BLACKSBURG, Va. – Former Virginia Tech wrestler Ty Walz should be at Penn State on Friday at the Olympic Trials, wrestling for a spot on Team USA. Instead, he’s at his home in Blacksburg.
“We were actually prepping to start cutting weight, getting in really, really good shape, zoning in on our focus and our training, and preparing for competition,” Walz said.
Walz’s progress was at its peak as it came to a screeching halt just weeks away from his biggest stage to date.
“Then they postponed trials, after that the Olympics obviously,” he said. “I felt like I was extremely prepared and 100% ready to start dialing in and getting ready to compete, so it was a little disheartening to see it was postponed.”
But no one with their eyes on the price can deny that a year long postponement is better than a cancellation.
“To mentally prepare for something to happen, and get ready, and it had been such a long process up into that,” Walz said. “It was kind of hard at first to take a step back, I didn’t want to do anything, I felt a little bit defeated.”
“But now since reality has set in, it’s okay. Now dealing with this you have to look at it as positively as you can, and that’s probably how my training is going to go now.”