Wildcat soldiers on - John Sims

[grappler87]

Sims succeeding despite tragedy

 

There are trusted voices that lend good counsel to John Sims. And, for his part, he dutifully listens and hopes that something he hears will take the pain away.

 

So far it hasn't.

 

A year ago this past weekend, the Mater Dei High School sophomore's father, David, died on the eve of the sectional wrestling tournament. Deeply hurt, the freshman decided that in his dad's honor he would wrestle less than 15 hours after first hearing the news.

 

Competing under enormous emotional stress, Sims displayed heroic determination and battled all the way through tough regional and semistate fields to qualify for the state tournament. There, at Indianapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse, he placed sixth at 125 pounds.

 

It was a tremendous accomplishment for any wrestler, let alone a freshman, but there was a hollowness to it all for Sims.

 

Despite the love and congratulations poured upon him by his family and the community, the loss of his father cast a pall that would not lift.

 

Soon after competing in the Junior National Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships in Fargo, N.D., last July, Sims believed the burden had become too much.

 

"After that I wasn't sure whether I even wanted to wrestle or not," said Sims. "I wondered why I was putting myself through everything."

 

Fact is, Sims was still wondering why about a lot of things. For a young man who had spent endless hours traveling to tournaments with his father, the questions he figuratively wrestled had everything and nothing at all to do with the sport. In many ways his dad and wrestling were one in the same, yet now they were at least physically divided.

 

Finally, Sims' immediate direction became clear.

 

"I had to take some time off just to think about everything and I finally decided this is what I am," he said. "I'm a wrestler and I figured I'd be better off channeling all the emotions and anger I've got into something positive."

 

While Sims' decision has been an unqualified success for him, such hasn't been the case for his 140-pound opponents. In building his 29-1 record this season, he has done so with devastating effect. Just a season ago he wrestled more of a tactical style, waiting for mistakes to exploit before turning them into points. This time around he waits for nothing, creating advantage by constantly attacking.

 

The style was in full evidence on Saturday at the Central Sectional where Sims took the 140-pound title by recording two falls before racking up a 17-0 technical fall over a very good wrestler in Mount Vernon's Joseph Hoehn (36-7).

 

"My attitude's changed a lot from last year," Sims said. "I've got this anger inside and I just try to take out my frustrations on the people I wrestle. It's not in a bad way or anything. I'm just trying to put everything into a more aggressive style and it's been working pretty good."

 

It may not come as a surprise that the new style was one favored by his dad.

 

"He didn't push it on me or anything, but it was a style he liked. It just seemed that when I tried it a couple of years back I'd lose focus and end up giving up points."

 

It seems now the opposite is true and Sims is intent on taking his new game back to state for another shot at wrestling in the final match for the state title.

 

"I'm just trying to impress him as much as possible and make him as happy as I can," Sims said of his dad. "I know he's watching and I want him to be able to watch one under the lights."