Athlete of the Month
Steele Dias

Pictures and Content courtesy of Steele Dias

Most kids most likely start off playing team sports like football or baseball, but I started off doing contact sports including Jue-jitsu and Judo, and I did them for about 2 or 3 years. Not until I was around 10 or 11 years old, did I get into wrestling. I would have to thank Bill Sullivan and Billy Sullivan for really getting me into wrestling, if it weren’t for them inviting me over to their club– which was Team GV (Green Valley), I wouldn’t know where I would be today with wrestling. My first two years of wrestling I was really enjoying making new friends and making great memories with these friends, so my mindset wasn’t really focused on getting better at wrestling.
One tournament that I must say that helped me have a better mindset for wrestling was Salt Lake Slam, during the tournament I dislocated my elbow in one of my matches, and for some reason I was probably more mad at getting taken out of the tournament than having my elbow dislocated. I just was very disappointed in myself for getting taken out of a tournament in that way, so from that point forward I wanted to get better and get my muscles stronger. I never wanted to get placed into another situation like that.
My 8th grade year was when I made a turnaround with wrestling and started taking more private lessons, and taking Team GV practices more seriously. Having wrestling partners like William Zernich, Billy Sullivan, and Antonio Saldate was very helpful in getting me better. Also, Jake Rollins was the best coach to ever coach me in my opinion. He has done many things to keep me motivated and disciplined throughout most of my wrestling career and still gives advice, even in my college wrestling.
When high school started I wasn’t able to participate as a Freshman in high school tournaments, so basically I took that year to get bigger and stronger in order to be competitive with these kids. Sophomore through Senior year were probably the highlight in my wrestling. I was able to become All-American in many tournaments, and I won state every year. I would also like to thank Coach Ferry and the rest of the coaching staff for guiding me towards a better future in wrestling and my education. For the start of my college career I ended up choosing Oklahoma City University, and I had a blast meeting the wrestling team and coaches.
At first, it was quite scary wrestling for a team that I barely knew, but as time went on I fell in love with the team. Though the first tournament I entered didn’t go as planned–I ended up hurting my shoulder and redshirting that year. I decided to take a gap year and transfer over to the current college I’m attending, which is St. Ambrose University with Nevada’s Bo Bettinson as my coach. Right now I’m still getting used to the new environment and the people there, but overall I’m liking it. I’m looking forward to getting back in the room and get on the grind again.
Here is a list of my accomplishments so far, and I am hoping to add more to this list this next season: 3x State Champion 5x Fargo All-American 2x Folkstyle Nationals Champion 3x World Trials All-American 2x Reno TOC All-American 1x Doc B All-American 1x Virginia Beach All-American