| Hi,my name is Hanley Swanson. I am 8 years old and was born on June 25th, 2013, here in Las Vegas. I go to Calvary Christian School, and I’m in the 3rd grade. My parents’ names are Chase and Nastica, and I have an older sister name Bella who also wrestles. I currently wrestle for Pride Wresting under Head Coach Richard Rios, and Coach Jose Maestas. January 17th will be my 2-year Anniversary with Wrestling. |
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| My journey in Wrestling began when my dad’s good friend Gene Samuel told him about the Wresting Program that he had his twins(GeneGene and Iyla) in. The club was SLAM NV’s Youth program. It was the middle of January when I joined the program– halfway through the season. After 8 practices my dad entered me into my first tournament. It didn’t go so well for me; I went 0-4 on the day. Then another local tournament the next weekend, it was the Kevin Randleman Tournament. Once again, I had a tough day, going 0-5. The next big tournament I entered was in Bullhead City, Arizona called Terminator. I entered that tournament double bracketed, and once again went 0-4 for that tournament. That was the last tournament of the year for me. I went 0-13 to end out the year. |
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| When Covid hit Las Vegas in March and shut down our city, my dad ordered wrestling mats and put them in our living room. Over that summer our Coach Rios would hold footwork and conditioning practice over zoom 2-3 times a week. GeneGene, Iyla and I would also go over to Saoul and Nathan Prado’s house 2 times a week, and they would train us in their garage. Coach Rios also found a gym that we trained in 4 times a week. Once we started live Wrestling, I started getting better and better. Another one of my dad’s friends, Mario Melendez (Zander’s dad), told him that if we really wanted to get good, we would have to put in extra days. So, to get extra work in I was introduced to another club in town that ran their youth practice 30 minutes after Pride’s ended. |
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| This club was ATC, and the coaches there; Napoleon, Alex, Val, Ant, and Greg were a big part of me getting to a different level. I stayed at both clubs for a year doing double practices on Monday, Tuesdays, and Thursday, and one practice on Wednesdays. This all had to come to an end when both programs ran their youth at the same times. The coaches at ATC will forever be a part of my journey and never forgotten. Now for the past 8-9 months I have implemented (along with my sister) some strength training with Coach Nate Garcia 2-3 times a week. Without all the coaches I have mentioned, especially Coach Rios and Coach Maestas, I wouldn’t be this successful in wresting. |
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| I love to play all sports. I started playing sports when I was 3 years old and did a 9-week camp learning about the fundamentals of Football, Baseball, and Soccer. Before Wrestling came into my life, I played two seasons a year, of both Baseball and Flag Football. I excelled at both sports. The year before Covid hit I was playing on the 8-year-old baseball team, even though I was only 6. This past season of Flag Football I had to juggle Wrestling Practice with Football Practice. It was tough because there were two big tournaments–the Freakshow and King and Queen of the mountain, at the same time as Football, and I had to split my practices between the two. But, I ended up placing 2nd in the 54lb bracket, and 5th in the 58lb bracket, at Freakshow. I also represented Team Nevada on a Dual Team where we traveled to Colorado and competed in the King and Queen of the Mountain Duals, and I ended up also making an All-Star Traveling Team for Flag Football. |
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