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Subject:   How Cory won States - A true story Name:   Wayne Beaver Date Posted:   Mar 12, 07 - 12:27 AM Email:   wbeaver@earthlin.net Message:   I am not the greatest writer, so I hope I can word what I am going to say well enough for everyone to understand the point I am trying to make. First off, thanks for the support and kind words towards Cory and I. We REALLY appreciate it, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts! The Bible says you get back much more than you can imagine when you give to others, and I know first hand those words are so true (even though I don't feel I derserved anything I have been given because of the mistakes I make). I feel that all those thousands of hours giving to others through websites may be one of the reasons the Lord has blessed our family like he has. I love him for his grace and plead for each of you to let him into your hearts if he is not already there. I wanted Cory to spend more time working on his wrestling than he wanted to spend. I pleaded with him to wrestle during the off-season. I offered to pay for him to attend camps, freestyle clubs, dual competitions, or better yet....all of the above, but he said no. I felt his only chance to ever win States was to work on the sport during the off-season, but he only wanted to wrestle during the season - then do other sports and activities after early March. It took me a few years to truely except his desires, but I finally came to understand it's best not to fight him on it. I came to the realization that Cory may never be a State Place-winner, or Champ. There is no doubt that doing off-season training helps a wrestler. In fact, I am willing to bet 95% of the wrestlers that went to States did off-season training.....HOWEVER.....it is not an absolute necessity in order to win a State title----Cory is one of the wrestlers to prove that true. Wrestling parents: If your son doesn't want to wrestle in the summer, be careful not to push them on it too much. You may be able to talk them into it (I know I tried), but don't force them. The two things that we (Cory and our family) did to prepare for States was this: 1st and foremost...Pray and ask the Lord to help him be the best he could be. 2nd...Not worry about a thing after that. That is the formula that won Cory the State gold. Together, we prayed for the Lord to give Cory strength, stamina, safety, and wisdom to be his best. Together we were determined to have faith that the prayer would be answered, so we reminded each other not to spend one ounce worrying about anything afterwards. From there I reminded Cory to win only one contest...the contest of who was loosest and having the most fun. I told him to not worry about a thing and just enjoy yourself to the utmost. I said have as much fun as you possibly can, because the Lord would be taking care of everything else. He did exactly that the entire weekend. We did not know if he was going to win or lose, but we knew he was going to be his best. That is what we asked for and that is exactly what we had faith was going to happen. I can actually say...whether he won or lost didn't matter since he was going to be his best, anyway. (Jesus speaking: If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it...St. John 14:14). The only thing left to do from there, was have fun, and with things that simplified, Cory probably was one of the loosest wrestlers in the building - We were probably one of the loosest parents. Whether it is a local "1st year wrestler" tournament, PJW States, or PIAA States....impress on your wrestler to stay calm and confident (loose as a goose, as they say). I am convinced that in many cases, it's the wrestler who is loosest, wins. The Lord can help you do this by simply asking, then believing he will answer it. He will, if you have even just a mustard seed's amount of faith it will be answered. One last thing I want to say. I was going to write and say all of this whether Cory placed or not. I knew he was going to be his best and I wanted to thank the Lord by sharing our answered prayer with others. As it turns out, the Lord decided to help Cory the whole way to the top of the podium. The glory for it is his alone. God is love. Love everyone you come into contact with, and love will be returned to you. Love is what makes life awesome! May the Lords blessings be with each of you in every way.

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