Where there's a will, there's a way

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua G. Moshier
  • Black Hills Bandit staff
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, SD --  Many sports enthusiasts may argue wrestling commands the most complete athletes in the world. It’s a competition that requires balance, agility, strength, stamina, quickness and coordination among other physical qualities.

However, what may set the sport apart from the rest more than anything are the non-physical attributes required. The biggest, strongest, quickest and most athletic men in the world wouldn’t stand much of a chance on the mat without perseverance, determination, heart and a relentless ambition to succeed.

It’s those latter qualities that Tomas Gonzales hopes will give him the edge he needs to make the Air Force Greco-Roman wrestling team this year after failing to make the cut last year due to injury.

To hear Gonzales, an airman 1st class from the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, talk about wrestling, one might think it means more to him than oxygen.

“I find myself so driven at times that all I can do is eat, breath and sleep wrestling,” he said.

Gonzales, 21, has been eating, breathing and sleeping wrestling for eight years. Since being motivated by his father to give wrestling a try in junior high school, Gonzales has had a practically obsessive desire with becoming an elite performer. He said that goal is a large part of what drives him to complete three workouts of running, wrestling and weight lifting each day. That’s not even counting the 100 to 300 push-ups he does every morning when he wakes up and the 300 to 400 more he does every night before bed.

“I never quit,” he said. “When my body feels like giving up after a vicious workout, I hear the Air Force wrestling coach yelling, ‘Just quit! Go home and make it easy on yourself.’ I use that as fuel.”

Gonzales will attempt to make the Air Force team at 145.5 pounds, a far cry from the average 200 pounds he carries, or even the 160 and 171 he wrestled at in high school. He believes that weight-cutting will give him another critical advantage he may need to make the cut.

“This is only my second year wrestling Greco-Roman,” he said, “so I’ve had to play catch-up all year learning the different style. Greco-Roman is all upper body wrestling, and wrestling at 145.5 will give me more of an advantage in length and strength.”

Despite his lack of experience, there is no lack in self-confidence.

“I have a pretty good chance to make the team, I think,” Gonzales said. “There were five of us in my weight class last year, and they take the two best guys in each weight class. I’ve been studying film and training non-stop all year long. I’m just hungry. I want it.”

It’s not a moral victory he’s hungry for, either.

“I’ve always dreamed of competing against the best in the world,” he said. “I’ve wrestled Olympic-level wrestlers with everything I’ve got. I learned I have much to improve on. Some people tell me, ‘at least you can say you wrestled some of the greats,’ but I want to say more than that. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to be the best.”

When Gonzales does reach his goals, he said he won’t forget the two virtues he holds to strongest.

“Pride and respect go hand-in-hand with me,” he said. “When I make the team this year, I’ll wear that Air Force singlet with pride, and when I step out on that mat, I’ll demand respect.”