By Chris Cox
Maize senior Nakaylen Shabazz has been wrestling virtually his entire life.
“I’ve been wrestling since I was five,” he says. “I have an older brother, Duwayne Villalpando, who wrestled before me and my father wanted me to join him. That’s how it started.”
Shabazz admits he wasn’t a fan of wrestling at first but, over the years, he has come to love the sport.
“At first, I didn’t like it all because I wasn’t good at it,” he says. “But over time, as I got better, I started liking it more. I just love the team atmosphere of wrestling. The team becomes family. We get a lot done and handle things well. We all encourage each other to get better and I like that.”
Another aspect of wrestling that Nakaylen, and seemingly all wrestlers, like is the mental aspect of the sport.
“You have to have a tough mentality in wrestling,” he says. “There are a lot of things in wrestling that get hard and make you want to quit but you can’t do that. That goes into life too because, you can’t quit. That’s what I’ve always been taught.”
Shabazz’s mental toughness has been on full display this year as he looks to return to form after tearing his MCL last season. The recovery was long and wasn’t always easy.
“It was tough just getting back to where I was,” he says. “Getting my wind back and staying in shape. My wrestling skills didn’t go anywhere, I just had a hard time getting back into shape.”
Nakaylen still does physical therapy on occasion to make sure his knee stays strong but overall, he says he’s ready to finally defend that state title.
“I won state my sophomore year but I tore my MCL at the beginning of last season,” he says. “So, this my chance to defend my title.”
Nakaylen credits his teammates and coaches with helping him get to where he is today.
“I just want to give a shoutout to Josh Clark and Derek Patterson. They’ve helped me a lot,” he says. “Also, shoutout to my teammates because they help me every day.”
Following high school, Nakaylen plans on wrestling in college. He has several offers he is currently weighing and says he will likely make a decision after the season.
