Would you like to tell the wrestling world about your wrestling journey in one of the “Remember The Wrestler” articles, but don’t know how to, for you don’t personally know the hyper gentleman who writes them? Well, if so, PLEASE FEEL ENCOURAGED to use the questionnaire in this article as the template for your own article. Sometimes I don’t know who actually wants to do them or who wants to be left alone when I inquire about these, so by all means, feel encouraged to do this. Feel free to skip or delete any questions you want and hell, if you want to add any questions, feel free to do that as well. When you answer the questions, make sure to put your responses under the question itself so I can copy-paste into the article. You wouldn’t believe how much time it saves me not having to retype the questions. When you finish with your responses, send them to me via email at thepindoctors@gmail.com OR rico_swaff@yahoo.com and I will put it together for you.
Don’t feel silly approaching me about doing one of these, for I won’t disclose whether you approached me or I approached you about doing one. Hell, I would like to do one myself, so I understand wanting to tell your own story. You aren’t an attention-seeker simply because you want to chronicle the journey of something that has presumably been such a positive influence in your lives. So don’t feel weird inquiring with me first about your article. I think it’s cool that you want to do it.
Please know that you don’t have to be a “world-beater” to be worthy of one of these. So far, I have posted one of these for a National Champ for the Hawkeyes and I have also posted a few for guys who didn’t qualify for state in high school… In my opinion, everybody’s wrestling journey is unique and their stories/insight equally valuable. Several readers will likely find the story of a lifetime JV wrestler as being more relatable than the story of an Olympic champion…and vise-versa. So please, if you decide not to do one of these, make sure, “I don’t meet the standards” is not a reason for making that choice. If you wrestled, you meet the standards and your voice is worthy of being heard!
What clubs, schools, etc. did you wrestle for?
What year did you graduate?
Who or what encouraged you to give wrestling a try?
Do you have any family who wrestled or wrestles currently? Parents, children, brothers, etc.? How did they do?
What were your youth results? Any rivals there?
What was your record in HS?
How did you place at state every year?
What were some of the most notable adverse challenges or moments you experienced in wrestling and how did it turn out?
How would you describe your wrestling style?
How many guys in high school did you go back and forth with or exchange wins with?
Who was your most influential coach?
Was your team competitive in HS/college?
Who was your most influential wrestler that you looked up to growing up?
Who would you consider the GOAT Iowa HS wrestler?
Are there any wrestlers you’ve seen, past or present that you would compare your style to?
What are some interesting hypothetical matchups between guys from different eras that you would have been interesting in seeing?
Who are some Iowa HS wrestling guys from your era that you have an immense amount of respect for?
Who are your favorite current wrestlers?
What music would you listen to back in the wrestling days?
What was the most upset you ever felt after a loss?
If you could go back and change one thing about your wrestling career, what would it be?
What was your best wrestling memory or accomplishment?
Who were some of your most notable competitors in high school? College?
Did you wrestle all year or was it seasonal for you?
How would the guys from your day stack up against the guys today?
Did you wrestle after high school?
What other sports did you play?
What are your favorite sports teams?
What are your hobbies other than wrestling?
How good does it make you feel to give back to the sport?
How has wrestling shaped you as a person to this day?
What do you do now?
Are you still involved with wrestling?
Any advice for upcoming wrestlers?
Any chance we see you wrestle again at an Old Timer’s tournament?
Would you like to give a shout out to anyone you wrestled with, against, coached, etc.?
Do you have anything to add? Funny/interesting stories? Trivia? Etc.
