Rev Blog Entry 5: Tim Winker, UW-La Crosse

Hey wrestling fans, this is Tim Winker chiming in from the Wisconsin-La Crosse team as I have been chosen as our next blogger. This is my third year here at UW-La Crosse. For most of my life, all I've known is sports, school, and farming. Having grown up on a family farm, I learned many useful traits, the most important of them being hard work. I'm very thankful for growing up in that environment as it has shaped the person that I am today. So perhaps it's pure coincidence that my coach asked me to write this the week after Thanksgiving when I recounted many of the things that I was thankful for. Of course, like most people, I am thankful for a loving family that is also able to help me through college. I am also very thankful for my health, which is nice to have in life, especially if you are going to be competing in collegiate athletics. Finally, I realize that I am thankful for one more thing that I had never thought of before … wrestling itself.

Coming to La Crosse as a freshman was a very new experience for me. Being away from home, I seemed to have lost some of my hard-working mentality that I learned on the farm. For some reason, I thought that being a full-time student and wrestling would be too much for me, so I decided not to wrestle. However, by the end of my freshman year, I had lost my focus on what I was really in college for, and had started partying a little too much. Because of this, I decided that my sophomore year, I was going to wrestle to bring more structure back into my life.

That summer, I got my first job off our family farm as a laborer pouring concrete. To my surprise, I had found a job that I loved and enjoyed going to every day. By the end of the summer, I was dreading going back to school because I was happy just being outside and working. However, my parents encouraged me to continue my education and at least give wrestling a shot.

Having qualified for the state tournament three times in high school and placing twice, I thought that I would have no problem competing at the college level. Unfortunately, I had quite a rude awakening as I finished the season with a disappointing 8-12 record at 197 pounds. Throughout the year, I had lost several matches by only one or two points, which normally wouldn't bother me if I knew that my opponent was better than me. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I knew in my mind that I could have won every one of those close matches. I just had to figure out why I hadn't.

I also gained something else from wrestling that year besides the experience. I found not only a group of great teammates, but also a group of great friends. I had never seen so many people from all different hometowns and childhoods that came together like a new family, helping me to not miss the one I left at home as much. Our coaches as well, like parents, were and still are sacrificing so much to help the team succeed. Because of this, I knew I wanted to stay in La Crosse to continue my education because of wrestling.

Over the past summer, I spent a lot of time soul-searching and trying to figure out what was so different between high school and college wrestling. Over time, I think that I had realized part of the problem: attitude. In high school, I walked onto the mat knowing that I was going to win, and I didn't care who I was wrestling, how good he was, or how quick or strong that he was. However, in college, I found myself intimidating myself before my opponent even had the chance to.

I had decided that this year I was going to go into my matches with the same attitude I had in high school. I was going to walk onto the mat not caring who I was wrestling. I would tell myself, "never back down, never quit." In my first tournament of the year, the Kaufman-Brand Open in Omaha, Nebraska, I went out onto the mat with this attitude in mind. This time, I was winning the close matches. I won my first match, but lost my second. This meant that I would have to win four straight matches to be able to place. I didn't worry about this, though. I just kept my nose to the grindstone and kept wrestling with passion.

In the match that I lost, I also managed to re-enflame a small case of cauliflower ear so much I thought it was going to pop. It was very painful to even wear my headgear, much less wrestle with it, but I used this as fuel. Each match I walked onto the mat with the right attitude, and each match I found a way to win. In my fifth match, I also got a nasty cut on my head from being accidentally bitten. This wound caused me to have my head wrapped in such a way that I looked like I had been in a war or something. But I just kept on going, winning that match and the next one, guaranteeing my placing at the tournament.

Unfortunately, I ran into two tough opponents to end the day, and I ended up placing sixth. I wrestled my last six matches in a matter of only four hours, finally finishing at 10:30 p.m. with a record of 5-3 on the day. It had been a long hard day, but I had proven to myself that I could compete at the college level if I had the right attitude.

Sitting here writing this, I realize that I could be a long way from here. I could be finishing up the work season pouring concrete and farming in the cold, nasty weather. Gratefully, the encouragements of my parents, my desire to make something of myself, and wrestling itself have led me to stay in school. I am proud to be doing what I am doing and I am glad that I have these things in my life which I am truly thankful for. Thanks for reading.

Tim Winker

Past UW-La Crosse Entries:

Entry 4 (11/16/05)
Entry 3 (11/3/05)
Entry 2 (10/19/05)
Entry 1 (10/10/05)

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Rev Blog Entry 5: Tim Winker, UW-La Crosse

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