Category: ‘Video’


On Coming Back and What Integrity Means

Michele Weldon | April 29, 2010

OPRFHS 2009 graduate Jake Venerable talks about what Coach Mike Powell means to him and why he came back to the varsity wrestling team after leaving for a year. And why this group of teammates who shared “blood, sweat and tears” will be his friends for life.


OPRFH Wrestler Brock Friesen on Being Part of a Winning Brotherhood

Michele Weldon | April 15, 2010

Brock Friesen graduates in June after four years on the OPRFHS wrestling team. He talks about learning from a coach –Mike Powell– who is more than just talk.


On Olympic Dreams, Wrestling Families and Coach Powell

Michele Weldon | March 31, 2010

In March 2010 Ellis Coleman, a 2009 OPRFHS graduate, won a bronze medal at the Junior International in Bulgaria as part of the USA National Greco-Roman team. The three-time Illinois state medalist talks in this interview about the impact Coach Powell has had on his life, this sport and his wrestling family.


Why I Love My Doctor and How She Operates

Michele Weldon | March 2, 2010

Dr. Lauren Streicher has been my gynecologist for 17 years; she delivered Colin. In October 2006, I was diagnosed with breast cancer from a routine mammogram given by my radiologist, Dr. Joan Werber. She and Dr. Streicher are friends as well as colleagues. Hours after I was scheduled for a biopsy, Dr. Streicher called me at home to reassure me I would be fine. After surgery and radiation, I was fine. In December 2007, following disturbing elevated counts on two PSA tests, Dr. Streicher operated on me to remove my ovaries, for fear of ovarian cancer. Luckily, I did not have ovarian cancer. Dr. Streicher talks here about the kind of rapport she has with her patients and why. You will see precisely why I trust her with my life.


2007 Wrestling Alum Weldon Rogers on Coach Powell, The Ear and What Wrestling Means

Michele Weldon | January 12, 2010

He’s proud of his wrestling career in high school and briefly in college. He’s also proud of the “ear” he earned. Weldon Rogers talks about Coach Powell and his own transformation as an athlete and a young man. Now a college junior, Weldon claims he went from being “garbage” as a youth wrestler to placing fourth in Illinois in 2007 at the IHSA Class AA individual state tournament for 140 pounds.


OPRFHS Wrestler Colin Rogers on Training, Coach Powell, Winning and Losing

Michele Weldon | December 17, 2009

My youngest son, Colin, talks about the importance of Coach Powell as a father figure in his life,the hard work of wrestling and the thrill of winning.


Wrestling Mom Cubed: Caryn Brooks on The Wrestling Family and Her Three Wrestling Sons

Michele Weldon | December 16, 2009

OPRFHS Wrestling Mom Caryn Brooks talks about the wrestling family, other wrestling moms, youth wrestling and Coach Powell.


Coach Mike Powell on The Future

Michele Weldon | November 24, 2009


Coach Mike Powell On Health

Michele Weldon |


Coach Mike Powell on Wrestling Myths

Michele Weldon | November 23, 2009