ROY PITTMAN OFF THE MAT

I’d heard of Roy Pittman long before we met yesterday.

What I’d heard about him was legendary.

A legend in the community, a legend on the mat, the difference maker you’d want your kids to meet.

The Peninsula Wrestling Club is where he’s been since 1970, where 200k wrestlers learned the ropes.

You can never underestimate the effect of a good wrestling coach on a particular set of kids.

Too small, too short, too slow for other sports, kids who had a difficult time playing ball sports found a different kind of ball sport.

Every kid with the gumption to try something new finds it in wrestling.

They learn they’re not too small, not too short, and not too slow to start believing.

Roy Pittman makes sure they believe in themselves.

More than that, they learn to believe they have a possible future where one didn’t exist.

The best example is the kid who gave sports one more chance after disillusionment on the fields and courts.

They dropped into the off-season wrestling room to see people working out.

After the first day’s shaky start, they came back for the next three years.

Those three high school years led to a district title, a Greco-Roman state championship, third in the nation for Greco, a college scholarship, and a tryout for the all-Army wrestling team.

In Roy Pittman I see my high school wrestling coach, David Abraham.

If a kid walked into his wrestling room they became wrestlers for life.

They might even make it to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

 

The Meeting

Yesterday I attended a meeting to explain my doctor’s outstanding reputation to auditors interested in improving communications.

About ten people showed up. There were three when I first got there.

I had a bench seat and wasn’t paying attention when someone sat next to me.

One of the women said something to him and he took a seat next to them.

That’s when someone else sat down.

Again, I paid no attention while I read the handout and ate a sandwich.

With my mouth full, the moderator decided the best way to start was introducing ourselves, beginning with the man next to me.

“My name is Roy Pittman,” he said.

I nearly choked. Did I hear that right?

I’m sitting next to the legend?

My first instinct: The rest of these people need to know who is in the room with them.

I was a little over-excited, but kept quiet.

After the meeting I introduced myself. He said my last name sounded familiar.

I said it’s probably because of my younger brother.

In no time at all I said I was a fan, that if I could’ve got my kids to Peninsula they would have seen a bigger wrestling world than their small high school wrestling room they shared with the dance team.

They didn’t have a coach with a wider view of the sport; they had one that acted like a substitute teacher going through the motions.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It’s just not very motivational. The goal is to inspire kids to achieve by being a coach who believes in them.

That’s the Roy Pittman way.

The pictures at the top of this section shows my sixth grade soccer team. I believed in them.

I talked wrestling to all of them. One of them took an interest. (Hey Tyler)

 

PS: A kid with a life-long interest in getting better has the proper alignment.

PSS: A kid who learned about getting better in a wrestling room had it driven home. As adults they critique MMA fighters for not being better wrestlers. You’d think they’d learn how before getting into the Octagon against an opponent who knows wrestling.