Personal Statement
My name is Tyler Rodriguez. I live in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. My father and high school wrestling coach is stationed at RAF Lakenheath, as a member of the United States Air Force. My family and I are a dedicated wrestling family. I'm currently a junior at Lakenheath high school and I have aspirations of not only going to college, but also wrestling in college and earning a four year degree.
As a military dependent I am part of the Department of Defense Dependent School. This has allows me to wrestle against other American high schools overseas, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization schools. We have a very hard schedule academically, and on the mat. We compete against teams from Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the Baltic states just to name a few. The season ends in February with the European wrestling championships. The competition here has an international flare that wrestlers in the United States can't have. There are good wrestlers overseas, and I feel I will be at an advantage when I go back to the United States for college.
As a freshman I finished the high school wrestling season with a 17-4 record. That included a Northern European Sectional Championship and DoDDS European Wrestling Championships 6th place finish. During my sophomore year, I was voted team captain. I also had an 8-1 record before I injured my patella tendon on my left knee during a match. I did not have to have surgery, but my season was over. However before the injury I wrestled two of the top 3 wrestlers at 113 lbs at that years DoDDS European Wrestling Championships and I had a 1-1 record against them.
I also wrestle for Legion Wrestling Academy in London, UK. At Legion I train with Coach Amir Eslami on my freestyle, and Greco-Roman. Coach Eslami has wrestled internationally in Europe, the United States, and Japan. We train a total of 10 hours a week three hours on Tuesday's, three hours on Thursday's, and two hours on Saturday followed by a two hour sparring session. On Monday's I practice two hours with my father on Folk style, and on Fridays I lift weights for two hours that is a total of 14 hours of wrestling training during the week in the offseason. During the high school wrestling season I practice two hours Monday through Friday, and wrestle 4-5 matches on Saturday's.
During the Month of Oct 2014 I wrestled the Derbyshire Open and the British Junior Wrestling Championships. At the Derbyshire Open I was the runner-up at 50k. I defeated the current English National Champion in the Semifinals, but lost a close match to the current British National Champion. I had similar success at the British Junior Wrestling Championships. I finished runner-up at the 50k weight class with the defending English and British National champions from the previous year leaving that weight class after wrestling me a few weeks earlier.
I am a very dedicated level head wrestler. I don't show boat, and I respect every opponent. I am also a leader to underclassman and a follower to my coaches. The wrestling and military life has helped me become who I am, and I would like to pay it forward at a school that gives me the opportunity.
