Kirt Manion
kmanion@cherryroad.com
Makayla Vasser is getting set for second season of Nebraska City High School wrestling after an abbreviated freshman campaign that saw her post a 23-1 record punctuated by a trip to the finals for the 170-pound weight class at the Nebraska School Activities Association State Wrestling Championships in Omaha.
This season will have a completely different feel for Vasser since she will enter the season fully healthy and with the momentum of mat success and experience that extended through the high school offseason.
Last year was tough for Vasser. A knee injury kept her out of training and competition throughout the summer and into her freshman campaign for the Pioneers. She didn’t wrestle until January and wasn’t at 100 percent physically while still dealing with knee issues including a cumbersome brace.
While the physical structure of her knee was healed, Vasser said she had to exercise caution in her return to the mat. Some of the things that used to come second nature were more difficult as she learned how to trust her surgical repair and adjust to a new normal.
There was fear in the back of her mind as she didn’t want to re-injure the knee and start rehab all over again.
The brace is now gone. And Vasser has continued to adjust and to trust her knee.
“I am stronger than I was (before the injury),” Vasser said. “I feel great.”
Throughout her recovery process, the consistent factors for Vasser have been her love for the sport of wrestling, her desire for new challenges and a hunger to improve her skills and reach new heights.
The girls’ wrestling record board just outside the locker room at the high school motivates her to keep grinding. She wants to put her name on that board as much as possible and do things that haven’t been done before.
In that process, there’s humility. She has already accomplished more and competed in more prestigious events that most high school kids will ever achieve, regardless of the sport.
Despite that, she knows she is not at her best. More can be done. When competing at big tournaments, like the recent War of the Roses or Super 32 against nationally rated wrestlers, Vasser keeps pushing, no matter what the scoreboard says, determined to get just a little bit better.
“There is a discipline to the sport,” Vasser said.
Those big and prestigious tournaments would be extremely intimidating for most wrestlers. Vasser said she is comfortable with the tournaments and the competition because she has done it for so long.
And her mentality helps that process. Vasser has always been coached that any wrestler can lose in any given competition and that she needs to believe that she can do great things to actually do the great things.
An entire high school season offers more chances to compete in the sport she loves. And that love for sport is the most important factor.
Vasser credits Kevin Gray and Darrick Minner with inspiring that love.
Gray and Minner, both Mixed Martial Arts fighters, collaborated to run Minner-Gray Performance and Fitness.
In training with Gray and Minner, Vasser got a first-hand look at serious fighters and saw how they went about their craft.
Vasser said she watched Gray and Minner attack their training and display passion for the fight game.
And Vasser wants to exemplify what she saw.
She still trains with Gray and credits him for his excellence as a training partner. Vasser said Gray meets people at their level in training and adjusts his strength and skill level to provide a great challenge while making sure not to be too easy or too dominant as neither would help someone improve.
“He doesn’t give it to you. You have to work,” Vasser said.
With a new season just ahead, Vasser is ready to do the work.
And success will undoubtedly follow.
