Charles Andella '25 Recruiting Profile

Wrestling is what I enjoy to do. I constantly think about what I can do better and how I can wrestle better to meet my goals. I originally started wrestling November 2022 after I was told by my BJJ coach that it would help my grappling. I went into that wrestling room for the first time not knowing what to expect, but what I found was priceless. In that wrestling room I found the sport of wrestling, and with it a lot of friends and immediately a lot of aspirations and dreams that I want to achieve. As mentioned above, I did BJJ for about 2 years before I started wrestling, so I have around 3 years of overall grappling experience. My first season was somewhat good, although I didn’t get many opportunities as a lot of other schools did, I did pretty well for my first season, even placing at my first ever tournament.

Speaking of first tournament, My first tournament was the Weymouth invitational. I went into that gym wanting to win, or atleast place, and that’s what I did. I lost my first match which put me into consolation where I continued to win my next 3 matches but lose my last match for 6th place. I have to say that I’m proud of myself and what i’ve accomplished in my first season of wrestling, but I am training during the whole off season and summer at a wrestling camp near me, to better my skills and make sure that next season is going to be my season.

Not only do I love to do wrestling, I also adore to watch wrestling. In my free time I will find myself watching NCAA state championships, or matches from years prior, or even massachusetts state championships to see what it really takes to pull off a state title. I’m also a big fan of instructionals and will buy instructionals from time to time, to better my skills even when I’m out of wrestling practice. 

Wrestling is all about mindset. The fact that it’s physically and mentally hard on you is what attracts me the most to the sport. When you’re on that wrestling mat, it’s almost like you’re not only proving your wrestling skills but proving your mental fortitude and grit to be able to step on that mat and show the world what you’re made of.

As for what I‘m good at specifically, I naturally started out in wrestling being good in the scramble due to prior BJJ experience. If I can’t finish a takedown I’ll scramble to get two, and nearly always when I have an opportunity to score, I will score. My favorite shot is a John Smith Low single, my favorite set-up is the arm drag, my favorite breakdown is a coffee grinder, (or a straight jacket, head behind the tricep grab the wrist and drive forwards) and my favorite pinning combination is an arm-bar stack. My style is a lot different from other wrestlers, due to the fact that I chain wrestle a lot more than normal people. As of late, I’ve been experimenting with shots that utilize chain wrestling to score, such as shooting a double and baiting your opponent to front headlock cover and then dumping them or short arm dragging them To score.

Overall, I feel like if I’m given a chance to wrestle at your University, for whoever’s seeing this, I will surprise you at how good I am and how committed I am to this sport.