Johnnie Wrestling Alumni, Fans, Friends and Parents,
This season has had a lot of ups and downs, but the guys find themselves at a point where none of it matters anymore. Not only have our student-athletes grown from every experience this year, but I have learned a lot from working with them as well. Learning together and dealing with adversity has really helped our program, not only be a team, but also become a family. I absolutely love being a part of it!
Growing up in Nebraska, I have been on several youth, high school and national teams. When it came time to attend college, I went on several visits including Oklahoma State and Dana College, among others, before I ended up at St. Cloud State. In all of those experiences, nothing quite compares to what we have at Saint John’s. Our guys are willing to do anything in pursuit of their goals and we have a lot of fun while doing it!
This season has been filled with great competition and has been extremely fulfilling to see the progress our guys have made. We see one of the toughest schedules in the country, filled with open tournaments and duals against top Division II and Division III teams. This will prove beneficial in the postseason. We have been in the tough battles that other programs have not experienced.
Every single one of our guys now looks forward to these battles in matches. They also look at everyday challenges differently because of it. Tough workouts, weight cutting, difficult class assignments and tests, and problems in their personal lives no longer seem to bother them. They welcome every form of adversity and meet it head on. For our seniors, this is their last opportunity to become national champs and All-Americans. However, no matter how the end of their season turns out, they will be well prepared for life after wrestling because of this mentality.
This is what we want out of our Johnnie wrestling student-athletes. Regardless of what has happened in the past, the odds against them or how they feel, they will go out and compete to the best of their ability at whatever they are doing. Like I said earlier, none of it matters anymore…
THE POSTSEASON IS HERE!
Please come out and watch our Johnnies compete in the NCAA West Regional hosted at Concordia-Moorhead. Wrestling begins at 9 am on Saturday in Memorial Auditorium. The finals will also be live streamed on our website, www.gojohnnies.com/wrestling and will begin at approximately 3:15 pm.
Thank you for your support!
Thanks,
Tyler Mathison
SJU Wrestling
Assistant Coach