Dominic Schiavone '23 Recruiting Profile

I was young when I started wrestling at age 7.  I had no expectation of what wrestling was.  At the end of my first season in football, some friends were joining wrestling. I had heard it would make me a better football player and wanted to have fun with my friends, so I told my parents I wanted to join.  I felt like I had found my sport at that very moment. Until then, I was a three-sport athlete, but after my first year of wrestling, my focus began to shift. First, I dropped baseball because the seasons conflicted. Then at the end of my second year of wrestling as an 8 year old, I told my dad that I did not want to play football anymore. My dad asked why, and encouraged me to think about the reason until morning. When he came home from work, I sprinted to the door with the answer. “If I stop wrestling, then the kid that didn’t will beat me”.  This has been the driving force in my wrestling journey. I am still a three-sport athlete--it's just the sports are Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Greco wrestling. 

 I have wrestled in all three disciplines since I was 8 and have enjoyed the high and lows of the sport. Coach Izzy Martinez famously says “wrestling is life”. That is one of the truest statements I can think of.  It encapsulates my life. Either I am prepared and will be successful, or I have failed to prepare and reap what I have sewn.

I am now a 4 x varsity wrestler for Minooka Community High School and club wrestler at Izzy Style School of Wrestling.   I have been wrestling now for 11 years. I have wrestled with clubs in the IKWF (Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation) and for school since then.  Every year, I wrestled in preseason and through Greco and Freestyle season so I have more mat time and matches than most other athletes my age. Before my freshman year, I had already earned a USA Wrestling 1^st Place Greco State Championship, a placement in IKWF Folkstyle State Championship, two all-Conference folkstyle championships, and a 1^st Place in both Greco and Freestyle at USA Wrestling Northern Plains among other successes.  As a freshman in high school, I wrestled mostly varsity and went on to earn a 5-0 fresh/soph record, a 4-0 JV record, a 10-8 varsity record, and won my JV Conference. As a sophomore, my record was 16-6.  As a Junior, my record was 23-7, and I was grateful to win 1^st Place in my region, 3^rd Place in my section, compete at State, and go on to earn Most Valuable Player for the year at school.  I am excited to start my senior year wrestling season next month.

When I'm not wrestling, I love to fish, kayak and just spend time with family and friends. I have a big blue jeep that I enjoy working on and also love playing with my three dogs.