Episode 237: How to Be A Successful Wrestler With Empire Wrestling Academy Owner John Degl

Fitness, Wellness, and Longevity

How to Be A Successful Wrestler With Empire Wrestling Academy Owner John Degl
Welcome back to the Fitness, Wellness, and Longevity Podcast! In today's episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with owner and head coach of Empire Wrestling Academy John Degl. John is a New York State High School wrestling champion and in 1992 John packed up his things and drove from Mahopac, New York to the famed University of Iowa intent on pursing his academic and athletic career. With grit and determination, John made the team for Coach Dan Gable went on to qualify for and wrestle at the NCAA Championships for the Hawkeyes, and participate in four National Championship teams. He has coached multiple state champions and All-Americans and has a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to be a champion in one of the most grueling sports.
In today's podcast, we cover:
0:00 The Lock Down
2:30 Pivoting After Lock Down
7:30 Being an Aging Athlete
9:30 Shaping his business after NCAA
13:00 The risks of travel in 2021
23:00 The difficulties of laying off employees
24:15 The strength of the wrestling community
26:30 John's wrestling career
32:00 How John went from not being allowed to wrestle to becoming a state champion
35:00 The freedom of being broken
37:00 The wrestling camp experience
38:00 There is no excuse to miss practice
43:20 You Don't Need Permission to Succeed
44:30 Work and Sacrifice= success
45:00 If you to be exceptional, you have to be obsessed
47:00 Long Island Wrestling
51:00 Making the best of what you have
53:00 Better, Worse, and Equal in the wrestling room
54:30 Peaking
55:30 Getting destroyed by Kurt Angle
58:30 Coach Dan Gable
60:01 Once you have been broken
60:03 Leaning about coaching
60:06 Changing mentalities to gain success
60:08 Trusting the people who love you
60:19 Trust someone else until you have enough info
60:10 Parents as mentors?
60:12 Eliminating winning as the goal
60:13 Improving as the goal