On this March evening, Chesterton senior Andrew Davison is dripping with sweat — again — in the Trojans wrestling room.
And as is usually the case at these practices, his father Keith is there alongside him.
One month earlier, Andrew capped his high school career with a 42-0 season and a state title at 195 pounds, making him the 2016-17 Post-Tribune Wrestler of the Year.
He also continued the family legacy. Keith won a pair of state titles at Chesterton in 1988 and 1989 before becoming a two-time All-American at Wisconsin.
More Top Picks Best Apple Watches Bands For Men Fashion
But Keith’s wrestling background didn’t mean that Andrew’s sports exposure was limited to wrestling. He tried a few other youth sports, including a co-ed soccer league.
“I was a little bit too aggressive for that,” Andrew said with a big smile.
There were also forays into baseball and football, but it didn’t take long for wrestling to stick.
“I wouldn’t say that I fell in love with wrestling at first,” Andrew said. “But I started to appreciate it more once I got a little bit older. I started getting better at it, too, and that makes anything more fun.”
It’s a question that Keith said he gets all the time, whether his kids had the option to try any other sports.
“Absolutely, they’ve always had a choice,” Keith said. “The door’s always been open for them to walk out if there was something they were more passionate about. Of course, they never really called my bluff on that.”
By the time Andrew was in sixth grade, he’d grown enough to have his father as a drill partner.
“It was nothing but gratefulness,” Keith said. “That I had a kid who was eager enough to work with someone who was bigger than he was and showed an interest in the technique and strategies I’d learned along the way.”
Andrew’s eagerness was crucial in the rebound following a disappointing end to his junior season. After being upset in the first round of the state meet in 2016, he was committed to avenging that loss.
“It could’ve been the most horrible thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said. “Or I could learn from it, and come back to win state the next year. We trained a ton in the summer and I got better. But I also got my butt kicked three or four times last summer.”
That happened at some of the tournaments that dominated Andrew’s offseason schedule, including the USA Wrestling National Championships and Cadet Freestyle Nationals.
“We spent thousands of dollars in the offseason to go find tougher talent in hopes of achieving greatness,” Keith said. “There was a lot of struggle, a lot of humility. It wasn’t just racking up the wins.”
Michigan is the next step for Andrew, where he’ll join the wrestling team, although he’s planning on redshirting his first year.
Andrew will have some new practice partners in Ann Arbor next fall, but Keith won’t. Lucas Davison, the youngest sibling in the family, will be in search of his own state title his senior year after finishing as the runner-up at 182 as a junior.
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.