Contact: Ava Yurchison, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Jan. 16, 2017- After losing what he thought was his last match ever at the Michigan High School State Tournament, North Central College wrestler Vincent Pizzo found a new light in the wrestling world.
 
"After I lost at state, I was emotional. I was crying. I was so pissed. I was so confused. I thought my wrestling career was over," expresses Pizzo. "I hear this guy behind me as I am walking back to my seat and I'm crying. I am super emotional. I just lost the last match of what I thought was my wrestling career. And I hear this guy like, 'Vince! Pizzo! Vince!!' And I am like, 'who the hell is this? Who wants to talk to me right now?'"
 
Turning around, Pizzo saw, calling from a distance, North Central College wrestling coach Joe Norton. Norton had been at the 12 mat tournament recruiting for new athletes and was immediately impressed with Pizzo's tenacious spirit on the mat.
 
Pizzo, who had never really given much thought to college wrestling prior, was in shock that Norton had any interest in him, especially after watching him lose the match.
 
The two talked over the idea of furthering Pizzo's wrestling career. As Pizzo was wrapping his head around the idea, Norton invited Pizzo to come for an official visit of the college. Upon trekking to North Central from the small town of Wyandotte, Michigan, and meeting with the coaches for the second time, Pizzo knew that his wrestling career was far from over, and in fact that he was just about to begin a new chapter.
 
"I fell in love with North Central the second that I got out of my car and looked around and saw the campus and everything," said Pizzo. "Just being in Naperville reminds me of where I am from, like the downtown area, everybody that I met here at North Central persuaded me even more because they were so friendly and so energetic."
 
He went on further to say, "They [the North Central coaching staff] understand what I was coming here to do. I mean, everything just went perfect on my first visit, so there was really no way that I could say no. I knew that there were way more opportunities here, being so close to Chicago that this was where I needed to be, and this is where I needed to go to school."
 
Before becoming a Cardinal, the senior wrestler got his start in seventh grade gym class.
 
Pizzo explains, "every year in my school we have this thing called the Christmas Tournament. We teach wrestling as a unit in gym. The boys at the middle school, 7th and 8th grade, get involved in this tournament."
 
As a part of the curriculum of the Christmas Tournament unit, boys in seventh and eighth grade are weighed in and learn about wrestling moves which lead into the boys competing in matches.
 
The Christmas Tournament goes on until the the last day of school before winter break. It is a half day, and the day of the finals. The school brings all of the students, faculty and staff into the gym to watch the top two contenders in each weight class compete for the championship. The event is broadcast on the local cable news station.
 
"It is a big deal, and it is super cool," Pizzo says with a big smile. "Sometimes, they will replay matches from previous years, sometimes if you are lucky, once in a blue moon they will play when I was in 7th grade."
 
During his time in the tournament, Pizzo grasped the moves quickly which helped with advancing himself to the finals and winning it all as both a seventh and an eighth grader.
 
Again in his life, the coaches approached Pizzo and invited him to be a part of the team. Pizzo took the initiative from the coaches and entered his first season.
 
Since becoming a Cardinal, Pizzo has improved over the years and is now wrestling in his prime as one of North Central's top competitors.
 
Entering his final campaign, Pizzo has a new outlook on life.
 
"I just switched to this mindset that nobody really cares about what I am doing because they are busy with their own lives and why should I beat myself up about what I think other people are thinking when in reality, that is never the case? This whole year I have just been having fun with everything," says Pizzo.
 
Pizzo worked closely with the North Central College Sport and Health Psychology Interns since the end of his 2016 CCIW run to develop this mindset.
 
Since his mindset evolution, Pizzo has found himself in a great position as a person and an athlete. He grins and says, "I've just been the happiest that I have ever been. I am loving senior year and I don't want it to end… I feel great. Like I said, it has helped me in more ways than I can count."
 
Pizzo encourages everyone to seek help if they need it. "I have told so many people after. I was this huge, macho guys who couldn't ask for help or have anybody see me weak, but it took me getting to that point where I needed help to realize that it is okay to ask for help," explains Pizzo.
 
Since getting the help he was seeking, Pizzo has not only excelled on the wrestling mat, but has also excelled socially being crowned the 2016 North Central College Homecoming King.
 
Pizzo is the first wrestler to bear the crown and does so with modesty. "That was definitely a humbling experience, knowing that I influenced enough people to have them vote for me in order to be Homecoming King. It was just super cool."
 
Pizzo adds that he has learned a lot from being a college wrestler. He has learned that he is capable of accomplishing a lot more than be though he was.
 
"I truly believe that there is not a whole lot out there that can kill me. I am practically invincible," laughs Pizzo. "Just kidding, but I have definitely learned that I can take on way more than I thought."

The self-proclaimed invincible wrestler faces his next match Saturday Jan. 21, at 11 a.m. in Whitewater, Wis.