WOOD RIVER - It's been said that of all the sports that anyone could take up, wrestling is perhaps the one sport that requires the most discipline and sacrifice of all. It's constant weight-watching, requires very hard work and a lot of sacrifices, both of self and for the team. It's not an easy sport to master.
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In the case of eight-year-old Karson Stoeckel of Wood River, he may very well be on his way to becoming a top high school and college wrestler in the future.
Stoeckel recently won the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation bantam state championship at 46 pounds in a tournament held at Bolingbrook High School in suburban Chicago. And to say that both his teams and his family are proud of him is just scratching the surface.
Stoeckel is a Midwest Members Credit Union Male Athlete of the Month For Roxana.
"I'm very, very, very proud of him," said Lindsey Quigley, Karson's mother, in a recent interview. "He has been working his tail off to prepare for this, and this was his third and final year to try to win this title. It just goes to show that hard work always pays off."
Stoeckel became interested in wrestling when his grandmother, Becky Wendle, signed up his older brother for the sport and Karson decided to give it a try. He's been wrestling since he was a five-year-old for both the Roxana Wrestling Club and the King Select Wrestling Club, training four nights a week and also competing in tournaments on the weekends.
"My kids have done all sports, and by far, wrestling is my favorite sport," Quigley said. "It's awesome and the discipline is great. He's super dedicated to wrestling, he has a bright future ahead of him and I couldn't be any more proud."
For his part, Karson, a second-grader at South Roxana Primary school in the Roxana School District, is also happy with his state championship.
"I'm good, I'm working hard," said Karson during his interview, "it's great to see the hard work pay off."
Karson does have ambitions for wrestling as he gets older.
"When I grow up, I want to be a professional wrestler," Karson said.
Asked who his favorite wrestlers are in organizations such as World Wrestling Entertainment, for example, Karson had a specific answer.
"My favorite wrestler is myself," Karson said with a laugh as his mother also laughed heartily.
But before that happens, Karson is also looking forward to possibly wrestling for Roxana High School, which has a long tradition of wrestling excellence, along with possibly wrestling in college, with schools such as Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Penn State, Oklahoma State and SIU-Edwardsville having solid wrestling traditions. And he also thanked his coach with helping him along to where he's at with wrestling.
"My goal is to be a Tulsa state champion," Karson said. "I feel very good and excited. Thank you to coach Ryan King for helping me to be who I am today."
Quigley admitted to helping Karson along in his answers, as he tends to be a little shy. She also thanked his coaches for their help and is very excited about her son's future in wrestling.
"Thank you to all of his coaches that have helped him so far," Quigley said, "and they can't wait and I can't wait to see what the future has for him."
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