Speaker 1: Make sure you're having fun and then you're taking rest.
Speaker 2: So you're learning a lot from the things you're doing,
Speaker 2: even if you're not getting a results at first. You
Speaker 2: got to stay consistent and over time you're going to
Speaker 2: get better from all the risk.
Speaker 1: You're taking, all the things you've learned.
Speaker 2: And so I think stay consistent, having fun and doing
Speaker 2: the right things outside of wrestling, like having the right thoughts,
Speaker 2: sleeping good, eating good, hanging out with the right people.
Speaker 3: This is the Reform Sports Project, a podcast about restoring
Speaker 3: healthy balance and perspective in all areas of sports through
Speaker 3: education and advocacy. Hi, this is nickmo moncor from the
Speaker 3: Reform Sports Podcast. Today, I'm speaking with Joseph Seally, one
Speaker 3: of the top high school wrestlers in the country. A
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two U seventeen world champion, Joe is currently
Speaker 3: the number one ranked wrestler in the class of twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four and as committed to Penn State University. Named
Speaker 3: the Athlete of the Week by USA Wrestling back in April.
Speaker 3: Joe and I discuss balancing wrestling, academics and a social life,
Speaker 3: learning from the losses, and the importance of having fun
Speaker 3: while competing.
Speaker 4: Back at it.
Speaker 3: Man, I'm really excited this young man who's coming on.
Speaker 3: I've certainly known about him here in the state of
Speaker 3: North Carolina back when he was, you know, just a
Speaker 3: younger guy.
Speaker 4: But now you know, I'm the national and even world scene.
Speaker 3: I mean, the guys are world champion, recently committed to
Speaker 3: the Penn State University, you know, the best program certainly
Speaker 3: over the last you know, probably two decades in college wrestling,
Speaker 3: but number one prospect in the class of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: Joseph Seally, Joe, thanks so much for hopping on, man.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on. I'm grateful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I appreciate love following you in and as
Speaker 3: your season, as you're getting ready to go into your
Speaker 3: senior year. You know, you're now committed to Penn State.
Speaker 3: You know, what are what are your expectations, you know
Speaker 3: going into your senior year.
Speaker 1: I don't really have any expectations.
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to have fun with it, like since
Speaker 2: it's my last year, just try to wrestle as much.
Speaker 1: As possible and have fun and not put too much
Speaker 1: pressure on myself.
Speaker 3: You started wrestling, If I'm not mistaken, I think you
Speaker 3: were like six seven eight years old, and it seemed like,
Speaker 3: if I remember correctly, had a ton of success even
Speaker 3: on the national scene at a very young age. Well,
Speaker 3: what got you into the sport of wrestling? And like,
Speaker 3: was it always like you were a fish in water?
Speaker 3: Like it just felt like natural? Like what, what do
Speaker 3: you think has made you have such success you know,
Speaker 3: your entire career?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I actually started when I was even younger.
Speaker 2: I started around like four. I didn't start going to
Speaker 2: tournaments so I was five. But I was actually really
Speaker 2: bad when I started, and like I would cry all
Speaker 2: the time. I wasn't really good at it, So I
Speaker 2: guess that's why I didn't like it. But the more
Speaker 2: I wrestled, the better I got. And then my dad
Speaker 2: he was a really good coach for me, and it
Speaker 2: helped me out a lot, improving because he was really
Speaker 2: good with technique and the mindset and stuff.
Speaker 1: So that helped me to get better at a young age.
Speaker 3: Did you feel like you know right away when you
Speaker 3: first saw you said you had struggles when you were young,
Speaker 3: you had to work through that. But what was it
Speaker 3: that kept you coming back and wanting to get on
Speaker 3: the mat. Because wrestling's you know, especially at a young
Speaker 3: age is not an easy sport man, as you know,
Speaker 3: like you mentioned the mental grind and also the physical
Speaker 3: like what inside you, you know, brought out like, hey,
Speaker 3: I want to keep getting on that mat.
Speaker 2: I think I was just having fun with my friends.
Speaker 2: Like it was a place where I could expel all
Speaker 2: my energy. So I wasn't getting in trouble at school
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, So it was fun.
Speaker 1: I really like playing the games and stuff.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 2: I wasn't as much into the wrestling, but it was
Speaker 2: fun playing games and be with my friends.
Speaker 3: So you have I mean, I'm friends with your dad
Speaker 3: on social media, and I see it at a really
Speaker 3: young age man, you've been really helping him, you know
Speaker 3: with his job, Like you've been working with your hands
Speaker 3: like labor, like doing construction.
Speaker 4: How much do you enjoy doing that? Do you see?
Speaker 3: Like when you're out there working and doing those things,
Speaker 3: does that help you all in the wrestling room?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it does. I mean even.
Speaker 2: Yesterday I was helping them in like here in Florida,
Speaker 2: it's so hot and you have to like drink so
Speaker 2: much water, and if you're working outside, it's like hard.
Speaker 2: But I think it's helped me to teach me about
Speaker 2: hard work and discipline just from a young age. I
Speaker 2: know wrestling does that too, but it's different, like when
Speaker 2: you're like working a whole day compared to just practice
Speaker 2: for two hours, because it's it's a little harder.
Speaker 1: But it's nice to be able to spend time with
Speaker 1: my dad and I.
Speaker 2: Get to learn some stuff that I can use later
Speaker 2: on in life. So I think it's pretty good.
Speaker 3: So is that a piece of like the accountability? I mean,
Speaker 3: wrestling takes a ton of discipline. You have to watch
Speaker 3: your way, you get to watch your diet, but juggling
Speaker 3: it all, you know, and staying highly highly competitive and
Speaker 3: also maintaining a social life, Like how do you find
Speaker 3: the time and focus to do that?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: I mean before I started going to SEM in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: I really didn't have a social life.
Speaker 1: So I was like, i'ld go to school.
Speaker 2: And then I would go to high school practice, and
Speaker 2: then I would go to club practice, or even in middle.
Speaker 1: School, I'll go to middle school practice and then club practice.
Speaker 2: But at SEM, it makes it a lot easier because
Speaker 2: practice is there, and then all your friends are wrestlers too.
Speaker 2: It's like they live there with you, so it's a
Speaker 2: lot easier to have a social life.
Speaker 1: But before that I didn't really have much.
Speaker 2: I was just always think about wrestling and focusing on that, and.
Speaker 1: School is a lot easier in public school.
Speaker 2: So I had a lot of time to focus on
Speaker 2: just wrestling, so it was pretty pretty easy.
Speaker 3: Do you feel like having that social life has has
Speaker 3: helped you become even better at wrestling? Like the fact
Speaker 3: that you've been able to be more I guess well routed,
Speaker 3: since I mean you're at people might not know what
Speaker 3: SEM is Wyoming Seminary, which is one of the top
Speaker 3: wrestling programs in the country at the high school high
Speaker 3: school level, So do you feel like that social peace
Speaker 3: has been intricate to you maintaining you know, your success
Speaker 3: on the map.
Speaker 1: I think a little bit, because school at SAM is
Speaker 1: pretty hard since it's a private school.
Speaker 2: And I think having that social life and being able
Speaker 2: to hang out with my friends and stuff, it gives
Speaker 2: me a break from the school because I love wrestling,
Speaker 2: so it's not I don't really want to break from
Speaker 2: it most of the time. Like I could wrestle like
Speaker 2: every day for a couple hours. So I like wrestling,
Speaker 2: so that's good. But it does give me a break
Speaker 2: from school and stuff. So I think that does help
Speaker 2: with my wrestling because I can be more focused when
Speaker 2: I'm actually wrestling and not worried about school work and
Speaker 2: stuff like that.
Speaker 3: I often advocate for, you know, young kids especially to
Speaker 3: have experiences, no different experiences, play different sports. But there
Speaker 3: are situations where some kids really like and enjoy, you know,
Speaker 3: playing their one sport, you know, whatever is, whether that
Speaker 3: be wrestling or baseball, soccer, doesn't matter. They just they
Speaker 3: can't get enough of it, you know, they take breaks
Speaker 3: when they need to. But did you ever, you know,
Speaker 3: try any other sports or was it like never anything
Speaker 3: that you were really interested in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I used to play baseball and football. But what
Speaker 1: got me out of it was one year at Super
Speaker 1: thirty two.
Speaker 2: I had been training in football, so I was only
Speaker 2: wrestling like two days a week or something.
Speaker 1: So I was always at football practice and I went
Speaker 1: to Super thirty two and I cut all this.
Speaker 2: Weight and then I went on too, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm done with this. So I just wanted to wrestle
Speaker 2: all the time because I was tired of losing. But
Speaker 2: I think it's important to play other sports because I
Speaker 2: think it helps you to your athleticism and your coordination and.
Speaker 1: Stuff like that. Even now I try to do other.
Speaker 2: Stuff, Like I've been playing soccer a little bit, not
Speaker 2: like competitive, just like on my own and I'll go
Speaker 2: play racquetball with my girlfriend's dad sometimes just to like
Speaker 2: work on my athleticism and stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I've seen you compete, you know, and you're very,
Speaker 3: very athletic, so you attribute a lot of it. So
Speaker 3: you do some cross training stuff that you think helps
Speaker 3: you on the wrestling.
Speaker 1: At Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 2: And I'm also naturally pretty flexible. My dad's pretty athletic
Speaker 2: guy easterom track in high school. I think you broke
Speaker 2: the state record for the mile, and he's really good
Speaker 2: at swimming and stuff. And I think I got a
Speaker 2: lot of head jeans, so I think that helped out.
Speaker 3: You mentioned the mindset piece of it, and I never
Speaker 3: wrestled day in my life, but I mean, I know
Speaker 3: from my sons and just talking to other retss that
Speaker 3: mindset plays a huge role. What are some experiences, I
Speaker 3: guess specifically where you struggled and had some adversity, whether
Speaker 3: that be a loss or whatever it is that you
Speaker 3: can attribute, like man that time that this loss happened
Speaker 3: or this happened or whatever in my life, it really
Speaker 3: helped me lock I learned from it.
Speaker 4: Are there any.
Speaker 3: Specific instances that you can think of where adversity really
Speaker 3: helps you grow throughout your career?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think even this this year, all the times that
Speaker 2: I lost, I think it was technical, but it was
Speaker 2: also a lot of mental stuff too, Like every time
Speaker 2: I lost, like I wasn't in the moment or I
Speaker 2: was thinking about when it lose instead of having fun
Speaker 2: and get.
Speaker 1: Better because for me, that's that's when I wrestled. My
Speaker 1: best is when I'm having fun and get better.
Speaker 2: And sometimes you lose focus sometimes and you're thinking about
Speaker 2: other things, and a loss will help you to refocus
Speaker 2: on the right things. And so I took some losses
Speaker 2: this year, and I think it's just going to help
Speaker 2: me to become an even better wrestler technically and mentally.
Speaker 1: So I think it. I think especially this last loss.
Speaker 2: I was at World Team Trials when I was wrestling
Speaker 2: with Hankle, I was really focused on when losing because
Speaker 2: it's World Team Trials instead of having fun and just
Speaker 2: getting better. Because I ended up losing anyways, So I
Speaker 2: should just focus on having fun and trying my best,
Speaker 2: and I think I think I would have wrestled better
Speaker 2: if I did that.
Speaker 4: That's interesting.
Speaker 3: So so when you don't focus on the outcomes and
Speaker 3: you just try to stay present, that's like a you know,
Speaker 3: I hear some of the most the lead athletes talk
Speaker 3: about that. How are ways in which that I guess
Speaker 3: that you practice that? Like, you know, especially with X,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe you don't have expected maybe you do.
Speaker 3: Maybe you don't put that pressure on yourself, but certainly
Speaker 3: you know, with your ranking and with you know where
Speaker 3: you're committed, there are expectations out there that people may have.
Speaker 4: How do you separate yourself?
Speaker 3: Have there been any like do you get coached by
Speaker 3: anybody a how to stay present? Because that is such
Speaker 3: a such a valuable piece that I hear the most
Speaker 3: the lead athletes say in any sport. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean mostly it was from my dad, Like he
Speaker 2: was the one who was teaching me and stuff at
Speaker 2: a young age, Like He's telling me how to focus
Speaker 2: on when I losing. And I think that really helped
Speaker 2: me with my progress because I would go challenge myself
Speaker 2: and wrestle people that were better than me, just so
Speaker 2: I could improve. And also I've been watching Pen State.
Speaker 2: That's one of the big reasons I went it is
Speaker 2: because of the mindset. A lot of their guys talk
Speaker 2: about having fun and that resonated with me a lot,
Speaker 2: So I thought that would be good for me to
Speaker 2: go there because that's what I try to think about.
Speaker 2: And that's a big part of the reason I went there,
Speaker 2: is because I think having fun and just focusing on
Speaker 2: getting better instead of winning and losing, it'll help you
Speaker 2: to reach any of your goals.
Speaker 1: I think personally, that's what I think.
Speaker 3: So what was the recruiting process, Like, I mean, I'm
Speaker 3: sure I would imagine like every school in the country
Speaker 3: would have been excited to have you commit to their program.
Speaker 3: Like what was it about Penn State And did you
Speaker 3: feel like a lot of pressure on when to commit
Speaker 3: where to commit? Like what was that process? Like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a ton of calls the first day,
Speaker 2: like so many. I was pretty much on the phone
Speaker 2: the whole day. But I kind of always knew I
Speaker 2: wanted to go to Penn State because I've been watching
Speaker 2: them like for like a long time growing up. But
Speaker 2: I still had some other schools in mine like North
Speaker 2: Carolina schools and some of mywa schools because I'm in
Speaker 2: private school and they like private school guys. So I
Speaker 2: was just thinking about a little bit. But I think
Speaker 2: I always knew I wanted to go to Penn State,
Speaker 2: So it was pretty easy for me to decide. Like
Speaker 2: I only went on one visit to Penn State and.
Speaker 1: I already loved it. I liked all the people.
Speaker 2: There, so that's it was pretty I didn't really feel
Speaker 2: any pressure from it.
Speaker 1: It was pretty easy for me and my dad.
Speaker 2: It was just like, yeah, as long as it's good
Speaker 2: for you. He wasn't too caught up in it. He
Speaker 2: knew I would pick the right place, so it's pretty easy.
Speaker 3: It's pretty much well documented that, you know, coach Kle Sanderson,
Speaker 3: who's I would put out there as you know, one
Speaker 3: of the greatest coaches in any sport, especially over the
Speaker 3: last fifteen twenty years. I mean, that's a complete dynasty
Speaker 3: that continues. It seems to get better and better. But
Speaker 3: it's kind of well documented that they keep like a
Speaker 3: tight leash around like what they do and how they
Speaker 3: go about their business. I was fortunate enough to interview
Speaker 3: Bo Nickel and he talked a little bit about it
Speaker 3: and what is it about that program in particular, because
Speaker 3: it seems so much more it seems like the results
Speaker 3: are a byproduct of their process.
Speaker 4: But do you know anything about like what the process is?
Speaker 4: Like I hear a lot about humility and all of
Speaker 4: those things.
Speaker 3: Is that from what your experience has been and maybe
Speaker 3: talking to coach Cale and guys that wrestle there, how
Speaker 3: important is it at Penn State to buy into their
Speaker 3: process and kind of focus on that versus the end result.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think their process works really good is because
Speaker 2: they're not focused on like their results either. They're just
Speaker 2: worried about the athletes. They'll do anything to make sure
Speaker 2: the athletes.
Speaker 1: Reach their goals. They keep a good relationship with the athletes,
Speaker 1: and all they do is one of the best worries.
Speaker 2: They're really pretty like humble, like they say, like if
Speaker 2: you're at a tournament or saw and they'll be hiding
Speaker 2: in like the top stand, like with the hat and
Speaker 2: a hoodie on, you don't even know they're there.
Speaker 1: And that's how they are.
Speaker 2: They're just in it for the athletes, and I think
Speaker 2: it's a good devide into their process because they're just
Speaker 2: in it for the athletes.
Speaker 1: Pretty much.
Speaker 3: When we come back, Joe and I discuss why what
Speaker 3: you do outside of practice can make all the difference.
Speaker 3: Before we go to break, I wanted to share another
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Speaker 3: an earlier episode of this podcast, Peter Francillis, CEO of
Speaker 3: Team Staff, shared how we saw technology evolving.
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Speaker 3: for or your youth sports organization on Tuesday, August twenty ninth,
Speaker 3: at one pm Eastern eleven am Mountain Time. Welcome back
Speaker 3: where we left off, Joe and I were about to
Speaker 3: talk about why pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone
Speaker 3: helps me make you better in the long run. So
Speaker 3: with you going into your senior year, you have I mean,
Speaker 3: you're gonna have some some big, you know, national tournaments
Speaker 3: coming up, And I mean is your end goal obviously
Speaker 3: to go and be a national champion at Penn State?
Speaker 3: But then what are your goals and aspirations even beyond that?
Speaker 3: Do you want to continue on international scene and be
Speaker 3: an Olympian one day?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: My main goal since I've been young is to be
Speaker 2: an Olympic champ, and I think Penn State is going
Speaker 2: to help me to be because there's a lot of
Speaker 2: there's a couple of Olympians in the room, a couple
Speaker 2: of Olympic champs. There's three Olympic champs, actually four Olympic champs
Speaker 2: in the room. So I think it's it's a good
Speaker 2: place if you want to do good at the Olympics
Speaker 2: and also want to be world champion and I you
Speaker 2: said national champions.
Speaker 1: So those are some of my goals.
Speaker 3: How do you stay at eighteen years old focused on
Speaker 3: the present when it seems you know, at a at
Speaker 3: a young age man, it's hard to stay focused on
Speaker 3: the present and not get lost and chasing these aspirations.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean it is.
Speaker 2: It's still hard for me sometimes, Like like I said,
Speaker 2: at that loss side in World Team Trials, I was
Speaker 2: on president in the moment.
Speaker 1: You need those losses sometimes to refocus, and.
Speaker 2: So it's helped me do that loss help me to refocus,
Speaker 2: And it's it is hard, and I think it's going.
Speaker 1: To be hard for like forever.
Speaker 2: You just gotta I got to make sure I stay
Speaker 2: focused and make sure I'm just focusing on myself instead
Speaker 2: of what other people think.
Speaker 4: How do you keep your body in preparation? Like do
Speaker 4: you do a lot of weightlifting?
Speaker 3: Like how much is your diet a component of your preparation,
Speaker 3: and I guess walk us through a week of the
Speaker 3: day in the life of Joe Sealer when it comes
Speaker 3: to training and everything to do that goes around it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I've never really listed anyways.
Speaker 2: I've always just I do like, like when I was
Speaker 2: in Carolina, I used to go to school hard knocks.
Speaker 2: We did a little bit of weightlft him but it
Speaker 2: wasn't anything heavy, like you get a bar bell and
Speaker 2: do some some stuff, but it was pretty easy.
Speaker 1: And I'm big on body weight.
Speaker 2: Stuff, but I've always folk tried to focus on making
Speaker 2: sure I'm moving well and I'm flexible and I can
Speaker 2: just move well without pain or any restriction or anything
Speaker 2: like that, instead of lifting a bunch of weights, because
Speaker 2: I've always thought like people that lifted a bunch of
Speaker 2: weights ended up getting injured, and I think, if you
Speaker 2: do it right, you won't.
Speaker 1: But I've just never done it. I think I try
Speaker 1: to put all my effort into wrestling practice.
Speaker 2: Like if I if I'm losing a match, I don't
Speaker 2: ever want to say it's because he was stronger or
Speaker 2: faster me. I want to be like, it's because he
Speaker 2: did something better than me wrestling wise, I think you
Speaker 2: can fix any loss just with wrestling or your mind.
Speaker 1: But like a day in the life typically would just
Speaker 1: be like I do.
Speaker 2: I do try to eat pretty healthy, and I drink
Speaker 2: a lot of water, and I try to get my
Speaker 2: sleep right too, like I try to be like wake
Speaker 2: up at the same time, go to sleep at the
Speaker 2: same time every day, and also try to try to
Speaker 2: get some sunlight every day and get barefoot on the
Speaker 2: ground because I heard that's pretty good for you.
Speaker 1: And I also try to eat healthy. But I really
Speaker 1: I'll just go.
Speaker 2: To wrestling practice about once a day, but I'll do
Speaker 2: I'll be there like super early, like thirty minutes to
Speaker 2: an hour early, and then I'll stay for like thirty
Speaker 2: minutes too. I'm always like doing something else like extra,
Speaker 2: So I think that helps me out a lot.
Speaker 3: That is something you know, we talk about a lot.
Speaker 3: It's like it's not about what you do and anything
Speaker 3: in life, really, but there's so much more. Seems like
Speaker 3: the most successful people at anything do more before and after.
Speaker 3: It's almost like the minimum if you go to practice
Speaker 3: and just do your training or whatever at practice. It's like,
Speaker 3: how important is it to separate yourself from the competitors
Speaker 3: by doing more before practicing after like on your own time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's not even in practice either, like
Speaker 2: like it is it is practice, doing extra practice.
Speaker 1: But even like outside of the practice room.
Speaker 2: I watch a lot of wrestling too, Like I've watched
Speaker 2: so much wrestling, Like I started watching wrestling, and like
Speaker 2: one of my favorite things to do is just to
Speaker 2: study wrestling. And I think about it a lot too.
Speaker 2: So I think that helps out. And like the sleep thing,
Speaker 2: the diet thing, all that stuff helps you. Like i
Speaker 2: might not be doing a bunch of workout today, but
Speaker 2: I'm growing in in other ways, you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean.
Speaker 3: That's interesting because you know, as you're talking about watching
Speaker 3: film and all those things, I'm thinking about, like you know,
Speaker 3: the focus, you know, and how how locked in you are,
Speaker 3: and you you know, when you're in a wrestling match,
Speaker 3: or even if you're in baseball and you're going up
Speaker 3: to the plate, that's that one on one battle, that
Speaker 3: competition mode. You know, how do you prepare yourself from
Speaker 3: a mindset standpoint, you know, to kind of lock in?
Speaker 3: You know, you get ready to go, you're you're in
Speaker 3: the hole or whatever you're coming up, you know on
Speaker 3: Matt two for a match, it's like, how do you
Speaker 3: make sure I'm putting your Like what are what walk
Speaker 3: us through?
Speaker 4: Like what you're.
Speaker 3: Thinking as you're getting ready to go step on the mat.
Speaker 3: Doesn't matter what match it is, is the preparation always
Speaker 3: the same as the mindset always the same no matter
Speaker 3: who the opponent is.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, pretty pretty much. The mindset is usually the same.
Speaker 2: There's there's I usually I have a routine that I think.
Speaker 2: I think if you watch a bunch of great athletes,
Speaker 2: they all have a.
Speaker 1: Routine that gets them in the zone.
Speaker 2: I think you can get in the zone without a routine,
Speaker 2: but I think it helps, like certain.
Speaker 1: Movements and the things you're thinking.
Speaker 2: I got these certain things I think about, like my technique,
Speaker 2: like certain mistakes I make in other matches that I
Speaker 2: try to tell myself before I wrestle, because I try
Speaker 2: not to think too much, like when I'm wrestling, Like
Speaker 2: I try to make sure it's like just a flow.
Speaker 1: But I try not.
Speaker 2: To like think too much about like anything really, Like
Speaker 2: I just try to be as calm as possible and
Speaker 2: like be present and just think about having fun.
Speaker 4: When you say having fun, I've heard you say that
Speaker 4: a lot.
Speaker 3: And that's another thing we talk about a lot because
Speaker 3: people may hear having fun and they visualize like kids
Speaker 3: jumping around and laughing and goofing and all that stuff,
Speaker 3: which is certainly a part of it. But what is
Speaker 3: having fun to Joe seely when you're talking about all
Speaker 3: these things and being a competitor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean for me having fun.
Speaker 2: I think I love wrestling, but sometimes I can get
Speaker 2: stuck in trying to be perfect and every little thing
Speaker 2: will give me frustrated, and that's what I'm not having fun.
Speaker 2: And like when I'm worried about the winning and the losing,
Speaker 2: and I think just having fun, taking the risks and
Speaker 2: then like just wrestling and then you learn later like
Speaker 2: you don't have to worry about everything being perfect in
Speaker 2: the moment. And I think just having fun and being
Speaker 2: present helps a lot to not think about winning and losing,
Speaker 2: because that's that's when I think the results are going
Speaker 2: to stop. Like I've always been a pretty dominant wrestler,
Speaker 2: and I think it's because I wasn't worried.
Speaker 1: About winning and losing, Like I didn't try to get.
Speaker 2: A win with just like one point. And I think
Speaker 2: it's helped me to learn a lot because I take
Speaker 2: a lot of risks, take a lot of shots, and.
Speaker 1: I think this helped me to keep learning and keep
Speaker 1: growing and keep.
Speaker 2: Evolving because I feel like evolution in your game is
Speaker 2: what really helps you to step.
Speaker 1: Up to the next level each time.
Speaker 3: I love that, like it sounds to me and you
Speaker 3: correct me if I'm wrong. But you talk about the
Speaker 3: relationship with your dad, did you always have because I
Speaker 3: often hear where kids will say, like they're afraid to
Speaker 3: make a mistake. You know, they're afraid to fail because
Speaker 3: they may have extrinsic pressure from either a coach or
Speaker 3: a parent who's like on their back or what did
Speaker 3: your dad or your coaches always kind of give you
Speaker 3: the freedom to fail, Like you mentioned taking risk. I
Speaker 3: think that's huge, right, How do you grow in anything
Speaker 3: in life without putting yourself out there? So, did you
Speaker 3: always have the freedom to fail, Like, hey, Joe, go
Speaker 3: out there, let it rip. Don't be afraid to struggle,
Speaker 3: or don't be afraid to make a mistake. We'll learn
Speaker 3: from it. Is that something that was always taught to you,
Speaker 3: maybe by your dad or someone else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially my dad.
Speaker 2: He was always like he would have ever get mad
Speaker 2: at me as long as I charged my best and
Speaker 2: then we work on the technical stuff later. As long
Speaker 2: as I was given my best effort, he was okay
Speaker 2: with it, like and.
Speaker 1: He would actually he didn't tell me this at the time,
Speaker 1: but he would.
Speaker 2: Actually try to take me to places so I could lose,
Speaker 2: so I could learn and.
Speaker 1: Try my best.
Speaker 2: And I think that that really helped me to like
Speaker 2: some Like I would go to these tournaments in elementary
Speaker 2: school and I'll wrestle a couple of different divisions, like
Speaker 2: two age groups and two different weight.
Speaker 1: Classes, and sometimes.
Speaker 2: I would lose because I was a younger guy and
Speaker 2: I was a smaller guy. But I think that really
Speaker 2: helped me to grow at a faster rate and even
Speaker 2: practice too. He would always make me practice like the
Speaker 2: next level. Look like if I was in elementary school,
Speaker 2: I was middle school.
Speaker 1: If I was in middle school, I was.
Speaker 2: Probably some in high school and it's a little bit
Speaker 2: harder to practice like with college guys, but I tried to.
Speaker 1: As much as possible.
Speaker 2: But I think that helps you to grow, and you're
Speaker 2: wrestling people that can be you start to evolve, you
Speaker 2: start to adapt, and I think that's how you get
Speaker 2: a lot better when you're younger.
Speaker 3: So Joe, as you're as you're you know, in your
Speaker 3: senior year, you're getting ready to let it rip and
Speaker 3: have a lot of fun and obviously showcase your skills
Speaker 3: before going to the Big ten and the best program
Speaker 3: in the country in ten state.
Speaker 4: You know, a lot of student.
Speaker 3: Athletes, a lot of kids, a lot of sports parents
Speaker 3: and folks will listen to this, and you know, these
Speaker 3: kids may be like, man, I want to be like
Speaker 3: Joe Seeley, I want to I want to be at
Speaker 3: that level.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Take a couple of minutes, and I would love to
Speaker 3: hear what is some advice that you'd give to these
Speaker 3: younger wrestlers, these kids in middle school and high school
Speaker 3: who who want to reach their you know, want.
Speaker 4: To reach your level, or want to be the best
Speaker 4: they can.
Speaker 3: What's the best way for them to put themselves in
Speaker 3: a position to to maybe reach their potential or have
Speaker 3: an opportunity to to wrestle at the next level in
Speaker 3: the college level.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So obviously, the first thing, like I've been.
Speaker 2: Saying the whole time, make sure you're having fun and
Speaker 2: then you're taking rests, so you're learning a lot from
Speaker 2: the things you're doing, even if even if you're not
Speaker 2: getting results at first, you got to stay consistent and
Speaker 2: over time you're going to get better from all the
Speaker 2: risk you're taking, all the things you've learned. And so
Speaker 2: I think stay consistent having fun and doing the right
Speaker 2: things outside of wrestling, like having the right thoughts, sleeping good,
Speaker 2: eating good, hanging.
Speaker 1: Out with the right people.
Speaker 2: But make sure having fun I think is the most
Speaker 2: important if you if you're trying to get the best.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I want to touch on one of
Speaker 3: the thing because I think it's abot you. You said, you
Speaker 3: said hanging out with the right people. I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 3: How do you make sure that you kind of you
Speaker 3: know that you're not, you know, putting yourself in a
Speaker 3: position where you know, temptation and such like, how do
Speaker 3: you in particular, remain focused in being able to separate, Like, Hey,
Speaker 3: I might not want to hang around this crowd because
Speaker 3: it might not be good for me as a person.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean that's kind of one.
Speaker 2: Of the reasons I didn't really have a social until
Speaker 2: I came to some because a lot of people and
Speaker 2: I lived at they didn't have the same the same
Speaker 2: goals as me and I, and if I was hanging
Speaker 2: around them too much, they would try to bring me
Speaker 2: down with them. And so I was really by myself
Speaker 2: a lot because I had these goals and I wanted
Speaker 2: to make good grades. I wanted to be a good wrestler.
Speaker 2: I wanted to go to sleep early and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: But at SAM, I have a bunch of good people
Speaker 2: around me that I had the same goals as that
Speaker 2: I do, and they want to be just as good
Speaker 2: as I am. So it really helps being around a
Speaker 2: good program like that, and my coaches and my teammates.
Speaker 3: Joe Seely, I freaking love it man. Where can people
Speaker 3: follow you? You know, they want to follow your journey,
Speaker 3: see what's going on? What social media accounts? Where can
Speaker 3: they do that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I really just use Instagram and it's Joe Seely dot
Speaker 2: j J I T.
Speaker 4: I love it man. Well, good luck this year.
Speaker 3: You're going to be crushing and I'm sure I can't
Speaker 3: wait to see and follow your career, you know obviously
Speaker 3: this year and as you move along to Pence that
Speaker 3: I wish you nothing but continue success.
Speaker 4: Man, stay healthy and keep doing what you're doing. Buddy.
Speaker 3: Thank you sir, that's Joseph Seely, one of the high
Speaker 3: school wrestlers in the country. Thanks for listening to the
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