A half season with the wrestling club is about equal to a full season of high school wrestling, Cuomo said. “I had between 50 and 60 matches during the off season.”
“It became life for me,” he added.
Coaches at the club taught Cuomo how to improve his technique and improve his speed.
And his mom was with him every step of the way. “She would take me everywhere, attend all my matches,” Cuomo said. “She lives it with me. We have gotten so much closer, and I can talk to her about anything.”
“I made the commitment, and we are in this together,” he added.
He also has the support of his older sister, who always sends him encouraging text messages before matches.
This past weekend, Cuomo won a gold medal in the 182 pound weight class at the Beacon Bull Dog Tournament.
Zarrella laughs when he talks about the Bull Dog competition, “you should have seen Rob when he won, he was jumping around like a little kid, it was terrific.”
After the season ends, Cuomo will be back with the wrestling club, looking forward to participating in this summer’s Empire State Games, and then maybe the Junior Olympics or Olympics in a few years.
He wants to go to college and get his teaching degree and coach young wrestlers, something he’s already doing.
“Rob is always there, ready to help them,” Zarrella said. “He is the most improved wrestler I have ever seen. His work ethic is an inspiration to the other wrestlers.
“He was named captain not just for his skills, but for his empathy and his ability to identify with the younger kids who are struggling,” Zarrella explained.
“Rob has had to work hard for everything he has achieved, and everything he has put into life and the sport is paying off,” Zarrella added.
One of his best friends on the team is James Bethel, a pretty good wrestler in his own right, having finished third in the Bull Dog Tournament, said of his friend that “Rob is the most easy going guy I know.”
“He’s a great guy that would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it,” Bethel said. “And he’s always there to help out and teach the younger kids.”
He reflects on his rise from middling wrestler to team captain in just one year.
“There have been a lot of tears, and sweat and some blood as well,” Cuomo said.
“The hard work paid off.”
That hard work involves a near obsession with the sport. When he is not working on moves or training, he’s watching video. It’s a familiar story to anyone familiar with how pro athletes spent their teenage years. While some assume it’s all talent and genetics, anyone who’s found success on that level has already put in thousands of hours of practice. (10,000 by one common estimate.) In the end, that’s always been the higher purpose of high school sports: it’s a place where if you work hard, you can succeed. Few have the natural gifts it takes to go pro, but anyone can learn the important lesson about hard work and focus, a lesson that will apply to everything that student will go on to do in life.
