Athlete of the Week: Clarence Miller

Photos by Katherine Odell

Q&A with Senior Varsity Wrestler Clarence Miller.

When did you start wrestling?
2nd grade.

How did you get into wrestling?
My parents put me in it. My dad wrestled in high school and though the sport taught him a lot of lessons he needed in life and signed me up hoping it would do the same for me.

What lessons has wrestling taught you?
The most important lesson it taught me is how to learn from failure. It also taught me how to be disciplined.

Do you wrestle outside of high school?
I balance it with football so I mostly do it in the winter but you can do camps in the spring or summer. Off season is mostly just getting stronger, faster, better and that kinda helps with both sports so you get better at both at the same time.

How did you compete in tournaments outside of high school?
When your not in high school there are kids clubs that compete against each other in tournaments every weekend.

How do the kids clubs work?
Kids club compete with other kids clubs around the state and other states. They have age groups and weight classes for each age group as well so like eight and under 85 pounds or 10 and under 95 pounds. High schoolers can also compete in kids clubs for after season for some more wrestling.

During the offseason do you usually participate in kids clubs?
I have for the past few years, it’s good to get a little work in every now and then. Normally for me however, I always start thinking about football so I’m always getting bigger and stronger for that. Now that I’m nearly done wrestling I’ll be done wrestling I’ll be done with the offseason work I normally do.

What is one of your strengths as a wrestler?
One of my strengths is I’m quick for my size.

How have you done in the past?
I went to state last year. I ended up losing and didn’t place but I barely lost my last match.

What are your goals as an individual?
To place in state, so top 6.

Who has influenced you the most?
Well I’ve had four coaches in four years, each influenced me in a different way. They give me their “pump-up speeches” or work me harder and that just influences me to work harder and do better at tournaments.

How has your current coach influenced you?
Our current coach has a lot of experience in doing well in wrestling so he is able to test us how he did well and how to replicate that.