Sesker's Slant: Great competition, camaraderie on display at Armed Forces Championships
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by Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
U.S. Army wrestler Moza Fay takes charge during the Armed Forces Championships freestyle competition on Saturday at Fort Carson. Photo by Tim Hipps, U.S. Army.
FORT CARSON, Colo. – How important is competing in the Armed Forces and representing your country at the same time?
U.S. Army wrestler Leigh Jaynes-Provisor put it all in perspective after pinning U.S. Marines wrestler Melissa Apodaca in the first women’s match in Armed Forces Championships history.
“I’ve been in the Army for 14 years. There’s no greater pride other than representing the United States on the World stage in wrestling,” Jaynes-Provisor said. “I’m an American to the bone, I’m a patriot and I love this country with all its ups and downs. I’m proud to be an American, so it means a lot to me to be able to represent the Armed Forces, the All-Army Program, and hopefully this year the World Class Athlete Program.”
Pride, patriotism and passion were on full display during the Armed Forced Championships this past Friday and Saturday at the Special Events Center at the U.S. Army’s Fort Carson post.
I’ve been to hundreds of wrestling events in my life, but I’ve never seen anything like this one.
The Greco-Roman and freestyle competition between the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines was as fierce, hard-fought and intense as you will ever see at any level of wrestling.
Wrestlers were battling and going toe-to-toe like it was the finals of the Olympic Games or like it was the fourth quarter of the Army-Navy football game.
Being the best you can be certainly applies to the highest degree in this event.
One prime example came during the freestyle dual on Saturday.
Army wrestler William Simpson fell behind 8-0 against Aaron Kalil of the Marines. Two points from losing by technical fall, Simpson stormed back with a flurry of points before eventually winning by a dramatic fall.
Army coach Shon Lewis ran onto the mat and wrapped Simpson in a huge bear hug in celebration.
“The Armed Forces Championships does mean a lot – it’s a great rivalry with all four branches of the service competing,” Lewis said. “There is so much pride involved. For a lot of these guys, they don’t have a chance to compete in the big events on the Senior level. This is their World Championships. This event means a lot to the Armed Forces. You are going to get their best from all of these guys, whether they are 0-50 or 50-0. I can’t say enough about the service members and how they come out and fight and compete. It’s awesome to see.
“Some of these guys have been deployed in Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan, and have been away from home for over a year. Some of them haven’t wrestled much recently, but they still compete as hard as they can. There are four branches of the service here, but at the end of the tournament it’s one team and one fight. Everyone that competes here is on the same team representing the United States of America. We’re all brothers.”
There also were plenty of high-caliber wrestlers competing at Fort Carson, including two-time World medalist Justin Lester of the Army, World Team member Bryce Saddoris of the Marines, past NCAA qualifier Cole VonOhlen of the Air Force and powerful James Souza of the Navy.
“It’s definitely a fun event, but it’s also a very important event for us,” Lester said. “It’s bragging rights and you definitely want to do well here. It’s a great time for all the services to come together and it means a lot. It’s great to have a chance to compete in this and put on a show. It’s a lot of fun.”
Just how important an event is the Armed Forces Championships?
Ask Aaron Sieracki. He turns 40 in a couple of weeks, but he came out of retirement to compete this past weekend.
Sieracki went 3-0 for the Army team during the Greco-Roman portion of the event on Friday.
“Just for a weekend,” a smiling Sieracki said when asked about returning to the mat. “Anything I can do for the Black and Gold, and for the Army. This is the toughest, smallest tournament I’ve been in. I’ve wrestled in this every year for the last 17 or 18 years. The intensity with the service branches, you can’t beat it. Any way I can give back to the Army and WCAP is a great feeling. To come out and win it again is good. It’s probably 12 or 13 titles for me, so it’s nice.”
The event also provided a big stage for an athlete like Souza to compete on. The relatively unknown Souza went 3-0 to win a gold medal in Greco at 85 kg/187 lbs.
“It’s awesome to be able to compete here – it means a lot to be a part of this event,” Souza said. “We take a lot of pride in competing in this.”
The powerful Army team, part of the World Class Athlete Program, showed how strong and close-knit they are with all of their athletes rooting each other on.
There was great competition here, but there also was tremendous camaraderie, respect and sportsmanship shown between all four branches of the military. You could see the high level of respect these athletes have for each other.
During a break, you saw great fellowship being shown with wrestlers from different teams and branches of the service talking with each other and showing support for one another.
It’s definitely wonderful to see that wrestling is such an important and integral part of the Armed Forces.
And an event like the Armed Forces Championships brings out all of the important qualities and principles of what an athletic competition should be all about.
Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org or to my Twitter account @csesker
FORT CARSON, Colo. – How important is competing in the Armed Forces and representing your country at the same time?
U.S. Army wrestler Leigh Jaynes-Provisor put it all in perspective after pinning U.S. Marines wrestler Melissa Apodaca in the first women’s match in Armed Forces Championships history.
“I’ve been in the Army for 14 years. There’s no greater pride other than representing the United States on the World stage in wrestling,” Jaynes-Provisor said. “I’m an American to the bone, I’m a patriot and I love this country with all its ups and downs. I’m proud to be an American, so it means a lot to me to be able to represent the Armed Forces, the All-Army Program, and hopefully this year the World Class Athlete Program.”
Pride, patriotism and passion were on full display during the Armed Forced Championships this past Friday and Saturday at the Special Events Center at the U.S. Army’s Fort Carson post.
I’ve been to hundreds of wrestling events in my life, but I’ve never seen anything like this one.
The Greco-Roman and freestyle competition between the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines was as fierce, hard-fought and intense as you will ever see at any level of wrestling.
Wrestlers were battling and going toe-to-toe like it was the finals of the Olympic Games or like it was the fourth quarter of the Army-Navy football game.
Being the best you can be certainly applies to the highest degree in this event.
One prime example came during the freestyle dual on Saturday.
Army wrestler William Simpson fell behind 8-0 against Aaron Kalil of the Marines. Two points from losing by technical fall, Simpson stormed back with a flurry of points before eventually winning by a dramatic fall.
Army coach Shon Lewis ran onto the mat and wrapped Simpson in a huge bear hug in celebration.
“The Armed Forces Championships does mean a lot – it’s a great rivalry with all four branches of the service competing,” Lewis said. “There is so much pride involved. For a lot of these guys, they don’t have a chance to compete in the big events on the Senior level. This is their World Championships. This event means a lot to the Armed Forces. You are going to get their best from all of these guys, whether they are 0-50 or 50-0. I can’t say enough about the service members and how they come out and fight and compete. It’s awesome to see.
“Some of these guys have been deployed in Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan, and have been away from home for over a year. Some of them haven’t wrestled much recently, but they still compete as hard as they can. There are four branches of the service here, but at the end of the tournament it’s one team and one fight. Everyone that competes here is on the same team representing the United States of America. We’re all brothers.”
There also were plenty of high-caliber wrestlers competing at Fort Carson, including two-time World medalist Justin Lester of the Army, World Team member Bryce Saddoris of the Marines, past NCAA qualifier Cole VonOhlen of the Air Force and powerful James Souza of the Navy.
“It’s definitely a fun event, but it’s also a very important event for us,” Lester said. “It’s bragging rights and you definitely want to do well here. It’s a great time for all the services to come together and it means a lot. It’s great to have a chance to compete in this and put on a show. It’s a lot of fun.”
Just how important an event is the Armed Forces Championships?
Ask Aaron Sieracki. He turns 40 in a couple of weeks, but he came out of retirement to compete this past weekend.
Sieracki went 3-0 for the Army team during the Greco-Roman portion of the event on Friday.
“Just for a weekend,” a smiling Sieracki said when asked about returning to the mat. “Anything I can do for the Black and Gold, and for the Army. This is the toughest, smallest tournament I’ve been in. I’ve wrestled in this every year for the last 17 or 18 years. The intensity with the service branches, you can’t beat it. Any way I can give back to the Army and WCAP is a great feeling. To come out and win it again is good. It’s probably 12 or 13 titles for me, so it’s nice.”
The event also provided a big stage for an athlete like Souza to compete on. The relatively unknown Souza went 3-0 to win a gold medal in Greco at 85 kg/187 lbs.
“It’s awesome to be able to compete here – it means a lot to be a part of this event,” Souza said. “We take a lot of pride in competing in this.”
The powerful Army team, part of the World Class Athlete Program, showed how strong and close-knit they are with all of their athletes rooting each other on.
There was great competition here, but there also was tremendous camaraderie, respect and sportsmanship shown between all four branches of the military. You could see the high level of respect these athletes have for each other.
During a break, you saw great fellowship being shown with wrestlers from different teams and branches of the service talking with each other and showing support for one another.
It’s definitely wonderful to see that wrestling is such an important and integral part of the Armed Forces.
And an event like the Armed Forces Championships brings out all of the important qualities and principles of what an athletic competition should be all about.
Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org or to my Twitter account @csesker
