bit If you were to go to a college, what's on top of your list right now?
Speaker 3:Definitely Penn State.
Speaker 2:Definitely Penn State, as soon as they work in that girls program, right yeah.
Speaker 3:Definitely Penn State. Definitely Penn State as soon as they work in that, girls program. Right yeah, it's Penn State or Ohio, and.
Speaker 2:Iowa. Okay In that order.
Speaker 3:Yeah, then Lehigh, then Lehigh, okay so you like what you got going on on the East Coast out there I like one college, okay, okay, and they're great schools, great schools, I mean, kale, get on it.
Speaker 2:man. Like, what are you waiting for?
Speaker 3:Exactly. Let's get the girls program going. They need to make one.
Speaker 2:Chip, chop chip. So that is what you're looking forward to for college If you are to go to. So you're homeschooled, right, you're homeschooled right now. Okay, and I'm not familiar with that a lot. There are some people that will break off and like some guys that go to greco and they and they train greco, that's all they do. Some of them drop out. They don't even go to high school anymore. They homeschool. So there's only a few people. What's that like as far as just being a, just being a kid and and obviously it sounds like you have friends, you have practice partners and people like that but what's that like? Not going to school and walking through halls with the other people and stuff. How does that feel?
Speaker 3:it feels like most of the time it's boring, but you have some stuff to do during the days, but, yeah, you don't really get to see like friends and all that. But it's much easier like you get to practice like any time, you get to be outside like any of that you have at any time, and so that's like the main thing why I did it, so I can like my coach would call me and be like, hey, do you want to have practice at like 12 o'clock? And I'll be like, oh sure, I got nothing else to do yeah, yeah, yeah, that's not not knocking it, definitely not knocking it.
Speaker 2:I mean it works for some people and definitely you. You have a. I think there's a motive behind what you guys are trying to accomplish. So it's definitely for a reason and I applaud that. Um, when you guys go to tournaments, are there certain things that your parents do? When you go to a tournament, do they have rituals?
Speaker 3:There is a coach His name's, coach noble.
Speaker 2:Well oh yeah yeah, yeah, from a toss them up.
Speaker 3:Yes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah from uh, toss them up, yes. And he tells me he's like you gotta, you have 30 seconds to pin this girl or score five points, and so I think that helps me like a lot in the match. So I don't focus, like I'm not nervous about the match, I'm like, oh okay, I'm gonna try to get this, and I don't focus on any, like I don't focus on the winning and I just go straight and then I end up winning and having the fun. But my mom, she must say, just like, squat there and just have fun with the matches and will come, and so that's why I just so you're goal driven.
Speaker 2:You like that, you like the, not just the winning portion, but you like the like. Coach Noble gives you a goal to accomplish within a certain amount of time and that's awesome, that's. I think that's a great way to do that. I think he's a pretty smart guy. We've run around and been around with coach noble for a little bit. Liam never really got to train with him, but we've seen him at tournaments Talk to me Really great guy, love talking to him. Um, we are going to be going to the U Ss open this, uh, next weekend. Uh, when you compete, do you compete in older age groups?
Speaker 3:yes, and weights. Most of the time I go up in weights for girls I always bump up that weight.
Speaker 3:Boys I sometimes do that just so I can get the experience, because those people are cutting down to that weight anyways yeah so when I bump up the weight because I'm still growing, I will get to like I always already know, like what those people do, like the weight. So like I don't know, it's just like something that I always do, so I don't cut so much and then I gain the weight and I go out to wrestle. It's not like like, oh my gosh, this guy, this girl is way too heavy for me.
Speaker 2:And that's so that kind of why I asked that? Because Liam is going to be going out and he's going to wrestle 80 kilograms. It's 176 pounds. Right now he's about maybe 170 pounds heaviest Right. And when you get into these tournaments we're talking about like Super 32 is the same thing. It's like professional weight cutting. Yeah, they're cutting a lot. It's insane, it right, it's crazy and we're always, we've always done things like you guys. Liam's always wrestled up in weight class. He'll wrestle up in an age group too once in a while. Um, but it's always been wrestling up. Have you ever found yourself like going up against someone? You're like holy cow, they're, they're huge, they must have cut so much weight for this and you were just wrestling up.
Speaker 3:You ever have an opponent like that yeah, all the time I always get this like I'd go to these duels and I'd wrestle these boys or girls and they would be like so heavy and like I'd be on bottom struggling.
Speaker 2:I'd look at them like this guy's heavy, like they'd be, like they feel like 140 but they're actually like 112, like they're not heavy yeah, you're right yeah because, again, I think a lot of times and I think your mom does a pretty good job with it just doesn't kind of does the same thing that we do is letting you guys grow and letting you guys get stronger naturally, instead of trying to cut so much and then you feel a way to someone super heavy on you? It's not fun. Have you ever told your mom hey, hey, I want to cut for this one, I want to cut for this one? And she's like absolutely not.
Speaker 3:That's what we did for Tulsa. For Tulsa I was sitting around 114. I was heavy and I'm just like I'm not wrestling good, and so I was just like I'm going to get down to 100 so I can feel good. And so the first like a couple pounds. They weren't hard because I just got back from disney, so okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, disney, oh oh oh, disney world, like actually visiting disney.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, yeah and so the first, like six, eight, were easy, and then I started like getting down. The last two were like really hard and I think that like showed something that I can't like my weight range, like I can't go below a hundred pounds. Way too hard. So like 102 is like my minimum. Okay, go to below 102.
Speaker 2:So it's good to know, yeah, it's good to know that you have that. You have those limits. You've kind of discovered what you can and can't take and can and can't handle. That's good, I think it's that's another reason why it's kind of like watching the matches I saw you wrestle like it's fun watching you because it seems like you're a little more mature for your age when it comes to the practicing and that you've done, and watching you compete and seeing how you compete just a little bit of a, you know, like a level up from all the other, especially guys that you're wrestling. I mean I watched a couple matches where you just waxed them like it was nothing you know, and I was like whoa okay, okay, she's a real deal.
Speaker 2:Then I was like then watching you wrestle, like watching girls yeah, there's some tough ones but like then you made them look even like like they're standing still, you know. So I was like, holy cow, this, this is good. So you're pretty intelligent. You seems like you got a good head on your shoulders when it comes to wrestling and kind of taking care of yourself, except for the seven root beer floats and the all that other stuff which you're a kid, right, and I said you guys burn that off way differently than big kids, do you know?
Speaker 2:and the big guys do. So what are some of your goals? Everybody wants to win the Olympics, but what's a reachable goal that you have right now that you want to accomplish? What's the next goal that you're trying to reach?
Speaker 3:Definitely winning world team next year for 17U because I'm eligible. Next year I can wrestle 15 you and 17 you. So I'm gonna do back to back. But if I win the 17 you, I'll probably not end up doing the 15 you because it's like way too expensive, yeah, but if I win 15 you don't do 17 you. It's like back and forth. So I'm really wanting to win 17 you because it's like a big step for me, like after that my name will be out there and all that.
Speaker 2:You're giving yourself the best opportunity to see if you can. You know it's a great experience, I mean to be able to travel to wherever it is I didn't even look where those next competitions would be for those age groups, but wherever it is, even Estonia. It's a great experience for you guys to be able to get that travel. And then it just makes you even more marketable when it comes to going to college and being recruited by college teams, because now you have all that under your belt but you're doing just fine without even going overseas. So you're you, keep up the good work. Hey, you know, we've been talking to you for about I don't know about 40 minutes. Here we're gonna, we're gonna cut it off. It's late by you.
Speaker 2:It's 8 30 um, yeah I know I was gonna say it's starting to kind of fade, yeah. So what we'll do is we'll cut you loose, but, um, we're gonna talk to you for just a second once we're done here. But, um, I'm gonna roll some music so that way people can know that we're done. But again, everybody, this has been lear catzer. She is the most recent uh trinity award recipient. She's killing it. If you haven't seen her, check her out on instagram. You got any shout outs. You got some shout outs you want to do, don't you?
Speaker 3:yeah, um, definitely a big shout out. His name's connor maddox. I told him I would shout him out, but he definitely had a big jump for me in wrestling. Like I don't think I would be at the step I was if I wasn't practicing with him. His me and his coach is aaron cashman. He went to iowa. He's super good.
Speaker 3:He's like one of my favorites then, jermaine lindsey okay, he's also my coach, nick Spatola, and my mom. Definitely a big shout-out to my mom. She takes me everywhere, she pays for everything and that's just. You know. I love my mom. She's the main thing for me.
Speaker 2:Yep Heads out to Toss Em Up and Coach Noble, and those guys too.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, coach, Noble Big shout-out, I love him.
Speaker 2:Hopefully they're killing it. They'll always be killing it. But all right, we're going to end this here, but stick around, cause we'll talk to you once we hang all this up. But everybody, but it's been Lyric Hetzler. This has been another version of the vision quest podcast. Hopefully you guys join us soon again. We'll see you later.
