National Wrestling Hall of Famer and past president of the Georgia Wrestling Coaches Association Cliff Ramos was asked last year by Christine Troyke for Gwinnett Daily Post about one of his former wrestlers, a fellow National Wrestling Hall of Famer.
“It’s definitely been one of the highlights of my career, coaching Kyle Maynard,” said Ramos. “The first night I met him, I thought ‘this poor kid, he wants to wrestle, but he can’t. And if he does, he’ll never win a match.’ Then after speaking to him for five minutes, he was in the sixth grade, and he was articulate and just so determined and well-spoken, I just changed my tune. He became a challenge. I never did feel sorry for him again. It was seven years I got to work with him, a lot in middle school.”
“It was an inspiration. I’ve said many times, we’re supposed to inspire our athletes, but it was the other way around with him.”
“The reason he came up with No Excuses for his book and his gym is when he first started to travel, I went with him a few times, and I never heard him give an excuse — and he has every excuse.
“Ever since he left, I’ve always had a picture of him in the room. If somebody is whining, I just point and said, ‘that guy wishes he had a sprained ankle or a messed up knee.’”
Earlier this year, Maynard earned a purple belt from former ADCC Submission Wrestling world champion and BJJ Mundial champion Andre Galvao.
Nike recently focused on Maynard for the latest installment in the Nike “Unlimited Campaign. Unlimited Will celebrates Maynard, and his determination to surmount any challenge in his path.
Born in Washington, D.C., with a rare condition known as congenital amputation, Maynard started wrestling young.
I lost 35 times in a row in a year and a half, he told Nike. I just kept failing and failing but then finally figured it out. And then by the time I was a senior, people were saying that I was unfairly advantaged.
Sometimes when we look at an athlete who has done something in a different way, done something big, done something unique, and we only see the successes. We don’t see the countless hours of failure that go into it. That failure set us up for the success because we know what we needed to change.
If you’re doing something first, you don’t have that path laid out for you so you just have to go and figure it out. You learn how to use your mind. You learn: How do I not fall apart when I have something bad happen to me? How do I get through and overcome bigger challenges? How do I adapt? The lessons that you learn in your sport can transcend into every area of your life, in your relationships, and in just any dream that you have.
H/T BJJEE
