The following blog entry was provided by Central Michigan University freshman wrestler Dakota Cooley. Cooley was a 3x All-State Wrestler and 2010 State Champion for Chelsea High School. Michigan Grappler would like to thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk about his experiences in Mt. Pleasant.
Hey wrestling world. I am happy to be sharing some of my
experiences and time with you. I am officially starting my 6th
week of college now. Things are getting hectic already. I spent 11
hours studying and doing homework for the same subject this last
Thursday. Reality really hit me then. I’m not just up here to
wrestle. My mom got a kick out of my facebook status saying “I
just successfully finished more homework in one night than my
whole 4 years at Chelsea high school.” Laugh about it or not, but it
was a lot of work. My dad on the other hand just tells me to push
through and make the best out of my days. Him and I could talk
about wrestling all day. I like to text with them every day to let
them know how I'm doing because they keep me motivated and I
really appreciate everything they have ever done for me.
Now the fun part, wrestling for CMU. I do not second guess my
decision to go there what-so-ever. I couldn’t ask to be in a better
situation right now. Like I briefly said, my school life has already
changed, but the wrestling is unreal. Everyone up there is the
man where they came from. I am used to walking into a practice and not being taken down, and then when I first arrived this summer, I would walk into practice and maybe get ONE takedown. I would like to think that so far I have adjusted well to the new journey I am on. The wrestling, like you will hear from any college wrestler, is just at a completely different level. Everyone in the room is working as hard as they can, and if you don’t, someone will let you know, whether it is a teammate or a coach. That is what I like the most so far…my team holds me accountable, as I do for them. We push each other to work hard because we know when it comes time to step out on the mat and produce for the team, we want to be at our best. We all understand that everybody is being yelled at, and pushed for a good reason, and I don’t think it should ever be taken personally. We all feed off of each other and make each other better.
As for me, I feel like I am doing all of the right things in order to be the best wrestler I can be. I have already realized since being here that I have so many little things to work on. Right now I am back to the basics. Hitting the same shot 50 times in a row, then hitting another shot, 50 times in a row. I am still getting used to the dorm life but it is very nice having my roommate (Ben Matthiesen) with me most of the time. We are close enough in weight where we can work out together. We have both realized this and have not hesitated to take full advantage of it. If we aren’t drilling together during practice, then it’s after practice, if not after practice, we will go in late at night and get our extra work in then. We have developed this great drilling chemistry and we can go in there by ourselves now and just bang heads, push each other around, and then walk out and do it all over again the next day. I love the relationship we have as drill partners and I know we will keep on making each other better.
I walked into this knowing I was getting myself involved with a great team, but walking into this, I also met some of the best coaches and mentors I could have ever asked for. Coach Borrelli and Coach DiSalvo, in my opinion, are the best coaches in the nation. I think they know that I want to do nothing but win, and there has never been a time they weren’t there to help. When I stay to drill after practice, everyone will go to the showers and Coach Borrelli will be right there watching and critiquing my moves. He lets me work, and then tells me if I'm doing it wrong. If he likes it, he will tell me that I am doing a good job. I like that, he isn’t only there to point out the bad things, but he tells me what’s good, too. I think this helps out an athlete in any situation because it is always nice to hear when you are doing something right, and that makes it even easier to hear what’s going wrong. Coach DiSalvo…it seems he lives in the coaches office. He is probably the hardest working coach in the nation outside of the wrestling room. He is what makes our program go ‘round. He is always willing to lend a helping hand too. I have been drilling individually with him a few times a week and have found everything he has taught me to be very beneficial. It isn’t anything huge, but he teaches me to do moves the right way, and talks to me about how to be the best. He is a great coach as well as a great motivator. Not to mention how mean he is on the mat makes everyone in the room tougher.
The next person I am talking about gets a paragraph to himself. This summer when I moved up here, the whole team wasn’t here, but Mike Miller was. He has become like my mentor and I trust him as much as I can trust anybody. I figured who is better to let them take me under their wing? My first day (June 7th) up there this summer, Mike and I went running; we started off slow, but then whipped right into a timed workout of 8-400’s. I was like wow, this sucks. But I knew this is what it takes to become the best, and he is working for that same goal too. We then started doing conditioning workouts everyday together. At the end of the week I had planned to go home for the weekend, and he says okay but we have a quick workout before you leave…2 stadiums. That was not the exit ticket I had expected. Mike and I have developed an amazing relationship. We can sit and just talk about wrestling for an hour, then talk some more. He will text me and ask if I want to get a midnight drill in. (I mean what else do I have going on at midnight?) Of course, I am there every time. I do everything he tells me to and we have a good friendship because we understand that we are both working for the same thing, to be an NCAA champ. People are still trying to instill in my head that everyone in college is good, but you just have to know you are as good as everybody else. It is crazy in high school reading about people in college or seeing them on TV, and now knowing that I am expected to go out there and take it to them. But I believe that I can produce when my name is called upon. I am so glad that I asked Mike to drill with me this summer because I think he realized that I came to him for a reason. We are still doing the same things and working to get a little bit better every day.
You will hear people talk about big changes in college: hand fighting, how much better people are, or how good of position they hold. But to me, the biggest change in college is mental toughness. Not saying all of that stuff isn’t important, because it is; those are the biggest keys technically. But having great mental toughness to me is the key to success here. I can tell I have already improved mentally and physically since being here. I believe I am as good as the next kid, and I believe that I can be the best. I have been put in the perfect situation for it and only good things can happen.
I see CMU only getting better in the future. They are in the process of a new state-of-the-art event center to host the meets at, and a brand new amazing wrestling room/locker room. This will attract even more recruits and only spoil the team. It is an awesome thing to be a part of and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I believe I can do a lot of great things here, at Central Michigan University. I feel this way because I want to do great things. I love the sport of wrestling and strongly believe that if you don’t truly love it, and you just wrestle because you’re good, that you will never reach your potential. I want to be the best and work at it every day.
I have bored you enough for this blog, but hopefully I will have a ton of interesting stories in the near future to share with everyone. Here is a link to our schedule: CMU 2010-11 Schedule
and here is the Central Michigan wrestling facebook fan page: CMU Facebook Fan Page
Thanks again, and fire up Chips!
"I am used to walking into a practice and not being taken down, and then when I first arrived this summer, I would walk into practice and maybe get ONE takedown."
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