by Connor Glynn - WHB Graduate 2016
Westhampton Beach wrestling gave me the opportunity to become a part of something greater than myself. It gave me a purpose and a meaning during my high school years. It was a lifestyle, a distraction, a safe haven, and a classroom all in one. But, in the class that is wrestling, you learn about life in all types of ways, good and bad.
In ninth grade, I was out to dinner with my parents at Squiretown in Hampton Bays. My high school sports career was a hot topic of conversation. Playing Football and being a one sport athlete, at something I was not very good at, just wasn't enough. I didn’t understand that at the time, but my dad clearly did. So as I sat there crying in front of an entire restaurant, hoping that the dim lighting would hide my tears, my dad showed no mercy. It became very clear that I would soon be a new wrestler for Westhampton Beach. I highly doubt my dad had any clue what he was getting me involved in, but I am extremely grateful that he did.
Fast forward a few months to another freshman year crying instance. This time it was outside of Immaculate Conception Parrish Center in Westhampton. It was a Wednesday night in January, around 7 PM if I remember correctly, and my dad was dropping me off at religion class. As I went to get out of the car I started crying. I couldn’t do it, I had to go back. Westhampton Beach was wrestling the #3 ranked team in the state, Rocky Point, in what was the most hype wrestling match I’ve ever seen. Hell, it could have been Penn State vs. Iowa in that gym between the media, notoriously loud Rocky Point parents, and sets of bleachers packed with WHB students and fans. From around the county people came to watch perennial powerhouse Rocky Point secure a league VI championship. Even MSG varsity showed up to film the match. At religion we had a strict attendance policy, but I quickly convinced my dad to bring me back to the gym. Weird how things change, a few months ago I was crying about being “forced” to wrestle, and by the middle of my first season I was crying because I had been fully engulfed in the world of Westhampton Beach Wrestling, and nobody was going to remove me from it.
That 2013 team was the greatest sports team that I have ever been apart of, and nobody will ever be that team. They had something that you can’t coach. I’m not even sure someone would want what they had. Yeah they were league champs, but the things that made those kids so amazing were tragedies. They were the best, but they paid a heavy price to be the best. When that dual meet against Rocky Point ended, the class of 2013 automatically became legends. They engraved their legacy into Westhampton Beach, and just like every senior class before them, they were gone shortly after. What remains is some paint on a wall, sharpie in a basement, words on a banner, and the memories.
What this sport is all about is the legacy. When it’s all set and done, who or what have you made a mark on? Is it the league, county, or state tournament? Is it the wrestling banner hanging in the gym? Or is it the freshman you pointed in the right direction when he was trying to find himself early on? It’s ironic how it takes four matches to win a state tournament. It’s similar to the four years to get through high school. Every match is a stepping stone to the next one. That’s why you take it one match, or one year at a time. Focus on now, not next year, not next match, because before you know it, everything comes to an end. Ferris Bueller said it and I’ll say it again: Life moves pretty quick, if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while you might miss it. What you're doing now is what you're going to be remembered for. The relationships you develop, the goals you achieve, and the mistakes you make now are what you carry into the future. So if wrestling has taught me anything about life, it is to enjoy what you are doing now. And if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it big because in life there’s not enough time to go halfway on things. Take things one match at a time, go balls to the wall, and HAVE FUN.
It’s pretty weird how easily things that are so important in life can just slip away. The stability around you, the things that make you who you are can all vanish so quickly. My high school wrestling career taught me about loss before I had to deal with it myself. I saw kids just like me, that sat in the same seats as me and walked the same halls as me, be put in situations that are hard for full-grown adults to overcome. I had seen my entire community capsize over the loss of people who had a profound impact on almost everything around us. But I also saw the resiliency. I saw how people took their grief and their sadness and channeled it to honor the ones we’ve lost in amazing ways. I saw how the Hubbard’s took the tragic loss of their son and built an amazing organization that is backed by an entire community. I saw how that 2013 team took the mat against teams that they weren't supposed to have a shot with and just used their experiences to give them the determination and strength to take it to whoever was across from them. I know it may seem like I’m making a group of high schoolers, similar to many others, seem like they are greater than god. But, from my perspective in 9th grade and even a little bit now, I can tell you that what that group had taught me that in life bad things are going to happen. It’s all about how resilient you are. It’s about how hard you fight back, what you do next, and how you learn and grow.
On the Christmas Eve of my freshman year we had practice just like every other Christmas Eve. It was not long after the Center Moriches Duals and Bass had a long list of complaints for what was an excellent team. One of those complaints stood out to me as it was heavily conveyed during suicides was that we weren’t to show any emotion on the mat: no anger, happiness, funny faces, complaining to the refs, nothing. Bass was referring to how Alex Tanzman made a funny face to our bench as he routed Steven Lee, his county finals opponent from the year before. It didn't matter that Alex was the returning county champ and top ranked wrestler. Making a funny face while tearing up an all-state wrestler would not stand on his team. And that right there showed me that the little things matter. Bass knew he had an awesome team, but if they were going to be champions they were going to have to do the little things right. When you are able to do the little things right the big things should fall into place.
Life is made up of milestones. Sometimes a milestone can be the beginning of a new chapter in life, or it is just the end of another. At the end of a chapter it is important to look back upon where it has taken you and the people you have met along the way. The memories that you make are carried into the future through the relationships that you make. Once it’s all over I believe it is important to take the values that the sport teaches you and apply it to your life in some type of way. Whether it’s the ideals of a brotherhood to fight for each other, and help your fellow brother up even when he falls. Wrestling gave me a circle of trust that I relied on heavily throughout high school, and I will have with me for many years.
My junior and senior years are two that I will never forget. I was able to do some amazing things on and off the mat, surrounded by people who I cared for, and who cared for me. The greatness and legacy that my team carried with us those two years lied within our work ethic, our actions off the mat, the way we stepped up against kids 20x better than us, the way we wrestled for each other, and the way that we were a true BROTHERHOOD. Westhampton Beach Wrestling is a family, and as the shirts say, tradition never graduates.
Every family has a core, something that holds it together no matter what. Ours was Coach Bass. He bought into us when we were freshman far more than we bought into him. So from all of us, thank you for everything you’ve done, and everything you continue to do for us. And for those who are still blessed with the opportunity to make memories wrestling, I have some advice: Work hard to achieve as much as you possibly can, form relationships that will never fall apart, and build YOUR legacy. Because when it's all set and done the legacy is what you and others have to look back on. So do whatever you can to build your legacy, because looking back, I am beyond proud of my legacy and the people who helped me create it.
In ninth grade, I was out to dinner with my parents at Squiretown in Hampton Bays. My high school sports career was a hot topic of conversation. Playing Football and being a one sport athlete, at something I was not very good at, just wasn't enough. I didn’t understand that at the time, but my dad clearly did. So as I sat there crying in front of an entire restaurant, hoping that the dim lighting would hide my tears, my dad showed no mercy. It became very clear that I would soon be a new wrestler for Westhampton Beach. I highly doubt my dad had any clue what he was getting me involved in, but I am extremely grateful that he did.
Fast forward a few months to another freshman year crying instance. This time it was outside of Immaculate Conception Parrish Center in Westhampton. It was a Wednesday night in January, around 7 PM if I remember correctly, and my dad was dropping me off at religion class. As I went to get out of the car I started crying. I couldn’t do it, I had to go back. Westhampton Beach was wrestling the #3 ranked team in the state, Rocky Point, in what was the most hype wrestling match I’ve ever seen. Hell, it could have been Penn State vs. Iowa in that gym between the media, notoriously loud Rocky Point parents, and sets of bleachers packed with WHB students and fans. From around the county people came to watch perennial powerhouse Rocky Point secure a league VI championship. Even MSG varsity showed up to film the match. At religion we had a strict attendance policy, but I quickly convinced my dad to bring me back to the gym. Weird how things change, a few months ago I was crying about being “forced” to wrestle, and by the middle of my first season I was crying because I had been fully engulfed in the world of Westhampton Beach Wrestling, and nobody was going to remove me from it.
That 2013 team was the greatest sports team that I have ever been apart of, and nobody will ever be that team. They had something that you can’t coach. I’m not even sure someone would want what they had. Yeah they were league champs, but the things that made those kids so amazing were tragedies. They were the best, but they paid a heavy price to be the best. When that dual meet against Rocky Point ended, the class of 2013 automatically became legends. They engraved their legacy into Westhampton Beach, and just like every senior class before them, they were gone shortly after. What remains is some paint on a wall, sharpie in a basement, words on a banner, and the memories.
What this sport is all about is the legacy. When it’s all set and done, who or what have you made a mark on? Is it the league, county, or state tournament? Is it the wrestling banner hanging in the gym? Or is it the freshman you pointed in the right direction when he was trying to find himself early on? It’s ironic how it takes four matches to win a state tournament. It’s similar to the four years to get through high school. Every match is a stepping stone to the next one. That’s why you take it one match, or one year at a time. Focus on now, not next year, not next match, because before you know it, everything comes to an end. Ferris Bueller said it and I’ll say it again: Life moves pretty quick, if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while you might miss it. What you're doing now is what you're going to be remembered for. The relationships you develop, the goals you achieve, and the mistakes you make now are what you carry into the future. So if wrestling has taught me anything about life, it is to enjoy what you are doing now. And if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it big because in life there’s not enough time to go halfway on things. Take things one match at a time, go balls to the wall, and HAVE FUN.
It’s pretty weird how easily things that are so important in life can just slip away. The stability around you, the things that make you who you are can all vanish so quickly. My high school wrestling career taught me about loss before I had to deal with it myself. I saw kids just like me, that sat in the same seats as me and walked the same halls as me, be put in situations that are hard for full-grown adults to overcome. I had seen my entire community capsize over the loss of people who had a profound impact on almost everything around us. But I also saw the resiliency. I saw how people took their grief and their sadness and channeled it to honor the ones we’ve lost in amazing ways. I saw how the Hubbard’s took the tragic loss of their son and built an amazing organization that is backed by an entire community. I saw how that 2013 team took the mat against teams that they weren't supposed to have a shot with and just used their experiences to give them the determination and strength to take it to whoever was across from them. I know it may seem like I’m making a group of high schoolers, similar to many others, seem like they are greater than god. But, from my perspective in 9th grade and even a little bit now, I can tell you that what that group had taught me that in life bad things are going to happen. It’s all about how resilient you are. It’s about how hard you fight back, what you do next, and how you learn and grow.
On the Christmas Eve of my freshman year we had practice just like every other Christmas Eve. It was not long after the Center Moriches Duals and Bass had a long list of complaints for what was an excellent team. One of those complaints stood out to me as it was heavily conveyed during suicides was that we weren’t to show any emotion on the mat: no anger, happiness, funny faces, complaining to the refs, nothing. Bass was referring to how Alex Tanzman made a funny face to our bench as he routed Steven Lee, his county finals opponent from the year before. It didn't matter that Alex was the returning county champ and top ranked wrestler. Making a funny face while tearing up an all-state wrestler would not stand on his team. And that right there showed me that the little things matter. Bass knew he had an awesome team, but if they were going to be champions they were going to have to do the little things right. When you are able to do the little things right the big things should fall into place.
Life is made up of milestones. Sometimes a milestone can be the beginning of a new chapter in life, or it is just the end of another. At the end of a chapter it is important to look back upon where it has taken you and the people you have met along the way. The memories that you make are carried into the future through the relationships that you make. Once it’s all over I believe it is important to take the values that the sport teaches you and apply it to your life in some type of way. Whether it’s the ideals of a brotherhood to fight for each other, and help your fellow brother up even when he falls. Wrestling gave me a circle of trust that I relied on heavily throughout high school, and I will have with me for many years.
My junior and senior years are two that I will never forget. I was able to do some amazing things on and off the mat, surrounded by people who I cared for, and who cared for me. The greatness and legacy that my team carried with us those two years lied within our work ethic, our actions off the mat, the way we stepped up against kids 20x better than us, the way we wrestled for each other, and the way that we were a true BROTHERHOOD. Westhampton Beach Wrestling is a family, and as the shirts say, tradition never graduates.
Every family has a core, something that holds it together no matter what. Ours was Coach Bass. He bought into us when we were freshman far more than we bought into him. So from all of us, thank you for everything you’ve done, and everything you continue to do for us. And for those who are still blessed with the opportunity to make memories wrestling, I have some advice: Work hard to achieve as much as you possibly can, form relationships that will never fall apart, and build YOUR legacy. Because when it's all set and done the legacy is what you and others have to look back on. So do whatever you can to build your legacy, because looking back, I am beyond proud of my legacy and the people who helped me create it.
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