West Orange first-year wrestler Ishmael Hollis showcases mental toughness

WINTER GARDEN — Ishmael Hollis is hard to miss.

Weighing in as a heavyweight for high-school competition, the West Orange wrestler and football player has a towering stature. 

Still, looking calmly through glasses is a soft-spoken high-school senior — one who will play football in college and picked up wrestling for his senior year just to give it a shot.

And, considering that Hollis — in just the past month — has placed first among competitive fields at the King of the Ring tournament in Deltona and at the Michael P. Hutchins Invitational at Bishop Moore, it seems to be a shot that the Warrior senior was wise to take.

“Coach (Kristen) Iannuzzi inspired me to come out and join wrestling,” Hollis said. “I’ve been wanting to come out — I really wanted to do it this year because it’s my last year. I’ve been wanting to try every sport I can.”

Wrestling seemed to be a good sport for Hollis. Becoming a grappler gave him the opportunity to grow mentally, given the sport’s psychological element, as well as physically.

“I’ve grown a lot because wrestling,” Hollis said. “It calmed me down, because it’s a different aspect than football. Wresting makes you control your anger, in a way.”    

Although the rugged training regimen for wresting has been a difficult adjustment for Hollis, he said it doesn’t compare to the struggle he went through as a child. Financially, life has been tough on him.

“It’s never been an easy road for me, but I’ve had opportunities, and I just take them, and I just try,” Hollis said. “Because life wasn’t good for me, I guess, and sports was like an alternative; it kept me going.”

Iannuzzi said Hollis’ story of perseverance, in some ways, has been more of an inspiration to the team than his actual success on the mats.

“He’s had a rough life, and he’s turning around, and he’s taking the right steps to graduate and go into college and not using it as an excuse to fail,” Iannuzzi said.

What’s more, Hollis has seen his support system blossom through the West Orange High School community.

“Being here at West Orange, it’s like a family life for everything — they support every decision you make,” Hollis said. “Every good decision you make they support it 100%, and that’s what I like about West Orange and my wrestling team.”

Being new to the sport gave Hollis a steep learning curve, but he proved to be a quick and able learner.

“You can tell that he picks up on a sport quickly,” Iannuzzi said. “He watches not only his own matches on Hudl or video, but (also) he watches other people’s matches. … He analyzes, he listens to what people say, and he’s able to really process that quickly.”

Hollis said his favorite thing about wrestling is watching and analyzing his teammates.

“It works out pretty well for me,” he said. “I’m more of a sightseer; I look at what my teammates are doing and I try to do the same thing as them — or try to do it better.”

When he graduates, Hollis will be pursuing his football career with Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, for a year until moving on to Missouri. As he continues to push through the learning process of being a varsity wrestler, Hollis finds value in the mental toughness he continues to accumulate.

“I know my body gets tired, but it’s all just in your mind,” Hollis said. “That’s how I see it; that’s how everybody sees it in here. It’s all in our mind. So (we) let our bodies do the work.”