Posted: Jan 10, 2017

Q&A with George VanValen

George (Ian) VanValen (Ithaca) recently took some time to answer a few questions from the Sports Information Department. VanValen is currently 11-2 on the season with five pins. He and the Pioneers hit the mat for the first time in 2017 on Wednesday when they battle Penn State DuBois.

What was some of your goals for the seasons? My goals for this 2016-2017 season is to be a national champion in my individual weight class and to make the Alfred State wrestling team better for years to come in the future.

What are your thoughts on your career thus far? My thoughts on my entire career so far at Alfred State are that I would have liked to do a lot better my freshman and sophomore year but some injuries made it harder for me to overcome the hurdles I needed to pass in those years. This year, my junior year I have lost a couple matches that I know I could have won but I know that if I watch film and talk to each of my great coaches that I will win the ones that I have lost in future tournaments. Practice partners are better for me every year because of the great kids that coach Paul Reid and Rob Hirsch have brought in for me to wrestle with and to make our team better for the future.

You have had a solid start to your season what have you been doing that has helped you be successful? The way that Coach Reid and Coach Hirsch push me every single day in practice has made the difference, they have improved more things with me since I started wrestling at Alfred than I can even remember. The partners and people that the coaches have made available to me, to push me past my limits has also been a huge help to the start and finish of my previous seasons. I push myself until my body physically can't take it anymore which puts me ahead of the opponents by being in better shape and more will power.

Throughout your career at Alfred State what match did you feel you had your best performance? It's hard to tell which match exactly that I had my best performance in because I have had so many and each year my performance gets better, but when I wrestled my semifinal match at nationals and lost against one of the best kids I wrestled that year by only one point, I felt like I accomplished a lot. Sometimes the matches I lose that I know I can win help me to figure out what I'm doing wrong so I can capitalize on those mistakes next time.

When your career at Alfred State is over what would you want to be remembered by? I want to be known as a two-time national champion for the Alfred State Pioneers with Coach Reid and Coach Hirsch by my side who have been there for me the whole way no matter if it was when I was injured or wrestling some of my best matches. I want the wrestling team at Alfred to be one of the best in Division III eventually, which I know it will be with Paul Reid as the head coach.

What are your future plans after your collegiate career is completed? My plans for after my college career is finished is to take over my father's construction business in Ithaca New York. I want to put my Construction Management bachelor's degree to work right when I get out of college and run a very efficient business with my father by my side. It's always been a passion of mine to take my father's business over and run it someday as my own, it's always something I have wanted to do since I was little.

Who is your favorite pro athlete? My favorite pro athlete is a wrestler at Cornell University by the name of Cam Simez, who worked with me while I was in high school wrestling to make me a better wrestler from day in to day out. Cam, a wrestler that was a three-time All-American for a DI school, was only my coach for a short period of time but was someone that I could look up to and was someone that I knew could motivate me for the future.

What do you do with your free time? When I have free time away from school I usually either go hunting with my father or work with my father to help him out with the construction business. I love to work hard and learn new things that I have never done before and that's why I like working with my father so much in his business. There is so much more to be learned out there that I don't know yet, my father is a great asset for that.

Is there a type of music you listen to before each of your wrestling matches? I usually listen to music when I warm up getting ready to wrestle, but in tournaments right before I wrestle I usually don't listen to anything. I like to listen to classic rock and country while warming up usually.

What is the one food you crave when you aren't worrying as much about your weight? One food that I love to eat when I'm not worried about my weight so much is chicken parmesan. I also like to eat this when I'm in season as well because it has a lot of the proteins and carbs you need to stay strong and energized for practices.