Most kids would've given up after a lot less, but Ali is an exception to most rules. He's special, he has a heart of steel.

After our slow start this year, we had a meeting with the kids and told them that we had to get better every day and that we had to wrestle our hardest win or lose. They have responded and we are certainly doing that. There will be some more tight matches coming up and wrestling here (Paulsboro) is good experience. Our kids battled, all the way up and down the lineup.

It's the oldest sport there is. It's one-on-one. There's a lot of emotion involved. It all climaxes at the end of the year. That's what it's all about and that's why it will never die.

I think wrestling has a bright future. But I think at certain times a lot of sports are tested.

When you have that kind of injury, you have to change your whole style of wrestling. You have to learn how to defend a weakness you've never had before. But the harder it got, Ali just kept working harder.

Ali was at almost every practice we had. So when he wasn't there that night we thought it was strange. Later, when Matt called to let us know what happened, our hearts just sank.