Post by Earl on Jan 27, 2008 1:30:02 GMT -5
I posted this on themat.com a few minutes ago. I thought it was cool as hell.....
I just heard this tonight from an old teammate of mine who wrestled for Brands at VT. Contrary to what most people think about VT, my friend really admires Brands to this day.
So he is a senior wrestling late in the season against Ohio State and absolutely blows out his knee. At this point in the year it is too late to get a medical redshirt. They are in Iowa for a Iowa/VT dual meet. It just happens that my friend is alone in the Iowa wrestling room w/ Brands, Zaleski and Gable. This is enough of a moment for him, a guy from a small school in VA with little tradition of sending wrestlers to college. Brands, who liked him introduced him to the other coaches and told them about his injury situation, then asked what he should do. Zaleski told him about how Lee Fullhart had a similar injury and wrestled to a 4th place finish and never had surgery on the knee. Gable then told him about the pain of losing his sister and how it always inspired him to do great things. Brands then turned to my friend and said "So what do you want to do?".
Needless to say my friend used a huge brace and finished his senior year, wrestling with nothing to lose, winning some and losing some. He didn't end up making the NCAA tournament, but still really cherished that moment. He knew that if he were at another school and didn't have a coach like Brands, and a meeting with the other coaches he would have been content to call it quits.
I just heard this tonight from an old teammate of mine who wrestled for Brands at VT. Contrary to what most people think about VT, my friend really admires Brands to this day.
So he is a senior wrestling late in the season against Ohio State and absolutely blows out his knee. At this point in the year it is too late to get a medical redshirt. They are in Iowa for a Iowa/VT dual meet. It just happens that my friend is alone in the Iowa wrestling room w/ Brands, Zaleski and Gable. This is enough of a moment for him, a guy from a small school in VA with little tradition of sending wrestlers to college. Brands, who liked him introduced him to the other coaches and told them about his injury situation, then asked what he should do. Zaleski told him about how Lee Fullhart had a similar injury and wrestled to a 4th place finish and never had surgery on the knee. Gable then told him about the pain of losing his sister and how it always inspired him to do great things. Brands then turned to my friend and said "So what do you want to do?".
Needless to say my friend used a huge brace and finished his senior year, wrestling with nothing to lose, winning some and losing some. He didn't end up making the NCAA tournament, but still really cherished that moment. He knew that if he were at another school and didn't have a coach like Brands, and a meeting with the other coaches he would have been content to call it quits.
