Sept. 8, 2006
My dad, Leonard "Tazman" Pero, put me in wrestling when I was four years old. Being in a sport at such an early age was good for me because I grew to love wrestling. It became a part of me and a necessary part of my life.
I grew up wrestling in one of the most dominant kid's programs in Illinois, the Harvey Twisters. If one of my teammates lost, it made me feel like I lost. Even at such a young age, there was great passion for what we did. We were a family. We wrestled for ourselves as well as for each other. Quintroy Harrell was my head coach from age four through my eighth grade year. Coach Quint is responsible for building strong character in hundreds of young people, including myself. Some of the greatest wrestlers who went on to compete in college and even at the Olympic level (Joe and T.J. Williams, Tony Davis, T.C. Danzler and David Douglas to name a few) were originally coached in the Twisters program. To my young Twisters today, keep training and studying hard and you will make it as far as you want to. The sky is the limit.
No sport compares to the "individual" sport of wrestling. I love the fact that you train and win or lose on your own. There is no pointing the finger at anyone else but yourself. People have told me I'm crazy to want to wrestle everyday the way I do. I think they're right. But anyhow, I like the thrill and contest of physical strength, endurance and technique clashing together to crown a single victor. In the game of life, everyone's destiny is in their own hands. This is true in the sport of wrestling too.
In an interview on T.V. Tiger Woods said, "Golf is a gentlemen's game."
Well in my sport, gentlemen get eaten alive. There's nothing gentle about it. Similar to how caviar and sushi are an acquired taste, wrestling is an acquired sport. Not everyone is going to like it. Either you like it or you don't, there's really no inbetween.
Thank you with my heart and soul to everyone who has played a part in the progress of my life and through the sport of wrestling. Family, friends and coaches I thank you. The best is yet to come.
