#GrecoMonday: Stefanowicz credits his family and toughness to help him overcome injury and make his first World Team

John Stefanowicz after making his first World Team. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers are Warriors.

John Stefanowicz made his third National Team in a row when he won the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament this May. He followed it up by defeating Kendrick Sanders two matches to zero, 8-5 and 3-2, at Final X: Rutgers to earn his first spot on a World Team. In April, Stefanowicz lost to Sanders in the U.S. Open semifinals, 7-3, before defaulting to a fifth place finish due to injury.
His injury severely limited his training leading up to the Challenge Tournament and Final X.
“I crushed my way out of the Open with a pretty bad hamstring injury. I wasn’t able to get on the mat at all going into the trials. I did video, diet and technique, but I couldn’t really work on upper body,” Stefanowicz said.

While this sounds like it should hamper his progression, Stefanowicz found positives in the situation.
“Being able to have my legs taken away from me, which have been the driving force of my wrestling, made me alter my wrestling and alter my style of wrestling. Now I have an additional style of wrestling that I didn’t even know was there,” he said.

It also has changed how he approaches cutting weight.
“I came into this tournament (Final X) and the trials underweight. I came in waking up at 82 kg on the spot. I’m normally not like that. My diet and nutrition at home has been bar none on point and completely topnotch. I feel a lot better being lighter, healthier and fit than I do being bigger and stronger,” Stefanowicz said.
As a member of the Marine Corps, a branch of the military that prides itself on toughness, Stefanowicz embodies that trait. It’s something that allowed him to push through his injury to earn a World Team spot and part of his training that isn’t changing any time soon.
I’m going to be mentally and physically strong with good endurance. That’s the definition of toughness. I’m going to use that mentality and keep rolling with it,” he said.
An intangible that Stefanowicz credits to his success is having his family present during his matches.
“One thing that I noticed was that I brought my wife and kids out to the trials, and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it a minute. I ended up making it through the whole tournament. Having my boys out there, having kids, the strength those boys give me, that isn’t something you can quite put a tag on.” Stefanowicz said.
Stefanowicz will represent Team USA in Kazakhstan this September at 82 kg.