Tag: ‘Coach Powell’


Why We Love Ellis Now and Always

Michele Weldon | April 23, 2012

At 20, Ellis is the youngest member of the Olympic wrestling team and one of the most successful wrestlers in the wrestling room coached by Mike Powell. All of us who watched Ellis’ career bloom from 2005-2009 can recall Coach Powell kissing Ellis on the top of the head before each match. And then Ellis would go out and annihilate his opponent.


Stuff Wrestling Moms Say- Part 2

Michele Weldon | February 16, 2012

Headed to state tonight to watch our Huskies wrestle at Inidivual Illinois High School Association, Class 3A. Go Huskies!


Stuff Wrestling Moms Say– Part I

Michele Weldon | February 10, 2012

If you are like me, you have been hooting and hollering about all the new viral “S—” different people say. I thought it was about time to give wrestling moms our due. I have so much material stay tuned for Part II.


Regional Champs are 14 for 14 & Why The World Will Soon Love Our Man In Full, Coach Powell

Michele Weldon | February 7, 2012

The team’s amazing first-time ever in OPRFHS history feat of advancing 14 of 14 wrestlers on the roster to regionals in hopes of sweeping at state was a nerve-wracking blast to witness.


10 Life Lessons I Learned Watching Wrestling

Michele Weldon | January 13, 2012

It’s Friday night and I am in a Coralville, Iowa hotel room, a little weary from the four-hour drive from Chicago west on 88 and then even west-er on 80, past texting truck drivers and horizontal snow winds, miles of empty ice-dusted fields and about 1,000 signs for Subway. I just finished putting six turkey, cheese and spinach sandwiches I made this morning and about a gallon of Vitamin Water in the small humming refrigerator for Colin to eat tomorrow after the weigh-ins for the Iowa City West quad against Apple Valley and Marmion.


Winning is Best

Michele Weldon | December 30, 2011

I know we are all supposed to be above this kind of thing. We are not gloat. We are in it for the challenge and the discipline of the sport. But oh my, it is one of the 10 best feelings in the world when your son has his hand raised in victory in a [...]


Nowhere else I’d rather be: Gearing up for Colin’s final high school wrestling season

Michele Weldon | November 16, 2011

In the stands every wrestling season since 2004 I have had plenty of anxiety attacks about what work I needed to do once I got home, what I needed to get accomplished for the house or for life, how to keep all the pins juggling in the air. But it was always worth it to go, spend most of the day in a gym wearing the orange and the blue just to see what splendor my sons could create. And it was splendid, even if the gym smelled bad and the other parents were sometimes hostile and some kids cried when they lost.


Caryn Brooks: What I Wish I Knew About Recruiting

Caryn Brooks | November 14, 2011

Coaches know what a 17 or 18-year-old wrestler cares about. They play to hopes and dreams of championships and gold medals. On one official visit the coaches were sure to take a route that passed the outdoor pool with hot tubs and a waterfall at the rec center. It was an especially warm weekend at the end of August and plenty of young women were working on their tans while wearing very little.


We always knew Ellis was destined to be great

Michele Weldon | August 2, 2011

Many of us who are members of the Huskies Wrestling Family have been watching Ellis Coleman for years, since he was an eighth grader member of the Little Huskies. And here he is, a 2009 graduate of Oak Park-River Forest High School, this week making this crazy flying squirrel Ellis move that landed him on the home page of Yahoo, ESPN and so many sites.


Guest Essay by Caryn Brooks: “You deserve it”

Michele Weldon | July 10, 2011

As wrestling parents we all make hard choices. My children, especially Sam, have been given amazing opportunities because of wrestling. I would like to be there as they take advantage of those things, but it’s not always possible.