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YOUNG WRESTLERS CONTINUE IN THEIR FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS
The Palm Beach Post ) Greg A. Bedard; 07-17-2002
It all started innocently enough.
One day about two years ago, Anthony Soto, then 5 years old, was
looking at his father's trophy collection from his wrestling days at old Twin
Lakes High School.
"He said he wanted one," Lupe Soto said. "I said, 'Well, you've got to
wrestle.' "
Soto hit the Internet and found the Wellington Wrestling Club, headed
by Paul Westfield. Anthony progressed so much last year that he won a
large trophy from the Florida Amateur Wrestling Association (FAWA).
Soon, big sister Elena got the bug, too. "She saw the big trophy and
wanted to wrestle," Soto said.
At least they have matching gold medals now. That's because the Soto
siblings each won one at the recent Sunshine State Games.
"It's exciting, but they have a long way to go," Soto said. "I'm not
really pushing on whether they win or lose. It's more whether they are having
fun and excited about it. A lot of times they don't know whether they win
or lose."
Both have been doing a lot of winning. Anthony, a 7-year-old student at
Starlight Cove Elementary, and Elena, a 12-year-old at Congress Middle,
should be among the top wrestlers when the FAWA announces its wrestlers
of the year.
"They are great kids," Westfield said. "They have great attitudes and
the biggest thing is they have fun in what they are doing.
"One thing that has been great to watch with Anthony is he goes out
there because he likes the sport and he understands whether he wins or loses,
that's not a big thing. When he wins, he's happy. But if he loses, he's
still OK. He's just got a great, great consistent attitude. He
understands that it's about the competition, not the result."
Elena is one of many girls who are joining the sport.
"She's just done tremendously," Westfield said. "She kind of started
out slow, but as she gained more knowledge and confidence, she has improved
tremendously. She's a very tough competitor."
So tough in fact that at a recent wrestling camp, Elena won an award
for being the "bad boy" during the week. She cut her lip one day, got three
stitches and was back wrestling later that night.
And don't think that Elena will stop her pursuit of the sport once she
reaches high school, where there are a handful of girls wrestling on
various varsity teams. Not only does she want to wrestle in high school, Elena
has her heart set on making the Olympics one day.
"She really wants to do it," Soto said. "The next Olympics will be the
first one where they have the sport, so she might have to wait for the next
one."
The Sotos got a glimpse of greatness at the wrestling camp when they
met Cael Sanderson, who recently became the first college wrestler to
finish his career by going undefeated and winning four straight national
championships.
"That was huge because I had just bought the videos of Cael Sanderson'
s victories," Soto said. "They were all excited. Now he's more of a star
because they saw him on video. They love him now."
Who knows, maybe some day Anthony and Elena will be the ones
instructing eager campers.
"They get along great," Westfield said. "They help each other. In the
practice room, they help the other kids. They are just great kids. They
are very disciplined and come from a dedicated family.
"If there are any kids in our club that deserve recognition for their
dedication and their great attitudes, it's those kids. They're
tremendous."
