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Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A Mat Marvel
Central Oklahoma, OK
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By: Andrew Gilman
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Photo(s) By: Wes Sharp
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The fourth-year coach at Midwest City, Marple led the Bombers to the state title last year. Marple, a state champion wrestler from Altus in 1995, has also coached at traditional powers Perry and Central Oklahoma.
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They always say to do something that makes you happy, even if it doesn’t pay a lot. This is what makes me happy.
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I’ve always been at the right place at the right time as far as coaching goes.
Wrestling is a mentally and physically demanding sport. It teaches you self discipline and teaches you to compete and have the mentality to compete in a one-on-one situation. Once wrestlers finish their sport, it puts them in a position that you can compete at any job in any business. You learn to work hard.
One thing that we promote to our wrestlers is to never quit. Listen to the coaches, fight and give it your all. If you come up short, that’s fine. I’m OK with that. It’s easy to give up, but the ones that do, don’t last long. There are not a whole lot of people that can do it.
Growing up, I loved John Smith. My dad used to take me to Stillwater and we watched OSU and I saw Kenny Monday and Kendall Cross and John Smith.
I was always the first on the floor trying to get an autograph.
I had an older brother, seven years older, and I was the little brother who wanted to do what he did. He was good, and by the time I was in first grade, I wanted to try wrestling, tried it and I loved it. My dad would load the little league wrestling team up and we’d travel the state.
When you’re wrestling and you win state, it’s a relief. As a coach, you take it more to heart. You work with them, and when they achieve their goal, it’s a great feeling.
I’ve been really fortunate and I got to learn a lot from a lot of coaches. When I went to Perry that opened a new door for me and it was a tradition-rich program.
Everybody in Perry understands wrestling. No other program in the country has won as many state titles as Perry. We were given a police escort on the way out of town to the state tournament.
We won dual state two years ago and all sorts of tournaments along the way. Then we got to the regionals and we started to fade, and we didn’t do well at state. That was bad for us. Last year, I told our guys that all those other tournaments didn’t matter, the big one is the last week of February. We didn’t win all season long, but we won the big one and that was awesome. To see them succeed and come together was amazing.
I feel like I have one of the best coaching jobs in the state. We have great support and the parents here support us as well. Wrestling at Midwest City is tradition-rich and I like that. There are high expectations, and I prefer that. Midwest City is the place for me.
They always say to do something that makes you happy, even if it doesn’t pay a lot. This is what makes me happy.
Wrestlers have a lot of pride. They think they go through the toughest workouts and have one-on-one competitions. There are a lot of mental battles, too. But at the same time, it’s rewarding with all the training and in the end when you win, that’s something that is worth working for.
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