My Dream

Wrestling with life

Matt Miller can tie up an opponent with a few fast moves. He'd just like to untangle his future.

Interview by JOHN BARRY
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 15, 2003

[Times photo: Kinfay Moroti] Manatee High School wrestler Matt Miller, 16, pauses before continuing in a recent wrestling match at Countryside High in Clearwater.

I moved to Bradenton from Dayton, Ohio, to live with my mom. But I miss my friends and I want to move back. This had been going on for a while. Earlier in the season, my coach talked me out of leaving the team. But (after this photograph was taken), I quit the team. It's not that I'm not good enough, it's just that I was thinking of moving back to Ohio my senior year.

In the picture, a lot was going through my mind at that moment: the match, my relationship with my mom, and what the future holds for me. The thing is, in Florida, I could be a state champion. In Ohio, the wrestling is so much better that to be a champion, I would have to be three times better.

I wrestle at 140 pounds, which means I have to cut a lot of weight. My weight last summer went up to 167, so it's really hard to make 140. But I can't wrestle at a higher weight. We have a state champ two weight classes above, and we have a senior in the weight class above mine. It could go either way; I don't know who would win.

So I went down to 140 for the team and so I could compete. I haven't lost at 140, but I've lost a couple at 145 and 152.

I like the adrenaline rush and the competition. I played spring football, and I love baseball, but wrestling is my favorite sport. Any given day, anyone can be beaten -- by one move. It's all your own, not like football. It's no one else's fault if you lose.

I just need to talk to Coach. I feel guilty; I know I'm letting the team down.

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