How you do the little things is how you do all things.
I’m a big believer that actions speak louder than words.
That taking care of details are fundamental in your personal quest to be the best you can be.
Or as one local legend wrote, “sloppiness is a disease… it’s the little things that give you the edge.”
People who are really good at what they do – work, sports, life – often make whatever they are good at look very easy. Which of course it is not. And when asked how they do it their explanation invariably leads back to an unfailing attention to detail. They have an uncanny ability to take a genuine interest in the little things about their craft and life, and derive great happiness from that. To live in the moment. When you are a witness to it, it’s a wonderful thing to see.
On the evening of Friday, Nov. 13, I was reminded of the value of taking care of the little things while watching Penn State wrestle Lock Haven in Rec Hall. Reminded of its vital importance by a sophomore Kinesiology major from Yatesboro, Pa., who was wrestling his first-ever match in a Penn State singlet. And it had nothing to do with the skill he showed on the mat.
Here’s the backstory.
Friday the 13th was a collegiate sports fan’s dream in Happy Valley. Penn State’s women’s soccer, men’s ice hockey, women’s basketball, and wrestling all had games/meets that evening. If you had a jones to watch outstanding young athletes compete, you had several great options from which to choose.
I chose to go to the wrestling dual meet, mostly due to the debut matches of two highly touted students. I was very interested to see how they performed in Rec Hall in their first outings representing Penn State.
For those who are not wrestling fans, a wrestling dual meet consists of 10 wrestlers from each team competing one-on-one in weight classes from 125 pounds up to 285 pounds. At each weight the two opposing team’s wrestlers come out onto the mat and wrap a colored band around their ankle and secure it with Velcro. Some schools use only one band, while others use two, one for each ankle.
The home team gets green bands and the visiting team gets red bands. The bands help the referee communicate scoring to the scorekeeper. The ref does this by wearing a green sweat band on one wrist, and a red one on the other. When the wrestler with the green band scores points the ref holds up his arm with the green sweatband and displays the number of points with his fingers. And vice versa.
Scholastic and collegiate wrestlers are indoctrinated into the ankle band process at an early age and get used to it. The routine before starting a match is always the same – wrestlers walk onto the mat, wrap bands around their ankles, shake hands, get in position, and boom – wrestle. This scenario is played out hundreds of times every week on mats all across the U.S.
A similar routine takes place in reverse at the end of each match. The match is over, wrestlers stop wrestling, shake hands, take off their ankle bands and drop them on the mat, the ref raises the winner’s hand and the wrestlers walk off the mat.
The thing to note is when the matches end, the wrestlers remove their ankle bands and drop them on the mat. They just drop them. Wherever they happen to be standing. The next wrestler comes out, picks them up from wherever they lay and puts them on. A simple reflexive act. And again, one repeated hundreds of times every week.
Midway through the dual meet against Lock Haven on Friday the 13th, Jason Nolf trotted onto the mat for his first match as a Penn State wrestler. A sophomore by class and a redshirt freshman by athletic eligibility, Jason is one of several new starters on the team. As an indication of how good Jason is, although this was only his first time wrestling as an official Penn State wrestler, he was already ranked the #6 wrestler in his weight class (157 pounds) in the country.
Jason proceeded to take all of 2 minutes and 42 seconds to pin his opponent. (A regular match lasts seven minutes). Certainly a promising way to start a Penn State career.
When the match was over, Jason shook his rival’s hand and had his arm raised in victory. But when he removed his ankle bands instead of just dropping them on the mat as every other wrestler does, he neatly and carefully laid them on the mat between the starting lines, first one, and then the other on top of it. As if to demonstrate that this mat is where he conducts his business and he will treat it with the respect it deserves. Once the bands were meticulously placed, Jason left the mat.
This little act, this detail, took a few seconds to register with me. I had never seen a wrestler do that before. Jason had taken a moment that normally passes in a haphazard way and is not given a thought by anyone, paid attention to the detail of it and endowed it with reverence.
Later that weekend, Jason defeated the #3 wrestler in the country in his weight class, and this past weekend defeated two wrestlers on the team’s road trip to California. As I write this he has moved up to the #4 ranking in his weight class.
Given the inattention to detail I see today in some places, it is heartwarming to see a young athlete perform well and display a sense of regard for their sport.
Now understand that I do not know and have never met Jason Nolf. Until that Friday I had never watched him wrestle. So I have no idea if this is something he’s done for years or just recently adopted. Either way I suspect that a young man who shows that much attention to detail likely shows it in all aspects of his life. In other words, someone you want representing your school. Someone to be proud of.
I’m very much looking forward to watching Jason Nolf wrestle for Penn State these next four years.
