Co-Captain Pablo Sanchez ’19 began his wrestling career when he entered Andover as a Junior. Sanchez is currently ranked eighth in the New England League and fourth in the Class-A league. According to Sanchez, he was looking for a winter sport that would help him with football and was told that wrestling would make him better. After his first season, Sanchez developed a love and passion for wrestling.
“Something about it, going through that tough day of classes and at the end of the day getting on the mat, being able to let all of my stress out is something that will always appeal to me,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez cites Haroldo Nesbeth ’17, a Post-Graduate last year, as one of his biggest influences. Nesbeth taught Sanchez about having the correct mindset going into matches.
“The biggest thing early on was helping me adapt my mindset to wrestling. I think a lot of the sport is really mental and if you go in with the wrong mentality then you’ve already lost half the match. It’s really just going in with the attitude that you’re the best wrestler on the mat and that no matter what move you’re going to hit it’s going to be successful and your opponent can’t really stop you,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez is from Los Angeles and trains a lot when he is at home.
Head Coach Richard Gorham ’86 said, “He’s made himself a much better technical wrestler through hard work and that’s paying off this year. He is the guy who sets the example of ‘this is how to work’… If we teach a technique and it’s time to break out into a drill, he’s the first one working before anyone else is. He works harder than everyone else so he sets the example of how others can and should act, both during practice and during meets.”
“Pablo’s first year on the team, I remember standing with Coach Gorham seeing him drill, and he was just exhausted dripping sweat on the mat his shirt soaked through and we saw he had no off switch, no concept of pacing, he just went and he went 100 percent,” said Co-Captain Pierce Bausano ’18.
According to his coach and teammates, Sanchez’s work ethic inspires them to work their hardest and always fight to the end.
Coach Gorham said, “He is the type of human that we value here at Andover. The program that we are trying to run here is a program where hard work gets rewarded and it doesn’t matter if you’re a first-year wrestler or a tenthyear wrestler.”
