Wrestling Blogs - Rollie Peterkin

Ted Williams may rightfully be considered the best hitter to ever pick up a bat. He won the Triple Crown three times and retired with a career batting average of .344. His .406 batting average in the 1941 season is unsurpassed to this day. The Kid, as he came to be known, was a wizard behind the plate. As a child, he carried a bat with him to school and swung it every chance he got, trying to imagine fastballs and sliders shooting by. His childhood friend once remarked, “He’d close one eye, then the other, figuring out what he… more »

You know that feeling when you’re in the shower and the water is too hot so you turn the knob a little bit, but then it’s too cold? You struggle back and forth with increasingly less torque, but you can never get exactly the right temperature. That’s how I feel all the time. To me, the season is a never ending process of adjusting and tinkering. I meet minor setbacks on a daily basis and try to overcome them. I make many mistakes and have many flaws, and I try to correct them. Most of all, I try to never… more »

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by truly great people who have taught me many lessons. My mentors have come in all shapes and sizes, and there are a few things I’ve tried to remember to make the most of them. Seek out the best The best way to learn is from those who have “been there”—someone who has already navigated successfully through the peaks and valleys of life’s journey. These are the best kind of mentors. Many people claim to be experts, but almost nothing can compare to first-hand experience. No one reaches triumph without tribulation,… more »

Here is a quote from a book called Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. The book itself has nothing to do with wrestling or even athletics, but I found this passage particularly inspiring. He illustrates better than I can the concept of Jumping Levels through his image of a mountain. In his flowrestling blog, Matt Valenti says he pictures The Comfort Zone as a box to be stretched; I picture it as a mountain, waiting to be climbed. Enjoy the hike. “If we think of the struggle as a climb up a mountain, then we must visualize a mountain with… more »

As I move back into school this year, it brings me back to a harder time: the beginning of my sophomore year. My roommate, Thomas, and I had to completely repaint and fix up our new room, which was debris-laden and disgusting at best. Due to an error in the housing arrangements, we were forced to live in the basement of the house. The only problem was that it wasn’t actually a room, but the former kitchen. We hauled bag after bag of trash out before we could even move our furniture in. Upon moving in, we found three dead… more »

There was a day when it was noble to die on the field of battle, clutching your sword until your last breath sputtered out. In ancient Norse mythology, only those who died bravely in battle were sent to an afterlife in Valhalla. This was the warrior’s ideal end—not a thing to run from, but to seek. At tournaments, often you hear, “I hope I don’t have to wrestle so-and-so…he’s a state champ.” There is nothing wrong with the fear of losing, as it is something that gives nightmares to even the best wrestlers. But to allow your fear of losing… more »

Preface: To all in the Flowrestling community, this introductory post is taken from my blog on Masswrestling.com. I will be posting more of them up on Flo when I get around to it, but some are intended specifically for a Massachusetts audience. If you would like to read them for now, they can be seen here: http://masswrestling.com/rollie. Enjoy. When I started wrestling in third grade, I had no idea how much my life would change over the coming years. I came home from my first practice and told my dad, “This is what I want to do.” That day was… more »