Liverpool, N.Y. — Nicolas Hindmarsh is an eighth grade boy in his first year of wrestling. He’s played sports most of his life, but when his parents recommended he try wrestling out this year he decided to give it a shot.
A few months later, he’s won eight of his first nine matches.
“I pick them up, I slam them down, I go down for the two points, I get up, and I do it again and I win my points,” Hindmarsh said. “I give them one point and (they) give me two points every time.”
Nico, as his friends call him, is noticeably strong for his age. One of his coaches was amazed when he saw him on his team.
“He’s been gifted by the gods with his strength,” Coach Dave Mancuso said. ” And when you see him he’s a solid kid and nobody can move him, nobody on our team can move him,”
Perhaps the only thing that is an obstacle for Nico is his battle with Tourette syndrome.
“When you have Tourette’s,, when your body likes something it becomes a tick and it gets addicted to it and if I get put in a weird position or something happens, my body starts to like it,” Nico said. “Now I have to try my best to avoid that becoming a tick, that’s probably the hardest thing to do.”
“Act like you’re a normal kid, don’t let it stop you,” he said, responding to a question about his advice to athletes with Tourette syndrome. “If you can, keep going and just do it.”
Coach Mancuso said Nico has never let it interfere with his play. Nico has three more opponents, the next coming Tuesday.
