The "Noah Constrictor", calm
right before his bout at
Masters Fri., Feb. 21.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
It was now 11:30 a.m.--a packed house in the new Ryan Center next to Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon watching six matches at a time--and La Jolla 120-pounder Noah Pace had already been up for six and a half hours, since he got out of bed at 5 a.m. (Wrestling requires endurance just to get to the meet.)
Pace, a junior who has been league champion two straight years coming into this season of going to the Masters elite CIF event, had a first-round bye and had been sitting in the stands alongside teammates for quite a while. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Finally down in the entry line for bouts about to happen, he was calmly pacing, talking with a reporter. What is your approach?
"Do what I do. Don't react to the other wrestler."
In other words, have a plan of attack, and activate it. Don't wait for his opponent to dictate what's going to happen.
Always amiable, often smiling, Noah was asked how he keeps things positive throughout the week. I meant in the big picture of life, but he took it more focused on this particular activity.
"I'm only going to be wrestling for another two to six years," he replied calmly on the exterior, insides gearing up for his bout against Isaac Navarro of Vista. "Make the most of it."
Earlier, I told him we needed to come up with a new identity for him. As a freshman, it was mild-mannered Clark Kent. (He wears thick-rimmed black glasses, and as a ninth-grader he looked like a nice little boy.) Then, having changed his hairstyle and filled out quite a bit, earlier this year it was the "Noah Constrictor" (play on boa constrictor) (which is stitched into the back of his letterman's jacket, which he was wearing a lot this morning to keep warm in the stands).
Any suggestions?
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