Hundreds of students pass through the doors of Mr. Spaulding’s health class every year because health is a requirement. Despite this, most hardly even know him. They take his class for one semester and never see him again. However, Spaulding’s more than just a health teacher. He’s the coach of a sport many don’t even know exists despite being around since the 70s, girls wrestling.
Why did you become a coach/ teacher?
“Because I like low pay, dirty work and no credit. It’s not that I like it. It’s simply that it’s the reality of coaching. You ask anyone else who’s a coach they won’t tell you that. Most coaches feel like that, underpaid and undervalued. I’ve just accepted it.”
What is a cause or issue that you’re passionate about?
“Girls wrestling. Now more than ever, girls need more opportunities to empower themselves and give themselves a chance to grow. There’s not a lot of publicity around it; you have girls joining as juniors who had no idea it existed. It’s only been around in high schools since 2013. It’s only 12 years old, which is really new in the world of sports. These are its teenage years; it could either boom or bust. In all my time coaching, I’ve realized that there’s a lot of potential with this sport but we need to put in the work or it won’t grow, it’ll just die out. That’s why I’m so passionate about it. I think it has a real chance.”
What’s a life lesson you’ve learned?
“The more you give, the more you get. This isn’t a generational thing, this is a life understanding. The more time you put into something, the better you are at it. The more you read the better you will be, the more push ups you do the better at push ups you will be. You have to put in the work the more work you do the more you get from it. If you charge a car battery for 10 minutes it’ll last for 10 minutes if you charge it for 10 hours it’ll last ten hours. You don’t just get a title and automatically become good at something that would be royalty and none of us are royalty, you have to put in the work. I first learned that when I learned the term sweat equity. I learned the more you sweat the more you get. When you put in the work you get the results.”
What advice would you give your students?
“Students need to figure out their wants versus their needs. This is a life lesson; you may want many things but you only need certain things. I want to be a millionaire, but I don’t need to be a millionaire. Students want to sleep in, they don’t need to sleep in. Students want to win but they don’t need to win. Once you start thinking about your wants versus your needs, you’ll be a lot less disappointed when you don’t get what you want. We have a saying, ‘you may not like where you are but you’re where you need to be.’”
Who is someone, dead or alive, you look up to?
“If they’re dead I’m looking down. But all jokes aside, I try not to have an idol because I don’t think you should put people on pedestal. It’s kind of like the saying ‘don’t meet your heroes,’ you know. I personally believe that if you only talk about how great a person is, you can’t truly recognize their faults that made them great. When you think about heroes they’re always romanticized but they will never meet your expectations. You always expect so much of them you think they’re bigger, taller or faster they’ll never be enough and they shouldn’t have to be.”
How do you balance your work and your life?
“I don’t have any, I have 3 things in my life: my kids, my job and wrestling. Someone always loses out, nothing is always on the same level. That’s the reality of being a Coach, something always gets sacrificed. My daughter’s birthday is on the weekend . I will always miss her birthday every time my wrestlers go to state. My son’s birthday is also in the season. Last year his birthday came on the day of a dual meet. I had to miss his party. There’s no balance, something will always lose out.”
Interview conducted by David Duncan
