The end of wrestling season means one thing for most wrestlers who takes to the mats: eating. “You just go crazy,” says John Tambunting of Scarsdale High School, but all the sweat, long practices and starvation diets become manageable when it pays off like it did on January 22 at the Edgemont Tournament for this 112 pound junior.
With his hand raised in euphoria after the finals, he says, “I almost couldn’t even stand on my own feet.”
After seven previous 2nd place tournament finishes, he hopes the momentum carries into the sectionals when the falls and near falls matter most. “It’s
always how you finish,” he relays the words of his coach, and a first, second or third place medal is the goal.On the other hand, even though you’re out there alone, he doesn’t see wrestling as an individual sport. “Half of wrestling is drive and that drive is fueled by your team,” he says.
Still, the individual effort can’t help but have an effect in other areas.
“It’s given me much more confidence in everything,” he says. “I don’t feel nervous for midterms or tests or anything.”The honors track he’s in at school demonstrates that and the payoff wrestling has always returned helps provide the example he feeds off to succeed. “It makes you a harder worker,” he says.
But throwing in a leg or running an arm bar, he loves wrestling from top. “I feel I have a lot more control over my opponent,” he says.
Either way, on or off the mat, it seems like everything is looking up for him.
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