By Christopher Tremblay

During his time in middle school, James Botleho bounced around from sport to sport, but by his high school sophomore year, he began focusing on wrestling and all other sports went by the wayside. 

“I participated in martial arts during my freshman year, but some friends who were already on the wrestling team got me to join them,” Botelho said. “Wrestling seemed to entice me with its fairness; what you put in, is what you get out of it. If you’re good, it’s because you earned it. \A lot of wrestling relies solely on yourself, and it was very similar to martial arts.”

During his first introduction to the sport Botelho really didn’t know what to expect but, he did find that it was a sport in which he could excel. 

“He progressed quickly and had a good senior class of wrestlers with him,” Norwood Coach Bill McDermott said. “They showed him that you can wrestle, or you can wrestle to win.”

Botelho remembers his first match like it was yesterday.

Photo courtesy of James Botelho

 “It was very tiring and something that I had never experienced before,” the now senior said. “I was definitely a little nervous going out there, and although I did lose, I felt I did really well.”

While he doesn’t get emotional about losing, he does talk to his coaches about what went well and what went bad after his matches. 

“When I am wrestling, I don’t go out there and worry about the match’s outcome; wins and loses mean nothing,” Botelho said. “I worry about getting better. I break things down like what is my next move and how can I take my opponent down.”

Wrestling in the 126-pound weight class for his sophomore and junior campaigns, Botelho was able to record a .500 record and finished fourth at the Sectionals the first year. The next season, he improved to 38-11 and improved to a third-place finish in the Sectionals.

Botelho believes that he underperformed at the Sectionals last year and could have done a lot better, and although he reached the State Tournament, he unfortunately came down with the flu.

“I was disappointed that I had the flu, but it was something that was out of my control,” Botelho said. “I just went out and wrestled; going 38-11 during the regular season and to get no wins at the States was frustrating. If I were healthy, I could have won a few matches.”

Between seasons, the Norwood wrestler joined Metro West United (a club out of Natick) to help improve his skills. Botelho discovered training in the off-season and found that he was progressing and started to take part in tournaments where he was a different person on the mat. Despite getting better, he knew that he still had a lot of work to do if he wanted to become the best wrestler that he could be. 

“By joining the club team, I found that my skills were like night and day,” Botelho said. “I look to get better, and while I am happy about winning, I am not thinking about wins. It’s great to win, but its no big deal to me.  I go out and wrestle because I enjoy it.”

Coming into his senior campaign, his goals are more focused on his team and teammates. Botelho wants his squad to enjoy the season as much as he does while getting better in the process. 

“If we are all happy as a team then the wins will come,” Botelho said. “This is my final year wrestling, and I do want to make it back to the States and follow in the footsteps of past Norwood wrestlers and win a championship.”

He knows that in order to win a State Championship he still has a lot of hard work ahead of him, especially at practices with his training partners.

Coach McDermott would also like to see the senior wrestler get back to the post-season.

“I firmly believe that he can get to the Sectional Finals and if he wrestles good, he’ll be able to move onto the Division 2 State Tournament,” the Mustang Coach said. “His hard work and dedication got him there (States) last year only to find out that he was sick. He never complained but I know that he wants to get better this year and I believe that he can be in the top 4 of Division 2 wrestlers.”