The True Test

A dream deferred? No, a dream gone.

 

But is one bad break the true test of one’s courage, resolve, resilience, and character? Of course, not. The response is.

 

The sport of wrestling has played a prominent role in Marshall Campbell’s family’s history. The Collegiate School senior’s grandfather J.B. Campbell was a high school state champion in West Virginia. His father Sean and uncle Michael competed for the Cougars back in the 1980’s.

 

As far back as second grade, Marshall attended wrestling camp at Collegiate. He participated in the MatCats program and then, as a 7^th grader, on the Cub team before making the jump to varsity the next winter. Since that time, he’s been a year-round wrestler, availing himself of the resources and competition in the Richmond Wrestling Club and working out with his Collegiate teammates and head coach Andy Stone.

 

“From the start, Marshall bought into what we were doing,” Stone said. “He connected well with the older guys because he had a lot of maturity for his age and was able to put in the type of work and effort that helped him improve quickly. He grew from that 8^th grader learning from the older guys to that older guy who set the example of energy and effort and hard work for everybody else.”

 

Marshall wrestled in the 120 weight class as an 8^th grader, then moved up to 126, 132, and 138 in the ensuing years. As a senior, he wrestled 145 (and was ranked third by the Richmond Times-Dispatch for much of the winter) before cutting back to 138 for the championship phase of the season.

 

He earned All-VISAA honors four times. He won the Prep League title as a sophomore. His was 27-10 as a senior and 106-58 during his varsity career.

 

“Marshall is a good wrestler because he’s really strong and has great conditioning, so he can push the pace,” Stone said. “The longer the match goes on, he wears the other guy out. His skill level is excellent. He doesn’t make many mistakes. He has mental toughness and gives a consistent performance no matter who he’s wrestling.”

 

Never was that mental toughness more important than in his last VISAA championship tournament.

 

You see, when he joined the varsity five years before, he set two long-term goals: win a state title and earn All-American distinction. His final chance came the weekend of February 14-15 when the best in the Commonwealth met at the Meadow Event Park in Doswell.

 

In a second-round match Friday, he faced Thomas Becker of Roanoke Catholic. After a scoreless first period, Marshall chose the bottom position to begin the second.

 

“I knew I could get up and get one point,” he said. “I was trying to do a simple stand-up, but I kept getting taken down to my knees. So I decided to do a move called a changeover which is when you shift your weight onto your butt and plant a hand and are able to get up because of the momentum shift. When I did the changeover, my (left) hand slipped out, so I basically put myself on my back.”

 

The two-minute period had hardly begun.

 

“As soon as I was on my back,” Marshall said, “I started thinking, Can I bridge for a minute and a half? I bridged until I couldn’t bridge any longer.”

 

At the 3:26 mark in the match, the referee slapped the mat. The match – and Marshall’s state championship dream – was over.

 

“I shook the other guy’s hand,” he said. “Shook the coach’s hand. Then went off on my own. The first thing that went through my mind was I’m not going to accomplish my goals. Then I thought about all the sacrifices I’d made. All the morning workouts plus practice. All the time I’d spent away from my friends because I was at tournaments. It was a crushing feeling.”

 

After composing himself, he talked to Stone, who counseled him to work through his disappointment, return the next day, and win his matches so he could advance to nationals. The next morning, he spent time with his dad, who had supported and encouraged him ever since he first stepped onto the mat a lifetime ago.

 

“I felt better after that,” Marshall said, “but I still wasn’t feeling great. Then, when I put my foot on the line in my first match, it was like a switch went off in my head. Just put it all out there. I knew what I had to do.”

Three matches and three victories later, he found himself wrestling Becker for third place. With 20 seconds left in regulation, he trailed by two points.

 

“I ended up having my favorite shot: a double-leg (takedown) where you lift him up and put him on the ground,” Marshall said of the move that evened the score. “I had to ride him out for 15 seconds. He was squirming and rolling and trying to get out, but I just stayed on top of him.

 

“I could tell he was really tired and taking a while to get to the center (to begin overtime). I thought, OK, I can push the pace because I have more gas in the tank. It felt really good.”

 

Controlling the action in the extra period, Marshall won 6-4.

 

“In my faith, I knew that God has a plan, and I’d see a reason for why this happened,” Marshall said. “It taught me a life lesson that when you get knocked down, you have to get up and persevere. No matter the circumstances, you have to get after it.”

 

The next weekend at the National Prep Wrestling Championships at Lehigh University, Marshall went 2-2 and ended his career two rounds from earning All-American honors. As fate would have it, in his penultimate match, he was again paired with Becker, whom he defeated 5-2.

 

“That was a great moment,” Stone said. “Everything clicked. Marshall wrestled his best at the end of the season.”

 

Time heals, of course. It allows the mind to clear and put the vicissitudes of life in perspective.

 

“As I reflect, I don’t think, I wish I’d put in more time or I wish I’d worked harder,” said Marshall, who’ll attend the Honors College at the University of Alabama where he’ll compete at the club level.

 

“Wrestling’s a sport where you work hard every day. There’s no ceiling. Every piece of work has meaning. For a lot of sports, you have to be quick or big or fast. For me, everybody’s my size. Everything’s in my control. Wrestling taught me self-discipline. It taught me to manage my time and my diet.

 

“I really found the sport I love most. For a lot of guys, football’s their thing or basketball’s their thing. For me, the night before wrestling starts is like Christmas. I’m just really happy with the experience I had.”

   ~ Weldon Bradshaw