LITTLETON, Colo. — Sammy Mobly is obsessed with wrestling.
“It’s pretty much all I think about,” said the Rock Canyon High School senior as he sits in the front room of his house, fresh scabs on his chin from the rubbing of his headgear.
Mobly just finished up with the CHSAA state championship wrestling tournament – four days of grueling matches culminating with a shot at a state title. Then, on Sundays, he tries not to take more than 100 steps the entire day.
“Lay on the couch, maybe take a bath,” said Mobly. “I try to keep my mind off it, at least for Sunday.”
On the mat, Mobly is alone. A solitary competitor locked in physical combat with his opponent.
But he’s not lonely.
“I’m his nutritionist, his taxi, his mother, his biggest fan,” said Angela Mobly, Sammy’s mother.
“Even though other people don’t see it, [my mom and dad’s] support is what keeps [me] going through this long grueling season,” Mobly said.
Through practice repetitions and discipline, he poured countless hours over 12 years into earning the smallest of advantages over his opponents.
“[It takes time to learn] discipline in what you eat, how you sleep, how you practice, every single day,” said Mobly. “After a while you get used to it, but it never really becomes easier.”
At the state championships, that hard work paid off.
In the semi-finals, Mobly upset Colorado’s number one wrestler in the 157-pound weight class – freshman Emmitt Munson from class 5A state champion Pomona High School.
Mobly called that his greatest wrestling achievement, at the time. Then came the bout for the state title against Adams City senior Daniel Long.
Long entered the match with a record of 39-8. Mobly was 26-2 after missing a portion of the season with an injury.
“It was 1-to-1 [after two periods],” remembers Mobly. “With about ten seconds left I was in on a shot, in on a leg. I finished, I thought I won it, I thought I had two, I thought there was time left. But the ref waved it off.”
He thought he had completed the wrestling move necessary to gain two points and win the match, clinching a state championship. Instead, as he looked up at the referee, he was told he had to get back on the mat.
“So we went to overtime,” said Mobly. “I was fatigued, I was tired. I made one mistake and he capitalized. He won right then. Sudden victory.”
What he thought was glorious victory vanished in the blink of an eye. The smallest of margins forcing Mobly from elation to deflation.
“When he lost that match, it was heartbreaking,” said Angela Mobly.
“[I wasn’t thinking about anything] to be honest,” said Mobly. “It was just sadness. I left it all out there, it just didn’t pay off. I probably wrestled 130 matches [in high school] and that was the last one. To have it end like that it’s really tough.”
In the darkness of that never-ending moment, he grabs onto one un-relenting light: His mom.
“I went down to the corner and just said ‘I’m proud of you,’” said Angela Mobly. “That was it, but that was the same words I would have used win or lose: ‘I’m proud of you.’”
She felt pride not only in her son’s effort, but in his composure.
“He walked off that mat with his head held high,” said Angela Mobly. “That’s all we can ask for.”
“It might be cliché,” said Mobly. “But losing really is more important than winning. It’s so huge for a person’s life if you just always win, you’ll never learn how to deal with that loss.”
Despite exhibiting uncommon self-awareness and wisdom as an 18-year-old, Mobly admitted the sting of this final loss wasn’t likely to leave anytime soon.
“It’s kind of sour to be honest to end it like that,” said Mobly. “I knew it would be my last match, maybe ever. But I can always look back and look at the work I put in; every match I wrestled I gave my all. There was never a time where I just gave up, there was never a time where I felt like I didn’t give my all. I gave my all and that was the result and I have to live with that. There’s no reason to be sad that I made it there and gave it 100%.”
Bruised, but not overwhelmed, Mobly leans on the same support system that got him to the state championship to help him with the grief of losing – his family.
“There wasn’t anything he could have done differently,” said Angela Mobly. “There are no regrets. That’s what he takes with him, sometimes it doesn’t fall your way but that’s life.”
“I couldn’t have done it without their support,” said Mobly. “Hours and hours for days and years my parents helped me big time, so I never want to forget that no matter what the result was.”
Mobly hopes to continue wrestling in college, but it seems like what he’s learned in the aftermath of defeat may prove just as valuable as any time spent on the mat.
