| Hello, my name is Manuel (Manny) Saldate. I am honored to have been selected once again for the NVSportsLocal Athlete of the Month. I am now sixteen years old and a Junior at SLAM Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. |
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| Since the last time I was selected, my wrestling has improved greatly. Ending my Freshman year I became the 120 lbs State Champion. Going into the off season I went to NHSCA(Virginia Beach) where I had hoped to become an All-American. Unfortunately, I fell short of these goals. This loss motivated me to train even harder for my next tournament which was Folkstyle Nationals in Iowa. Once again I had high hopes of becoming an All-American. I did extremely well in this tournament, and I became a National Champion. After this tournament, my main focus was doing well in Fargo. Being a National Champion I had a lot of weight on my shoulders for how I would perform. After training for a few months it was finally time to go to Fargo. I became an All-American placing eighth in Freestyle and not placing in Greco. I was disappointed in my performance and did not feel like I reached my expectations. This made me extremely motivated going into my Sophomore year. |
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| During my Sophomore year, I had many great opportunities to attend some of the best tournaments in the nation such as Powerade, Doc B, and Reno TOC. I was able to place in all of these tournaments. Ending my year once again becoming a State Champion, this time at 132 lbs. I was extremely excited going into the off season having the drive to do better at Fargo this year. |
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| Beginning the off season I went to NHSCA(Virginia Beach) placing Third. This was a huge improvement from the previous year, and I was very proud of myself for doing better. I plan to continue to improve each year I attend this tournament in hopes of one day becoming a Champion. |
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| While training for Fargo my goals were set high. I trained six days a week to best prepare myself for the tournament. Arriving at the dome I felt in really good shape and had high hopes for my performance. As I was going through the bracket with every match that I won, I realized that I had a real shot at being in the Finals. I had won every match by Tech-Fall up until the round of 16. This match was the first match that challenged me in the tournament. At the beginning of the match, I was down but I had faith in my training, and focused not on the win, but only on scoring points. Slowly I began to come back and took the lead to win my match. This was the first kid to have scored on me throughout the tournament; however, I was not nervous going into the Quarters. Going into the Quarters and Semi-Finals I teched both opponents. Realizing I was going into the Finals I felt proud to become a National Finalist at Fargo, but I knew the job was not finished. Being on the big stage at Fargo was extremely exciting and a dream come true. The feeling of walking onto the stage was exhilarating. |
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| While I did fall short of taking First, I was not disappointed in myself as I am now a Fargo Runner-Up placing Second in the 132lb Freestyle bracket and an All American; however, I know my potential to do better. There is always room for improvement and I hope to see myself back on the big stage next year. Going into Greco I once again had high hopes and made it to the Semi-Finals where I fell short losing that match and the match after. Going into my Fifth-Place match I was heartbroken. Without Coach Chase lifting my spirit I don’t know if I would’ve won this match. Luckily I was able to pick my head up ending my tournament off with a win taking Fifth Place and becoming an All American in both styles this year. |
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| I would like to thank all of my coaches and training partners at Gold Rush and SLAM. I would not be where I am today without their support. I would also like to thank my parents and family for always being in my corner supporting me and making sure I get to all of my practices and tournaments |
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Here is the link to Manny’s First Athlete of the Month for NVSportsLocal
Manny Saldate Bio Part 1
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