URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) – Wrestling is not an easy sport. It takes a lot of hard work to become good at it, but one student at Urbana high school found wrestling and it became his outlet.

“So I just felt like I didn’t belong in anything. So I tried out for wrestling to see if I could do it. I had a lot of aggression at the time and everyone told me, you know what, you can slam kids through wrestling,” Cordaro Sims, a Junior, said. “And I was like, wait, I can do that and get away with it. So I started doing it and eventually, it became more than just anger. It became a sport.

A sport that turns out, he’s pretty good at.

“The kids that I wrestle know that I’m coming for that shot. They know I’m quick with it. They know I’m not going to slow down. I’m just going for it,” he said.

So good in fact he qualified for the state competition this year. But it’s not his rodeo.

Sarah: “Is this your first time going to state?”
Sims: “No”
Sarah: “How many times have you been to state?”
Sims: “I went to, eighth-grade year they canceled it then seventh-grade. I went sixth grade and I went last year.

For his coach getting kids competing on a higher level is putting Urbana wrestling back on the map.

“The sky’s the limit for us and we’re getting more and more participation. Then the kids in the school are seeing what these kids are accomplishing, not only just to state series, but in other tournaments, they could see the kids come on with medals and be successful. So hopefully it generates more kids to come out next year,” Phil Sexton, wrestling coach, said.

And if you’re thinking about joining Sims said you’ll never know until you try,

“Go out for it. I say go out for it, give it a shot. Worse, things worse you don’t like it. But I feel I say a lot of people that start wrestling ain’t gonna like it and then they’re going to eventually get into the groove of it,” Sims said. “I mean, I didn’t start off knowing everything. I eventually got good at it and became something good for me. I feel like those kids should go out there and try it.”

State competition for Sims is coming up this weekend. If you want to watch or learn more go to the state wrestling page here.