Kyle McAllister
Final draft
HE3
To say the least Mr. Daniel Schuh has been the most influential person I’ve met in my life. Even though half the time when he see’s me he blurts, “hey fatty!” in a sarcastic yet truthful tone. Coach Schuh is my wrestling coach here at Affton, and if any of you have met him you can see why calling me “fatty” has become a common occurrence. He a brutally honest guy who will certainly let you know his opinion on whatever the topic may be.
The first time I met him was in seventh grade when I walked into his fifth hour social studies class. The place was mayhem with the worst group of kids my class had to offer. I immediately gained respect for him when in a week he had us whipped into gear with a good attitude toward school and we were nothing less than glad to take notes. He never really noticed me till one day after his high school wrestling practice he stayed just to check out the new talent on the middle school team. He saw me effortlessly walking over all the other kids in the room, some of which were returning state medalists, and treating them as if they truly weren’t worthy to step on the same mat as me. His jaw dropped in awe. He attended my AAU wrestling tournaments for the next few years giving me pointers and praises on my wrestling.
From day one of high school wrestling he had me referring to him as coach and had my C filled report card pinned to the wall in the small shabby wrestling room. Both of these were resented completely by my freshmen self with my big head filled with expectations put on me by the athletic community of Affton. So needless to say he wasn’t on the top of my list of people I wanted to talk to, much less be around. But on a daily schedule I had to do both without a choice in the matter.
Through out my freshmen season I racked up win after win after yet another win and at all times when every one would praise me he would walk right up in front and piss all over that with what I seemingly could never do right and that was be perfect I his eyes. Now how could a guy like this be influential when acts like a staff sergeant and constantly plays as the devils advocate against you? For telling me what I was bad at, for putting me in my place which no one had yet seen, and above all for royally pissing me off. Because the harder he would push me, the harder I’d push my opponent. More of a jerk and painful he was to me I would unleash on my helpless opposition.
I believe every athlete needs to be pushed to a level of excellence that is rarely seen on the high school level. Every coach has their methods of getting it done. Coach Schuh’s is just flat out superior among the other coaching styles. His methods have shaped what kind of wrestler I am today and that has mirrored into who I have become as a student and improved who I would like to be as a man. He has pushed me to extremes I couldn’t even fathom when I walked into that sweat stained room just less than two years ago. For this I humbly thank him and ask to keep the torture and scrutiny coming.