I never won a national championship. I have never been an All-American. I never won a state championship or even a sectional championship. Heck, I don’t even have cauliflower ear. Not even on one ear. But 36 years after wrestling my last match, I still consider myself a wrestler. That is because wrestling to me is more than a sport, it is a lifestyle. 

For the longest time, 26 years to be exact, I wanted nothing to do with the sport, as I felt the sport took everything I had and gave me back nothing in return. I pledged I would never let my kids wrestle as I never wanted them to experience the pain that I did from this sport. 

But something brought me back. 

And my kids did wrestle. 

And 26 years after leaving the sport I would come to realize what this sport has given back to me in my life. When I needed it the most. 

It taught me how to fight against unbearable adversity. To have an unbreakable will. And to be delusionally optimistic, among many other things. 

I’ve experienced this sport from every angle. I was a wrestler myself for six years. I’ve been a father of a wrestler for 10 years. I’ve been a father of a wrestling coach for three years. I’ve been a coach all my life. And I will forever be a fan of this sport. 

Looking back over my time in this sport, it is clear to me that there are two types of former wrestlers. Wrestlers who successfully bridged into life by applying the discipline and principles they learned on the mat, and those wrestlers who hadn’t. I noticed that it didn’t matter what a wrestler’s accolades were, each type of former wrestler existed at every level of success or non-success in the sport. 

I am amazed at the disparity of the quality of life between the wrestlers who had applied the principals they lived on the mat and those who didn’t. The wrestlers who didn’t never used their resources to propel them into life to be able to handle the adversities life would throw at them. They seemed to be beaten by the exact principles wrestling taught. 

How ironic, the very people who lived the principles on the mat didn’t apply them off the mat. 

I have been blessed with the understanding that wrestling is much more than a sport, it is a lifestyle. That has been invaluable to my life. It has made such a difference in the quality of my life. 

So much so, that I feel compelled to share the principles that I’ve learned. My hope is that these principles will ring true to wrestlers who need them the most. Champions who need help in life. 

My other hope is to bring homage to a sport that when all the accounting is complete has given to me more than I gave to it. And I gave it everything I had. And in return, it gave me everything that I am. I am a wrestler. I’ve lived six years on the mat. And a lifetime off the mat. 

Wrestling Rules for Life are the principles that have been so valuable to me.