| I was first introduced to the mats around the age of 7 when my stepdad brought me to my first No Gi Jiu-Jitsu class at Fight Capital. Jiu-Jitsu has been with me almost my whole life and because of this sport I met a lot of lifelong people who have helped shape the wrestler I am today. Two of those people being my coaches, Damien and Elizabeth Nitkin, and another being my life long teammate Erik Escutia. I never competed in any type of tournaments nor was I consistent until after high school. As for Wrestling, it was first introduced to me when I was a Freshman at Spring Valley high school–a bald headed P.E coach named Fred Meyer demanded I come to a wrestling practice and to be a part of something great. |
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| This was my first time meeting Coach Meyer. I went to one practice and absolutely hated it, but what Coach Meyer saw was a talented young man and so every day for two weeks he kept telling me to come to practice, but in-reality I just wanted to go home and play games. But for some reason, after those two weeks, I started to really enjoy the sport and for the following four years of my life Meyer was there helping me grow. He started teaching me EVERY cradle there was to know because he said “even the best of the best can get locked up with a cradle” and so throughout my whole career, a cradle was bound to come sooner or later. I am grateful for Meyer because I was able to meet people who I don’t consider friends but family–Kyle, Tiquio, Erik, Rayden, and Shae. They were a big reason why I always pushed myself to be better within my first year of wrestling. |
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| As a Freshman I started my first half of the season on Junior varsity where I went on to win JV States. It was at this point where Meyer bumped me up to Varsity so that I could compete at Regionals and at the State Tournament, if I qualified. My first year I competed at 106lbs where I was able to take 3rd at Regionals, but unfortunately I did not place at State. Sophomore year I went 120lbs and I did not place at Regionals nor did I go to State. My Junior year I was 126lbs where I won Regionals, but again I did not place at State. In my Final year of wrestling in high school I went 145lbs, and I took 3rd at Regionals, but I still did not place at State. |
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| In 2019 I attended my first year at UNLV, where a lot of my friends ended up going. I had no intentions to wrestle after high school. It wasn’t until Destry Toledo came to me saying I should join the team. I Met Destry at In n out where we both worked, and like Meyer, he kept asking if I was going to come and join a practice to see if I missed being on the mats. He did this every time we worked together. Eventually I came back to the mats in 2020–a month out from Nationals. I remember when I first met Coach Downing and Coach Karst. I greeted both of them and they were excited to have me, but before I was able to join, Coach Downing asked me if I had ever placed at State. I told him that I never placed at State. He looked at me and said, “This will be hard! When we are in this room we work hard.” Then he asked if he could count on me to give it my all all. I nodded and said, “I’ll make it to Nationals.” |
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Right afterwards Nathan Egbalic greeted me and helped me to get to know the team, and from that point on, I trained non-stop and was able to make my way to Texas for my first-ever National Tournament. I lost quite early at Nationals, but I was able to wrestle my way back up the bracket to my blood round matches. In the midst of fighting my way back, Covid hit and had become serious so a lot of the teams got pulled out of the tournament, and we were told to go home, and the guy I was supposed to wrestle had to forfeit his match because he said he wasn’t feeling well! I remember the feeling of both anger and joy because I had been GIVEN my All American Status. Regardless of how well I did to make it to my position, to receive the title did not feel EARNED. So I had told myself that I will EARN it next year (2021). We all know that didn’t happen because of the pandemic. |
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| However as things slowly started to clear-up, and restrictions became malleable, I came to Atlas Grappling to find my joy back on the mats, and to take this as an opportunity to learn and improve my style on the mats. In my first year doing Jiu-Jitsu consistently, I entered many tournaments and some were International. I had many triumphs and many defeats, but I became stronger nonetheless. Although I was able to get better, and I was blessed with the opportunity to give back to my community by coaching a youth program at Atlas Grappling. It was an amazing experience being able to stand in my coaches’ shoes. For so long, I mainly enjoyed grappling because I did not need to rely on a teammate for my success. |
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| At this point I realized wrestling is not a one-man sport. You cannot get better on your own. You have to put trust into what your coaches are teaching you. When a wrestler steps out on that mat the wrestler is wrestling to represent their team, their coaches, and their family. So as we were able to start practices back up at UNLV, this past 2022 season, I carried my people with me when I stepped out on those mats and represented them, wrestled for them, and not just myself. There was something that Connor Mcgreggor said that resonated with me he said, “your lack of commitment is almost an insult to the people who believe in you. I want to give back to those people that believe in me.” I practiced at 5am-7am and then 5pm-7pm Tuesday through Friday with UNLV. Then I would go to Atlas and train from 7-8:30pm anywhere from 1-3 times out of the week. I wasn’t able to do it everyday because I also had work and school, but I would make sure that when I was training I was always looking to leave better than I was yesterday. |
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| Two weeks out from Nationals are Qualifiers. Again I punched my ticket to Texas with every intention of EARNING my All-American Status. For the following week leading to Nationals, I trained like a mad-man because I was the #6 seed in the bracket. I did everything and anything trying to get better as much as I could, and then It was time to scrap in a blink of an eye. The first day was fairly easy. I was in my zone wrestling better than I had ever done, going through my opponents with ease. The second day, I lost in the Quarter-Finals to the #3 seed, but learning from my mistakes I picked myself up and began my journey back up the bracket. Everything was smooth sailing until I had made it to my blood round match. I had a great opponent from the #1 Team Liberty, who had happen to be the #4 seed. Like every other match I held my head high, I went out onto the mat, shook hands, and wrestled as if my life depended on it for the next 6-7 minutes. |
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| We had gone all 3 periods and I was losing by 2 points. Wrestling is all about movement, and it’s to never stop moving. With 30 seconds left, as I was trying to keep my opponent from scoring again, I realized he had brought his knee up towards his head and without hesitation I locked him in a cradle and was able to score 4 points for near fall, EARNING my All-American Status. When the whistle blew I looked over at my overjoyed teammates and coaches, chanting my name. I looked to the sky and yelled as hard as I could, and then cried with so much happiness and relief. After two long years, I was finally able to prove to myself that I wasn’t a mistake or some lucky kid. I had EARNED my spot on the podium and was able to give back to those who believed in me. |
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