Athlete of the Week: Orion Rottman

 

Orion Rottman is a senior Warriors wrestler. He won his second individual state championship in wrestling this year.

How long have you been wrestling?

This is my sixth year.

What got you into it?

My dad has always coached, been around it my whole life, my brother wrestled, and I didn’t really like the sport until my brother’s senior year in 2016 when he won it. I looked at him winning and decided I’m going to be better than him, so I decided to wrestle.

Did you learn anything from your dad?

A lot of what I do I learned from him and then I also learned from my other coaches, just throughout my whole career of wrestling. I’ve used all of it to kind of form my own style.

How would you describe your wrestling style?

The team describes me as the funky grinder.

What does that mean?

When I wrestle somebody, I spend a lot of time just grinding them down, making them work until they’re tired and then I just finish them.

What year are you in?

I am a senior.

Do you know what you’re going to do after you graduate?

I’m going to go to college for mechanical engineering.

Why do you want to study mechanical engineering?

I really like the field. I like learning how things work, what makes them work and the different components inside of them.

Are there any lessons you’ve learned from wrestling that you think you’ll take with you in life?

A lot of it. Just persevering. Wrestling is a very hard sport. It’s a lot about being mentally tough and I think moving forward having that mental toughness is going to really come in handy.

Do you play any other sports?

Yes. I play football.

How long have you played football?

I’ve played football since fourth grade.

 What’s your favorite between football and wrestling?

Ooh, probably football.

Why?

Wrestling is, it’s a team sport obviously, but it’s very individual. It’s just you and your opponent on the mat. I like football better because it’s me and my whole team on the field. Whenever one of us makes a big play we can celebrate with each other on the field when it happens. It’s a lot more fun having all those guys that I can joke around with when it happens.

What’s the best part of wrestling?

Probably getting in shape. I get pretty big during football season and then cutting during wrestling season I actually start feeling really good about how I look and my body. I feel a lot healthier.

What other things do you do to switch over from football to wrestling season?

I usually don’t hit the weights as hard. When I do lift, I lift a whole lot less because I get a lot smaller. I clean up my diet a lot and then I do completely different workouts, a lot of weight cutting workouts.

Are there any moments that stand out to you from your time wrestling for Socorro?

Definitely my two state championships. The first one especially, that one was insane, and then winning district championship with my team this year. That was really big.

What does it feel like to win a state championship?

It’s a really good feeling. Winning it this year was a lot different from the first time I won it. This year I was expected to win it. I went in there knowing I was going to win throughout the whole season. It was different knowing that everything I did through the season was just to prepare for winning it, versus really trying to try to win it the first time.

Do you have any famous athletes that you look up to?

Jordan Burroughs. He works extremely hard, and then Joe Burrow of course, the Bengals quarterback.

What would you tell younger players coming into the sport?

Don’t quit. A lot of newer wrestlers will come in, they won’t last a week if not a couple days. Don’t quit. It gets a lot easier. The first couple of days for anybody, it’s a very hard sport to do. If you stick with it, you will learn a lot about life. Coach Joel will make you a better person all around.