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The Eagle that flew better than the rest

Father and Son

By Cooking With CastoPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Just like me and my papa

This is a photo that should bring a tear to any athlete who was coached by their father from the day they could walk. It's a bond that's like no other, and when it ends because of a tragic death, all that you are able to do is just look back and enjoy the memories and bond you two created together. It's a relationship that blossomed into something way more than a father/son, or a coach/pupil. By the ending, the two of you became truly the best of friends.

Like Khabib, I once was a 5-year-old starting a sport, only because Dad pushed me into it. My father was a wrestling coach for his brothers when I was born, and by the time I was 5 he had started up a wrestling club in Parma, MI, called the Mat Cats, which 30 years later still was running, up until Covid-19 took over our land.

At age 7, my father landed a job in Coldwater and handed over the reins of the Mat Cats to his brother Mike. Coldwater didn't have a club team, so Dad did what he did best, and started another club, this was called Branch County Freestyle. At the time 2 of my sisters were in high school, and since wrestling was in the Casto bloodlines, they were drawn to the wrestlers on the high school team. My oldest started dating the best guy on the team who had made it to state the year before we moved to town. So with his help of spreading the word, the number of kids at sign-up was far more than he projected. So more coaches and more moms to keep the books updated became a necessity. Because of the numbers some parents, who at first were helping, started thinking this could be a business. So in year 2, they over through my dad who had started the club and never wanted to charge kids any more than the USA wrestling card fee and T-shirt. The new regime started charging kids monthly fees, so my father decided he didn't want any part of the club anymore.

Dad, went out and started looking for a place to have a wrestling team, it was going to be difficult as he also needed to invest in wrestling mats, now that BCF was holding practices at the school. At this time my other sister was doing gymnastics in town. So Dad popped in one day to pick her up and noticed that they had a huge padded floor for the gymnast's floor exercises. The floor was just soft enough for wrestling. Dad then talked to the owner about renting out space 3 times a week. The owner agreed and from there, his 3rd and last club started, The Mat Invaders. The first season brought in 15 members, which was good, and Dad could handle it by himself. That season the Mat Invaders splashed in USA wrestling. The club would place and win trophie's at almost every tourney they attended, even catching the eye of Michigan's National team which practiced out of Michigan State University's wrestling room in Lansing. My dad would be asked to help coach the best 13, and 14-year-old wrestlers in Michigan at 2 prestigious team tournaments compiled of teams from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania. New Jersey, and Illinois. My dad used this opportunity to introduce himself to MSU wrestling coaches, where he was able to strike a deal to have a 1-week wrestling camp in Coldwater, put on by MSU wrestlers. Dad used his property for kids to put up tents, then swim and fish in the pond at night. The days would consist of the local Beta Bus picking up the campers, and dropping them off at rec hall for 2 sessions of wrestling camp each day. After year 1 (out of what would end up being 4 successful camps) the club was well known around Michigan, which increased the number of members to the point that the Gymnastics center was too small for the club. So dad had to go looking again. Luckily there was still one town in Branch County that never integrated to BCF, or Mat Invaders, the Quincy Orioles. My dad then decided to see what they had over there, and why the clubs never got any of the youth wrestlers. Quincy actually had a youth program, but they were not being taught the sport at a level to have success, but they had numbers, and athletic kids. So after one of the Mat Invader boys, who was a freshman on the Coldwaters varsity team got left off the team for individual districts even though he beat out the Sr. captain for the spot, Dad decided it was time to invade Quincy. So, he had me, along with 7 other members of Coldwater's middle and high school team make the transfer, as Michigan just passed a school of their choice bill.

That's where the Mat Invaders would begin season 2, and beyond. With the influx of new wrestlers, the head coach asked my dad to be an unpaid assistant. He agreed and was still able to coach his club team in the spring and summer. This was the last stop for the Invaders and Quincy wrestling would go on a run from 1997-2002. The school went from a cellar dweller in the Big 8, too in 1999, a #5 ranking in the state. All this became from him never being greedy, and only in the sport for his love of it. I ended up winning a state championship and receiving a college scholarship too. I owed it all to my father who pushed me every day starting from the Mat Cats until I was Dana Viking.

In 2006, dad would tragically die from a heart attack. He was the best coach, friend, and dad I could ever ask for. The years without him have been hard, and I still wish he were here. As an honor to my father, an old friend of his and me in 2019 restarted the Mat Invaders. The 1st year was a success, but during year 2 we were stricken with Covid-19 and forced to shut the doors. I can only sit and hope that by 2021 the world will go back to normal allowing the new Mat Invaders to keep my dad's creation to keep rolling along.

healing
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About the Creator

Cooking With Casto

born in Barrington, Illinois. The youngest of 4 children, graduated from Quincy High School in 2002, where I was a decorated wrestler. A 4x state qualifier, 3x All-State, 2x State finalist, & 1x State champion.

Now 37 and starting over

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