Unlike other athletes, wrestlers can never get away from their sport. What they accomplish away from the sport can be more important than what they do on the mat. Not only do they have to deal with the mentally consuming nature of the very competitive sport, they have to deal with denying replenishment to their war-torn bodies. To be a wrestler takes 10 percent dedication all day and every day.
Ralph DeNisco, a 184-pound redshirt sophomore wrestler, has dedication written on him by the cuts, bruises and abrasions covering his forehead and cheeks.
“[Wrestling] is pretty much always on my mind,” says DeNisco. “I try to relax, but it’s hard to get your mind off it. Every night when I go to sleep, I’m thinking about it, thinking how the day went, and the matches that are coming up. It’s everywhere; I wake up in the morning and I have to make the decision: can I eat, or do I have to work out? I can’t really go out on the weekends. There are a lot of sacrifices and you have to make them in order to be successful.”
After a strong first year in which DeNisco qualified for the NCAA championship and was chosen to The Amateur Wrestling News All-Rookie Team, DeNisco has proven that he is worthy of his current national rank of 14th.
DeNisco, however, has his eyes set on the top for himself:
“I want to be an individual national champion and the Big Ten champion.”
Right now is the time, right before the conference tournaments, when desire, grit, and determination are increased to gain momentum heading into the championships. DeNisco knows this and as a result, he sees these areas as critical for improvement in order to make the leap to excellence.
“I still need to pick up the intensity a little bit. I need to fix some little things that I am doing wrong now. I need to watch more tapes of opponents — know what they are going to do before they do it.”
Born and raised in New Jersey, DeNisco wears his home state like a badge. Like his state, DeNisco is blue-collar, Italian, and as tough as nails. It comes as no surprise that Wisconsin has a strong history of bringing in New Jerseyians to the wrestling squad.
“I was born and raised in New Jersey. The same town that Donny Pritzlaff (former U.W. wrestler) is from. His dad told Coach Davis and about me, I came to visit and I knew that this was the place.
DeNisco got his start in wrestling because his sister’s boyfriend wrestled in high school when he was little.
“He used to beat me down pretty badly,” DeNisco said. “Afterwards he’d help me up, dust me off, and tell me all about wrestling and the moves. I wanted to learn, so I told my father that I wanted to start.”
His wrestling style to this day is that of a young, energetic kid displaying his toughness trying to one-up an older sibling’s friend: “I just want to be as tough as possible. I want people to know that every time I stepped on the mat I gave it all that I had. I want to be fun to watch, and want people to know that it’s going to be a brawl every time I go out.”
Given the nature of the sport, pain is inherent when DeNisco wrestles. To deal with the pain, DeNisco says he just sucks it up.
“Some guys yelp, but that’s a little embarrassing, so I got to suck it up,” DeNisco said. “You can’t think about the pain, or else it hurts more. You got to think strategy and how to counter. Make him feel what you are.”
His ideal match, though, is a quick pin.
“But not too quick,” DeNisco said. “You got to make him hurt a little bit. Embarrass him a little.”
Heading into the end of the season as the competition gets stronger, DeNisco knows that the chances of a quick pin are less likely than earlier in the season. The squad’s final meets are also its toughest as it faces two nationally ranked opponents in Minnesota and Michigan before the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
“I think this team is very capable of placing in the national tournament and bringing home some hardware,” DeNisco says. “We just need to be prepared for the better opponents that we have to face.”
