When Anthony T.J. Smith committed to the Wheeling University wrestling program, he hadn't even got the chance to see the campus. When he got here, he was part of the foundation that built the wrestling program from the ground up during the 2013-2014 season. Throughout his five years as a member of the wrestling program, he literally and figuratively helped build the program into what it is today.
"There was a very physical change over my time," said Smith. "I was one of the first guys on campus and when I saw what our wrestling room was, it was a classroom that was previously used for Athletic training. You can only control two things, your attitude and your effort and every year we would do something to better the program. Other than just the changes in our individual results, we saw the program change and it was nice to see our hard work pay off."
Most people in the sport of wrestling have taken it up from a young age but for Smith it was a different path. He was involved in several sports as a child, but wrestling was not one of those sports. It wasn't until his family made the move to Cleveland, Ohio before his middle school days. His mom told him that he had to choose a sport and it came down to the two winter sports at the time. It was a pretty easy decision for Smith as he picked the sport that he would eventually fall in love with.
"I kind of got behind the eight ball when it comes to wrestling," said Smith. "Most of my teammates I wrestled against had been wrestling since they were like four or five years old, but I didn't start until seventh grade in Cleveland, Ohio. When we moved from Cincinnati to Cleveland my mom said, 'you had a year off from all sports, so you have to pick one.' For winter sports we only had two options, basketball, and wrestling, and I can't dribble to save my life. So, I ended up wrestling in middle school and the first year I was very bad, but it clicked my second year where I had an 80-90% win rate."
Smith continued wrestling into his high school years, where he competed at Brush High School just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Smith was a four-year wrestler for the Arcs and had to work his way up the depth chart. His freshman year of high school was just his third on the mat and he says he took his fair share of beatings. However, by his senior season, he was one of the top wrestlers for the Arc and made it to the state tournament in March of 2013. He made it to the super 16 before falling to the eventual seventh place finisher in the 160-pound weight class.
With college wrestling on his mind, Smith got in contact with former Wheeling University Head Wrestling Coach Sean Doyle at a tournament in December of his senior year. Then, in February, Doyle was back in the Cleveland area and Smith took the opportunity to meet with him again and make a push to continue his career.
"(Sean Doyle) saw me wrestle a couple of times up in Northeast Ohio and the first time I had contact with him was around Christmas time," said Smith. "Then, right before the sectional tournament for Ohio, which is in February, Sean came up to Northeast Ohio to watch some other guys. I was at a tournament close by and was injured. It was a snowstorm, so I was either going to wait for him to show up and get left or I was going to catch a ride. So, he ended up waiting for me after the tournament was over and I drove my truck slipping and sliding on the highway to his tournament and he got me to buy in to what he was doing as a program"
Smith committed and was all in on helping Wheeling start their wrestling program and committed without ever visiting the campus. When he came to Wheeling in the fall, it was a little different than what he was used to, but he welcomed the openness of the campus and how willing everyone was to help when needed. Not only was it a new campus for Smith, but he and his teammates were also tasked with starting a brand-new program. The guys were still getting to know each other, and it was a team bonding trip to Deep Creek, Maryland, that helped strengthen their bond.
"Sean (Doyle) rented out a house for us for a couple of days and all of our families came up to meet the first day," said Smith. "95% of the team was there and most of us were freshman, excluding two transfers. Honestly, it was about establishing dominance for everyone at that point. We were all looking up old videos of each other, at one point we all swam back and forth across the lake to see who could do it and after all of the muscle flexing was out of the way we really started breaking everything down. We had real conversations with each other and realized we had each other's back and we had nothing to prove to each other. And on the way back when we got back on campus, we were very close with each other."
During his time at Wheeling, Smith's role was ever-changing with the team. During his freshman year he was a go-to guy at the 165-pound weight class, but as the years went on and the team got deeper, he would rotate with several other wrestlers in the weight class. Smith embraced whatever role he was given and helped the team through those first five years of existence. As a whole, it was a very unselfish team and that was facilitated through their head coach.
Smith explains how Doyle would use the results from previous tournaments when deciding his lineups week in and week out to hold players accountable and make them earn their spots on the mat.
"One thing that (Doyle) would do is, we weren't a very deep roster at certain weight classes, and he would fluctuate our lineup a little bit based on the tournament we had previously," said Smith. "If we had a match against West Liberty on Tuesday next week but we had a tournament on Saturday, our coach would use the results from the tournament to see who he would start Tuesday. That way there wasn't a lot of conflict in the room and because of that it allowed everyone to work together towards a common goal."
While Smith was making his mark on the mat, he and a few of his teammates also made their marks off the mat. When they got to campus, their locker room wasn't even 400 square feet, and their wrestling room was just a one mat space that was previously a classroom. Instead of looking at the downside of the space, Smith and his teammates worked hard every offseason to improve their surroundings and make the facilities better for the next generation of Wheeling wrestlers. When they were done, they expanded their locker room to accommodate their entire team while turning the wrestling room into a two and a half mat facility to train in.
"Honestly, there was a very physical change that could be noted from our team," said Smith. "I was one of the first guys on campus and I saw what our locker room was and what our wrestling room was. I helped rewire the speakers and we knocked down a wall to expand the locker room. Each year we did something new. The next year we knocked down a wall in the wrestling room to make it a 2.5 room facility so that we weren't on top of each other. We moved in lifting mats and put them up on the side so we can do calisthenics. Each year we had better and better gear and had people coming down to wrestling camps and we were able to do a lot there."
Smith would graduate from Wheeling in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training and made his way back to northeast Ohio. He went out and got certified in Strength & Conditioning and used that to give back to the wrestling programs that started his career. He would help at Brush Middle and High School as a volunteer assistant with the wrestling programs. He also got an opportunity to work as a loan processor as he started to find himself in his life after college.
"I got strength & conditioning certified and used that to help out at primarily my high school and middle school as a volunteer," said Smith. "Following Wheeling Jesuit, I ended up being a loan opener and a loan processor. However, since that market shifted, I left that industry and I'm kind of taking it day by day now. Me and two former teammates Max Lacey and Jonathan Barrett are going down to Florida here in a few weeks for the second year in a row, for Barrett the third year in a row, and we are going to help coach a team down there."
Along with assisting high school and college programs in his area, Smith is also working on starting his own bartending service "Pour Taste" in the Cleveland area. Bartending has been a passion of his since he graduated from Wheeling, and he is looking to use those skills to serve others in his hometown. It is something he loves to do and now he is focusing on the things he needs to do from the business side of things and taking what he learned from Wheeling to apply it to his business.
"I love bartending, so it's a little challenging there to understand what I need to do from the business side of things," said Smith. "I have had to look up all the liquor licenses and make sure I am following those accurately for Ohio, making sure I have all my equipment there and making sure it's nice, clean, and prepped. For me I like a lot of word-of-mouth advertising. I like it when I provide such great service that they are already texting their friends saying they had a great time. So, that's probably the hardest thing about expanding it out."
One thing that has helped Smith in growing his business is the ability to learn that he gained from Wheeling University. The courses always pushed him to learn more, and it has helped him as he continues to work and grow his business. It is this advice that he offers to future Wheeling University students is to embrace learning and the opportunities that Wheeling affords you.
"Wheeling University forced me to learn and that is one of the biggest things that it forced me to do outside of graduating," said Smith. "If you aren't learning then you can't really succeed no matter what business you are in. Being at Wheeling gave me the tools to constantly learn and be open to new experiences. Wheeling is going to challenge you to think, challenge you to get outside your comfort zone and when you find your group of friends and people there it will make the experience worthwhile.
Original source can be found here
Alerts Sign-up