Gabe Dean Was Wrestling Not To Lose
Gabe Dean Was Wrestling Not To Lose
Hype. It can be tough to ignore.
That’s exactly what happened to Gabe Dean one year ago at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas invite.
After placing third in the NCAA Championships as a freshman, Gabe Dean came into his sophomore year as "The Man" at 184 pounds. He had just three losses as a freshman, two of them coming to three-time NCAA Champion Ed Ruth. Ruth graduated making Dean the top returning wrester at the weight and the heavy favorite to win a national title.
Somewhere along the way things started to change for Dean and his mentality began to shift. He started to focus less on wrestling and more on not losing. This can be troublesome for anyone.
Entering the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite last year, Dean was undefeated, ranked #1 and seeded #1, but took two losses and ended up in 4th place.
Dean is a pretty levelheaded individual but he opens up about the struggles he had a year ago and how he was able to deal with them. Here is what he had to say:
"The Las Vegas tournament this year, I’m not gonna sit here and make any excuses for my losses because I lost, twice", he said. "Those guys were better than me that day. Rightfully so they placed higher and they won.
"I won’t make any excuses about that. I will say that my mentality, not only going into that
tournament but up until that point, was definitely not where it needed to be. I was caught up in a lot of distractions, the hype I guess.
"I didn’t remind myself", "'Dean added. "Gabe it doesn’t matter if you win or lose but its how you prepare and go out and wrestle that matters the most'. The fact that I lost hurt me but the thing that burned me up inside after that tournament the most was the fact that, how I lost.
"Every single match, not even talking about the ones I lost, my head was in a a different place and I was focused on the wrong things that I couldn’t even control. I wouldn’t change that tournament at all. If you would allow me to go back and say I took first I wouldn’t change it.
"One of the most important things I learned from this sport", Dean continued, "I don’t care whether I win or lose another match after this tournament. I will wrestle with no baggage and no fear of losing anymore. The fear of losing was in me when I wrestled in that tournament because I was 'Gabe Dean' or 'the hype' or 'the guy', I guess.
But after that tournament, I wasn’t the guy anymore and I don’t care if I ever am the guy again. I’m not gonna wrestle with the baggage I went into that tournament with. Every match I’m just making it a fist fight, and win or lose I’m walking off the mat knowing I didn’t go into the match selling myself short on anything I was caught up in.
And that’s what I learned from that tournament."
Tune in this weekend as Gabe tries to redeem himself and take home the title at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite streaming LIVE on FloWresting.
Learn more about Gabe Dean and who he is
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