The wrestling room at Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria is a humid, black-and-teal-padded alcove filled with grappling teenagers. To Mikey Ruiz, one of the senior captains, it’s like home.
To the rest of his team, Ruiz is a leader with a reputation for staying calm and alleviating the stress of others. Coach Kevin Ilac said, “The younger kids look up to him because he’s had the most individual success in the sport.”
At the PAC 7 duals championship against Righetti High School on Feb. 7, Ruiz won the final match that helped guarantee his school’s spot in the CIF-Southern Section Dual Meet Championships.
“I started to get really nervous when I knew we could actually win,” Ruiz said.
But by the time it was his turn at the mat, he said the only thing left on his mind was the “anticipation of the other guy’s reaction after [he] made [his] move.”
A short memory is actually an ideal attribute to have as a wrestler.
“Mikey is great because things don’t stay with him for very long,” Ilac said. “Bad things happen, but practice is everything, and you just have to get ready for the next one.”
This is why every day after school, Ruiz and his fellow wrestlers spend three hours rehearsing takedowns, running laps, and taking part in conditioning drills. However, Ilac feels mental training and preparation is responsible for the team’s success ahead of physicality.
“It’s the first time [this team] has ever been in a position to win a championship before,” he said. “That can be really scary for the kids, especially the younger ones, because they start to feel all of this new pressure to do well.”
Learning to live in the moment during a match is vital to being a successful wrestler.
“I have to be able to think about what I’m going to do right before I do it,” Ruiz said. “We know the lineup going into a match, and so we know what moves the other team is most likely to use.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to remember that one kid isn’t in control of all 14 guys on the team; he can only control his match and only worry about himself,” Ilac said.
“My goal as a coach is to have the kids know what their defined roles are and make sure they go out there and do them,” Ilac said. “I try to remind them that as long as they do what they’re supposed to, win or lose, they help their team out in the end.”
This article appears in Feb 13-20, 2014.