A Motivational Wrestling Story!

This weekend in Idaho it was the state championship wrestling tournament. Just the fact that it was going on brought back a lot of fond memories. Telling this story live and in person is so much more fun, but In honor of that great sport, here is my motivational wrestling story...


It was my sophomore year of high school at Nampa High. I was on the junior varsity wrestling team and we were going to have our first match of the season against one of our rivals, Meridian High School. That day Coach Squibb pulled me aside and said I would be wrestling varsity that night as the guy ahead of me was suspended from the team for using chewing tobacco and getting bad grades. Man…I was scared, excited and nervous!

If you are not familiar with wrestling, it is both an individual sport as well as a team sport. The team earns varying points based on how badly you beat the other guy. The coach didn’t expect a lot from me, this being my first varsity match and all. He explained to me that the way all the matches were set up, as long as I didn’t get pinned, our team would be able to win that night. I still remember his stubby finger pointed right at my face and his stern warning. “Just don’t get pinned.”

I went to my dad for some words of comfort… and he said with a chuckle, “Son, just don’t get pinned.”

As I stepped out on the mat, there was my opponent, Andy Nakashima. Man, this guy was huge! I have no idea how he was in the same weight class as me. His arms were as big around as I was. He was already ranked in the top five in the State and he was about to eat me for lunch. With great fear I looked back at Coach Squibb and Coach Lester and they shouted in unison, “Just don’t get pinned!”

But wouldn't you know it, in the first round, Andy Nakashima had me all tied up with his python arms and he had me on my back. With great fear and exerting all the strength I had in me I was bridging up on my head to keep my shoulder blades off the mat. What made it worse was that I was right on the edge of the mat looking upside down, up at my teammates and they were all standing there yelling at me. I still remember it in slow motion, just like in the movies, with their faces all long and contorted. They were screaming, “Dooooon’t geeeeet piiiiined!”

After what seemed like an eternity on my back, the ref whistle blew ending the first round and sparing me from the humiliating defeat of being pinned.

The second round wasn’t so bad. Andy Nakashima scored several points on me, but I actually managed to earn couple too.

Between the second and third round my coaches said, “Mortensen, you’re doing all right. Just one more round to go and even though you’re going to lose, just don’t get pinned.” I silently prayed, calling down the powers of heaven and all the ministering angles the Lord could spare, begging and pleading that if He were a kind and loving Father in Heaven that he would spare me the shame of getting pinned.

As the third and final round began, I took the top position from behind where I put my left hand on his elbow and my right hand rested on his stomach. I noticed that Andy Nakashima was breathing really hard…he was exhausted. Again, just like a movie flash back, my mind filled with visions of myself running at 4:30 in the morning, in knee deep snow, wrapped in garbage bags to sweat off pounds and improve my conditioning. I was in great shape. I was prepared.

This whistle blew! …and before I knew I had Andy Nakashima in this sweet basket cradle move where I had his head, arm and one of his legs in a lock with my arms and he was on his back. We were in a literal human knot. The ref slapped the mat. It was not I that had been pinned. I had pinned him!

So the moral of this story is, when all the world seems to think you are going to fail, and when you are confident in your preparation, and you have a little faith in powers beyond your own, you can overcome and succeed!