Ethan Leake CA: The Best Make the Sacrifice
By Bill X. Barron
To succeed in life and wrestling, sacrifice is a necessary corollary to success. Knowing success prepares one to tackle setbacks with a positive mindset. Ultimately, in the midst of challenge, true character is revealed more than it is formed. You are born ready.
One of those ready from the outset was 21-year-old Ethan Leake out of Clovis, California. As his Buchanan High School coach, Troy Tirapelle, expresses: “The best kids make sacrifices. Kids like Ethan buy in from the beginning; they are instrumental to team success, because they inspire teammates to do the same, to be treated the same way.”
Ethan shares: “I was wired young to earn everything, to work harder than everyone else. At Buchanan, it helped to have teammates who wanted it as much as I did. Coach Tirapelle stressed that you had to work for what you want and that every single person on the team, from freshman to varsity, would be held to the same standard.”
A member of three state high school championship teams as well as a 2016 California individual state champ at 113 lbs., Ethan is now a sophomore competing for the University of Northern Colorado. Nonetheless, it was Ethan’s hard-earned success that prepared him for the challenge of – and for – his life last summer.
As his mother Amanda shares: “We were boating at Pine Flat (CA). With COVID-19 and the fires, we needed to get out and enjoy nature. Ethan climbed the rocks to jump off. To this day, I wonder: had I followed my gut, maybe I could have stopped it from happening. As soon as we saw his swollen foot, you could see the rattlesnake’s puncture marks.
Serious enough to be hospitalized for five days amidst the COVID-19 surge, Ethan relates: “I had a lot of time to think. You learn to appreciate the little things. It took rehab to even walk again, but that lit a new fire, a challenge to overcome, especially as I have not found another documented case of an athlete returning to action following a severe snake bite.
“The swelling just would not stop,” Amanda describes. “By the time we brought him home, he was so swollen and bruised that he could not move. He was in good spirits, strong mentally but tired of being in pain. Still, I knew that between COVID-19 and being away from his team, he needed to go back to Colorado. The UNC trainer Brady Mollner was amazing; if not for him, Ethan would have lost his foot.”
Just the same, Ethan’s left leg was so swollen from snake venom that “I could barely move or put pressure on it for two-and-a-half months.” Follow-up care involved emergency surgery in October, and he lost a tendon in one toe. Overall, he lost 13 pounds and he is still rebuilding muscle.
In Ethan’s perspective: “Because of wrestling, I have learned all of life’s lessons. You are not handed anything. You have to fight for it, earn it, every day of your life.”
“Ethan again has a hunger for the sport,” his mother adds. “Knowing there was a chance that he could never wrestle again, he appreciates the sport so much more.”
Ethan loves being involved with UNC Bears coach Troy Nickerson, where he has finally been cleared to go live and challenge for a starting position at 141 lbs. After a freshman 2018-19 redshirt season, Ethan competed at 149 and 157 pounds, again willing to step into the starting line-up wherever the team needed him.
“It’s the same winning culture as Buchanan. At Buchanan, I learned that in order for the team to be successful, each individual must do his role. We all pushed to get the best from each other. Here at Northern Colorado, I know we are also creating something special. We have the talent to contend for a national team title.”
Dad Yogi was a CA state finalist and wrestled for Cal Poly. He relates: “I always tried to push Ethan and put him in challenging situations to help prepare him for the challenges that he is sure to face in life. Our time together at Buchanan (the best public high school program in the country) was definitely a highlight, earning him a Division I scholarship to compete at UNC.”
“As the great Dan Gable said,” Yogi continues: ‘Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy.’ Even getting bit by a rattlesnake and almost losing your leg! I think Ethan is in a great place now to recover from his injury and come back stronger and better than he has ever been.”
Ethan still remembers the thrill of winning the very competitive 18U 120 lb. Elite bracket at the RMN-NUWAY Freak Show in 2016. “Coach Tirapelle always preached to us that we had to seek out the best competition, not hide from it. That was definitely the case at the Freak Show. When I won the specially designed singlet, I was super pumped.”
“Wrestling has changed me, influenced me to be the person I am today,” declares Ethan. Coach Tirapelle elaborates: “If anyone was prepared to deal with this situation, it was Ethan. He was always willing to do more than what he would be rewarded for doing.
“Any time we needed someone to go up or down a weight to help the team, Ethan took all the hardships off the coach. He did whatever was best for the team. He was the glue that held the team together.”
“Toughness comes with the individual,” asserts Coach Tirapelle. “No matter what, bad things will happen in life. People like Ethan focus on the upside. He’ll never give up.”