Cody Willis Goes To State!

Many of the articles I have written have debated the effects that MMA has on today's youth.

My interest on this subject stems from my grandson Cody Willis who has been wrestling since the age of five and is the biggest MMA fan in our family. (Cody on right in above photo).

Growing up Cody's idol was Matt Hughes, with whom he closely identifies.

Cody is living in a small Illinois town, Clinton, population 8,000 more or less.

It is larger than Hughes' hometown of Hillsboro and is known for its nuclear power plant rather than for farming, but there is still only one high school and has the same small-town atmosphere.

Everyone knows everybody else in a small town; that fact doesn't change whether it is Clinton or Hillsboro.

Now, Cody has many MMA heroes he looks up to and would like to emulate.

As I have often pointed out to readers, a wrestling program for youth exits in Clinton and both Cody and his younger brother Trevor (5) benefit from having it available.

So Cody has progressed from age five up to this his sophomore year in high school.

He has worked hard each year to go to state and this year has been no different.

He is 6' 1" and wrestles 145 lbs. or at least tries to, as he has had to wrestle at 152 when his coaches have asked him to do so, and has also, at times, had trouble making weight.

Grandma argues with everybody about the weight issues. It hurts any grandmother to see a growing young man trying to restrict his weight. To me this seems to be going against nature and one's own genetic destiny.

Yet Cody has continued to struggle against nature to wrestle at the lower weight.

This was the last tournament before state; Cody made weight, but lost his first match against a wrestler he had not previously met who comes from Macomb, Il.

Ordinarily that would put him out of the competition, but in this case the fighter from Macomb went on to win his next matches to reach the finals for first and second place.

Fortunately, this put Cody back into the fight for third or fourth place.

Of course Grandpa and Cody's father are walking on air because Cody was able, through his hard work, to pull out a win for third place after two other well fought matches.

This means that Cody will join Nick Wheat (who won second place for 215 lbs), in going to state to represent Clinton High School next week.

Because I am a grandmother I feel I have a right to be proud of Cody's wrestling accomplishments, but because I know that his love of MMA had a lot to do with his success, I feel the need to add this to the MMA site.

I know how many of the young writers on this site want to be MMA fighters and are training right know to accomplish this dream.

Another almost-16-year-old who is your brother in this endeavor is struggling towards this goal; so on his behalf I want to congratulate all of you and cheer you on, as I do my grandson, to reach your future dreams.

Good luck to each and every one of you and may God bless you all!