By Katie MacBride, Staff Writer

Wake up, work out, complete online courses, drive to Virginia to work out and wrestle, go home, sleep, repeat. That was the daily routine for freshman Jack Hawbaker after formally making the decision to retake several eighth-grade classes in order to dedicate the majority of his time to wrestling.

Hawbaker was one of the youngest students in the Class of 2021. In an effort to become a student-athlete with people his own age, he made the decision to become home schooled for a year and enter high school with the Class of 2022. His decision was supported by his parents, who thought it’d be more beneficial for Hawbaker academically and athletically.

“I was a year younger than everybody else, so my parents and I decided that it would be better for me to stay back a year and be with people at my own (wrestling) level and grade level,” Hawbaker said.

The transition was not hard for Hawbaker. The idea of leaving classmates he had grown up with didn’t have much of an effect on him.

“It wasn’t really that bad because I did have a lot of friends in the (Class of 2022),” Hawbaker said.

Hawbaker’s love for wrestling was a major influence in his decision. The intensity of the sport made him quit baseball to become more involved in wrestling. By having more time on his hands, Hawbaker’s drive to progress in the sport only skyrocketed.

“I was playing other sports too, but baseball just seemed to get really boring to me because it just didn’t have the same intensity,” Hawbaker said. “I just liked how I could push my body every single day. I always felt like I was getting better and better, and I like being good at things, so I kept at it.”

Hawbaker’s days turned into a series of gym visits, practices and homeschool assignments. He would train at least twice a day and complete his online tasks when he wasn’t working out. Hawbaker participated in an online homeschool program called Acellus Academy. This course would set a weekly goal of completing a certain number of lessons and would progress as time went on.

“I would wake up in the morning, go to the gym, probably work out for an hour or two, go home, do some school work, then chill out until I had to go to Virginia for practice,” Hawbaker said.

To improve his skills as much as he could, Hawbaker did a number of things to strengthen his body. He made changes in his diet and did several different types of workouts.

“In the mornings it was a lot of lifting and then I would go up to Virginia for the wrestling workouts, which were a lot of drilling, keeping my body moving and sweating a lot,” Hawbaker said. “There was a lot of junk food being eaten that I had to cut out, including a lot of carbs and sugars.”

As the high school season begins, Hawbaker has been given the opportunity to put what he has learned in motion. Wrestling coach Russell Kepler is also ready for Hawbaker to contribute to the team and see his hard work pay off.

“Jack has really done well just plugging into the sport, finding out where the tournaments are and getting a lot of experience,” Kepler said. “I am looking forward to being his coach and helping him prepare for hopefully the next level.”

Kepler has seen the improvement Hawbaker has made on his year dedicated to wrestling and hopes for Hawbaker to put that to use on the school team.

“I hope that he continues to be a good example for anyone who is interested in getting to the next level in wrestling and that he can continue to grow,” Kepler said. “More importantly, I want to see him grow as a person, grow as a student-athlete and just be a good teammate.”

Hawbaker is looking forward to the season and being able to contribute to the team. He’s ready to show up, block out everything around him and show out on the mat.

“This wrestling season I’m looking forward to learning, getting better at what I do and hopefully going to states and winning a title,” Hawbaker said.

Sophomore Katie MacBride can be reached at [email protected].