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03/01/2017 11:00 PMDoug Brown always knew that he had the heart to go the distance in sports with his cross country background, but he added a whole new dimension of durability to his game as a result of wrestling.
Doug started both his cross country and wrestling careers when he was 8th grade. Even though he endured some struggles on the mat at Haddam-Killingworth as a freshman, Doug received a hefty jolt of confidence from his teammates, who pushed him to become a better wrestler in subsequent seasons. Now a senior, Doug took on a big leadership role with the Cougars this winter and guided them along a path that culminated with a fourth-place finish at the Class S State Championship.
“I felt I was better at cross country my freshman year. But maybe it was because of my humbleness or work ethic, I got a lot of respect from my team and that drove me. My teammates in general helped me succeed this year,” says Doug. “Because of cross country, I wasn’t able to do the same extra offseason training they did. But my main purpose was to help the team get as far as possible and produce as many state champions as possible. It all worked out for both myself and my teammates.”
Doug posted a record of 4-2 as a competitor in the 152-pound weight class this year. While he worked on improving his wrestling skills with his Cougars’ coaches, Doug’s growth as a grappler was further spurred by learning the fundamentals of some other contact sports.
“I tried doing offseason training with my teammates, but my coaches helped me with their different styles,” Doug says. “One of them knows jujitsu, which helped me improve my fluidity, and I also picked up Krav Maga from another coach.”
H-K Head Coach Nick Adler describes Doug as a leader who not only holds himself to the highest standards, but is also a champion of accountability toward his teammates.
“For Doug, what made him such a standout is a work ethic that is second to none. Doug is one of the hardest-working young men that I have ever met. There have been days that practice has been snowed out and the coaching staff will joke, ‘If we told Doug that practice was still on, he would run through the blizzard to get there,’” says Adler. “He was a member of the team that would always push his teammates to work their hardest. Even though Doug didn’t always make it into the varsity lineup, he still pushed everyone and will be the first one to call out a returning state champ to start working harder.”
The grueling nature of wrestling might make some high school students a little hesitant to enter the fray. For Doug, though, the grind merely made him gravitate even more to the sport.
“Everything else after wrestling is easy. I lose five pounds of sweat every day,” he says. “Everyone goes for the mainstream sports I think because they see how tough wrestling is, but I do it because it’ll help me be tougher than others.”
The past four years have gone by in a flash for Doug, but he made sure to savor the moment while helping the Cougars reach new heights. In turn, Doug’s time at H-K has helped him develop into a well-rounded athlete and a mature young man.
“I had the endurance for wrestling coming in after doing cross country, but wrestling helped me get the strength. It helped balance me out from cross country,” says Doug, who thanks his dad, H-K cross country Head Coach Matt Diglio, plus all of his wrestling coaches and teammates. “All of my coaches and upperclassmen from my first few years had an impact on me. They pushed me to be the best that I could be.”