An Olympic wrestler talked to Howe Sound students about the tough stuff in life - but not the kind you meet on the wrestling mat.
"I know first hand boredom is a dangerous thing," said Olympic wrestler Justin Abdou to a group of students at Howe Sound Secondary School on Jan. 11, where he gave a presentation as part of his work with the ESTEEM Team.
He was at the school to talk about peer pressure, boredom, goal setting and to demonstrate some wrestling moves.
He started with some stories about his youth, where peer pressure and boredom affected some of his early choices. He told the audience about himself and his group of friends, who were bored and started to get into fights and theft.
"They got themselves in a dangerous downward spiral of bad decisions," Abdou said. "Most of those guys are still paying for those choices today."
But Abdou's parents intervened. He started to get involved with his school, through basketball and playing the tuba in band.
"I wasn't bored anymore," he said. "Everywhere I went I was making new friends."
And then something else happened.
"I managed to stumble onto the sport of wrestling."
One day he showed up for basketball practice, and the rest of the team didn't. Practice had been cancelled. On his way out of the school he paused a second and saw a wrestling practice.
"I said 'Self, you're a wrestler.'" He walked into the practice and joined.
"I loved wrestling a lot," Abdou said. "Hard work doesn't seem like work because you're having so much fun."
Wrestling took Abdou all over the province and to 55 countries all over the world. He was a member of Canada's National Wrestling Team for 13 years and participated in the World Championships, the Pan American Games, the Goodwill Games, and the 2000 Olympics, where he placed 11th.
But wrestling wasn't just about beating the other guy or the sport. His interaction with other wrestlers and the sport changed his life in a more dramatic way than just air miles.
"They taught me how to deal with something called peer pressure," Abdou said. "I'm 33 years old, and I still deal with peer pressure all the time.
"Peer pressure will get you when you least expect it. You've got to learn how to deal with it."
He encouraged the audience to do what they thought was right for themselves, because every decision each person makes will affect their life.
Abdou said it wasn't enough to have a goal you have to have a plan. When he decided to become an Olympic wrestler, he took action with further training and effort. And one day, his coach told him he believed Abdou could accomplish his dream and offered him some advice.
Abdou said his coach told him 'You gotta believe it's going to happen" and "Justin, never stop moving."
"He meant never stop moving towards that dream," Abdou said. "One day you'll wake up and it will be right in front of your face."
Abdou missed out on his Olympic dream twice, first in 1992 and again in 1996, but he finally achieved it in Sydney.
"Failure is only a negative thing when you throw your dreams away," he said.
"I could really relate," said Justin Percy, a Grade 12 student at HSSS. Like Abdou, she moved to another school in her Grade 12 year.
"I think he could really get in touch with his audience."
Percy and Navjyot Dayal are members of the secondary school's wrestling team, and they all heard the presentation.
"It's the only one true sport out there," Percy said. "You can't cheat at wrestling."
"You don't get to hurt people," Dayal said. "You don't really hurt them, you just get them tired."
HSSS students have competed in high school tournaments since the team was formed in the later months of 2004, including one in November in Chilliwack called War on the Floor which had around 1,200 competitors from B.C., Alberta and the United States.
"I think it was a great tournament for everyone," said coach Dan Fay.
