Andrew
Middle School
ndrew doesn’t like to talk about the bullying he faced as a young child. But this seventh-grade student at Michigan Connections Academy does recognize that those unfortunate incidents were a turning point in his life—the point at which he decided to start wrestling. Today, Andrew’s amazing accomplishments include championships at the local, state, and national levels.
Few athletes ever achieve the kind of success Andrew has already achieved. Still just 13 years old, this Brownstown resident and Connections Academy seventh grader has racked up first-place finishes in local and regional tournaments and a third-place finish in a state-wide event. He also has three national championship titles as a key part of his club team.
Last April, he “took first place in the 12 & Under Folkstyle Individual Nuway Nationals.”
Always Looking Up
Andrew’s story already has a happy ending. The beginning was much more difficult. “It started with the neighborhood bullies picking on me, taking my stuff,” Andrew recalls, “just everything that a normal kid in the neighborhood would have to go through.”
Kids respond to bullying in a variety of ways. It’s difficult to imagine a better response than Andrew’s: motivation and remarkable determination.
He wakes up at 4:45 a.m. so he can get in a workout before school. During the week, he has track and wrestling practice, then competitions on weekends throughout Michigan, Ohio, and beyond.
As a sport, wrestling requires those same personality traits: motivation and determination. “He started at the bottom and worked his way up,” says Glenn Washington, Andrew’s coach. “Kids can get mentally fatigued with all of this. Andrew has an ability to comprehend things better than any kid I’ve seen in my 15 years.”
A Proud Father
Andrew’s father LaRue deserves credit as well. He’s the one who initially suggested wrestling to his then-young son, mostly as a way for him to stand up to the bullies. “When he first started, I was for a while ready to give up,” LaRue recalls. “But Coach Washington told me the cream was going to rise to the top.”
Andrew is still a long way from being fully grown; he wrestles in the 107-lb weight class. But he no longer worries about the neighborhood bullies. “Never,” Andrew says. “I haven’t seen them once.”