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Six Minutes with Jack Abramson
Sara Courtney

 

“I like the combat aspect of it.”

He says it with a smile, even cheerfully, as if it’s all simple enough. Jack Abramson—fresh-faced sophomore, friendly student in the halls, and destroyer of any would-be wrestler hopes—just needs six minutes and an opponent who underestimates him.

A high school wrestling match is made up of three periods, each two minutes long, with no rest in between. When there’s a tie, the match goes to sudden-victory overtime, where whoever scores the first point wins. With a record of 26–6 last season—with 19 of those wins coming by pin—Jack was a postseason tournament District Champion, where he was named Outstanding Wrestler, placed 5th in the region, and earned All-American status at the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Freshman Nationals. This year, his record continues to astonish: 11–3, with 8 wins by pin; he went 4–2 at December’s Beast of the East tournament and finished in second place at the Sam Cali Invitational. Whether it’s local rivals, opponents at a midwestern tournament, or even friends on his own team, Jack Abramson has the same approach:

“Friends off the mat, enemies on the mat.”

He’s known for a move called the “cradle,” which is considerably less pleasant than it sounds. He describes his approach with a mixture of aw-shucks enthusiasm and straightforwardness. “I just kind of grab their arm, grab their leg, lock their hands, bring it back, and then it’s done.”

Jack is going for a decisive victory—a pin. “Once your back gets exposed to the mat, [the ref] starts counting the swipes. So if it’s two swipes, that’s two points, three swipes is three points, and then it goes up to four swipes for four points. And then once both shoulder blades are fully pinned to the mat, that’s a pin. Match over.”

What then?

“Slap the mat, done.”

He pauses here, and a lighthearted smile spreads across his face. “I like it.”

 

***

If Jack compares the sport of wrestling to combat, his descriptor might sound confusing when he adds that, really, it’s not personal. Well. Not quite personal.

His affable demeanor is really him, but it also serves as a useful diversion, an amicable personality that distracts from an unstoppable determination to win. “I obviously don’t want to hurt [my opponents],” he says, “but I want the feeling to be, ‘that guy is good.’” He wants to send a clear message, and, after a little bit of prodding, the scale of his competitive expectations reveals itself. “I want to win in the quickest, most dominant way possible.” Yet it’s not just a message to others—it is, ultimately, a reminder to himself. “It’s to let myself know I can do it—and to let other people know they can’t.” It sounds at least a teensy bit personal. “Yeah,” he admits sheepishly. “There are some people who get pretty pissed when they mess with me.”

Outside of those six minutes on the mat, there’s a friendly indifference. But during those 360 seconds? “It’s personal,” Jack admits. “If someone beats me, I take it personally because… it’s me versus that guy, him by himself, and me, the exact same way. And if he was able to beat me?” He pauses here, annoyed at the thought.

It’s rare when he does get beaten, but when it happens, he tends to hang onto that feeling until he studies footage of the match and finds ways he can improve for next time. “It goes away when I see what I did wrong. And then I start working on it.”

Jack, who has been wrestling since he was four years old, is hoping to continue the sport all the way through college. His first year at Pingry was last year, and he put up some stellar stats as a freshman. “I’m hoping for the same this year,” he says.

According to his coach, Keith Karsen, he is well on his way. “This year, his work ethic has changed. He’s probably the hardest worker on the team and he’s showing maturity in being a leader of our team as a sophomore.” The team voted Jack one of the captains, something he takes very seriously. “Since the kids voted him captain, he’s really stepped up the responsibility of being captain and being a leader.” At this, Coach Karsen rattles off the changes he’s noticed. “He’s called pre-practice meetings in the locker room without the coaches. He’s the first one in the room every day… he’s done a great job recruiting kids to help fill spots, working with the new kids to actually coach and teach. And that’s the thing that I’m really proud of him for—helping the other kids.”

And when it comes to the matches, he knows his role. “Jack understands that [in] a lot of our matches, he needs to try to pin people,” says Coach Karsen. “He gets matched up against one of the better kids on the other team to beat one of their best kids to help us as a team.”

But just as importantly, in a sport as tough as wrestling, he is finding the joy in it. “This year, he seems to be having a lot more fun,” he adds, and notes that the mindset required to succeed in wrestling requires tremendous focus. “He’s been to some of the toughest tournaments in the country since he was eight years old, and he’s placed in the top eight, and he’s been All-American six or seven times.”

Coach Karsen notes the mental toughness required to succeed in wrestling. “It’s the nature of the sport,” he says. “People refer to it as a combat sport. I guess it is. It’s very physical.” To be good, you have to be tough; and to be tough, you have to love it. “He loves wrestling,” observes his coach. “He comes from our practice and he goes to his private lessons and his club practices after that. He just loves the sport.”

Even his coach seems surprised by the Jekyll-and-Hyde contrast in Jack’s pleasant and outgoing demeanor versus his on-the-mat mentality. “Like I said—it’s tough… maybe the aggression on the mat is a release for him. You know,” he adds, with a smile, “he is a super-nice kid. All his teachers have good things to say about him.”

In the end, it seems to come down to one thing. “It’s his focus,” says Coach Karsen. “He really is able to focus and block out a lot of things. You get two people on the mat and there’s a lot of noise. He can block all the external noise out and really focus on the match. That’s what he’s very good at.”

 

***

 

It’s just before a match and Jack has made weight for his targeted weight class, something he finds draining. He heads to the mat, feeling tired, and promptly eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He warms up with the team. Then he puts on his headphones. Music calms him down and takes his mind off the match, if only briefly.

He is not nervous. He’s already studied his opponent, and now he is just narrowing his focus, telling himself he can do this if he remains as tough as possible.

“Whether it’s the number-one guy in the country or not, it’s still a thing in the back of my head… It's going to be a hard match.” So he tells himself the same thing: “You’ve got to wrestle your best.” 

“I feel an increase in pressure when I’m wrestling the top guys,” he admits. “But inside?” Here his friendliness transforms into laser focus. “I know I’ve been working the hardest I possibly can. So I feel like: I can win this match. Just knowing what I have been doing… it’s going to pay off.”

He just needs six minutes and an unshakeable belief in himself. “It’s what happens in those six minutes,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re down one, three, or ten points. Just keep working. Keep trying. You’re never out of the match until it’s fully over. They might have different attributes, they might be stronger or faster. But I feel like my technique is good enough to where I can beat a lot of the top guys.”

“It’s six minutes,” he adds. “Just you and someone else on the mat.”

 

***

 

Portrait photo by Natalie Gonzalez

 

Wrestling photo by Bruce Morrison

 

To contact the author: Sara Courtney