GILROY—Every wrestler’s career begins in a room just like this one. All it took was one whiff of the unmistakable scent of the room; one step onto the mat and feeling the familiar squish beneath his bare feet and the memories came flooding back to five-time UFC champion Randy Couture.
“I spent 42 years of my life on a mat just like this one,” Couture said to a captivated group of Mustangs and Hawks wrestlers Sept. 17 at the school. “I’ve been knocked down. I’ve been up and down and all over the place. Getting young kids to recognize where they’re at and where they can go with this sport is what it’s all about.”
Couture, along with USA Wrestling star and up-and-coming Bellator MMA fighter Aaron Pico, swung by the high school to talk with the Gilroy wrestlers and offer them pointers on their own careers. The duo answered questions from the herd of young Gilroy wrestlers on topics ranging from how they train to what it was like for Couture to act in “The Expendables” movie.
Seniors like Gavin Melendez paid especially close attention. Both Couture and Pico stressed the importance of mentally preparing for a fight and as Melendez embarks on his final season with the Mustangs, he said he’ll be doing that, too.
“They’re on the big stage, so we can get to that stage by mentally preparing like they do,” Melendez said. “Seeing that they can do it means we can do it. If we train as hard as they do, we can definitely accomplish what they have
and better.”
After the Q&A, both Couture and Pico scoured the room, watching the young wrestlers sparring with one another. Pico, who turns 19 on Saturday, jumped in to tussle with a few youngsters and offer tips on their form.
Being on the GHS campus was all too familiar for Pico, who wrestled in the annual Junior MidCals tournament held at the school when he was younger. The Bay Area native’s history with the Mustangs goes even further as his lone state title was won over former Gilroy High wrestler Paul Fox when he was a freshman. It was instances like that, Pico said, that helped prepare him for his own career first with USA Wrestling and now Bellator.
“I remember coming to Gilroy and wrestling the top guys in California. I remember this tournament was the toughest tournament,” Pico said. “It helped me handle that pressure, especially being so young and being in the spotlight…It brought back a lot of memories.”
Both Pico and Couture took time to sign autographs and take photos with the Gilroy Mustangs, who waited patiently with smiles stretched wide across their faces. And it wasn’t just the kids who were excited either. Mustangs head coach Greg Varela said he felt “like a kid in a candy store” as he posed for pictures with Couture and Pico alongside principle Marco Sanchez.
“Randy Couture is a guy we’ve been watching for years now…it’s not often we get someone like him coming in here,” Varela said, smiling and shaking his head in disbelief. “It’s one thing to see guys on TV, but to sit here with Aaron Pico, a guy who they kind of know and they’ve seen before and have him sit here and tell them ‘I was like you’…I think it shows these guys if this is something they want, this is what they’re going to have to do.”
Both Couture and Pico said events like the one at Gilroy High are something they hold dear. These events, they said, allow them to give back to the sport that has given them both so much.
“It’s always fun to meet young wrestlers, young athletes. It’s one of the things…You get to see a bunch of young, enthusiast kids who want to learn how you did it,” Couture told the Dispatch.
“They’re the future and we need them to do great things,” Pico added. “If I can give them a little word of encouragement to succeed, that’s awesome.”
