Zeth Romney stood behind the bench of Cal Poly, infuriated with himself after the results of his match.
He just lost to Iowa State’s Evan Frost, 16-3, falling into the consolation bracket of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
With his fists clenched, Romney continued pacing behind the bench. Coyte Cooper, Cal Poly wrestling’s mental health coach, noticed his frustration and offered him some advice.
Cooper told him to acknowledge his anger and to release it, but the redshirt freshman didn’t possess that skill set yet.
With 15 minutes until his next match, Romney could not clear his head, and fell 24-6 to Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis – the No. 7-ranked 133-pounder.
“You could tell it carried over to the next match, because he looked angry and frustrated out there,” Cooper said. “He didn’t operate the way he’s capable of.”
After his match against Bouzakis ended, Romney walked up to Cooper, asking a question and receiving an answer that would ultimately set him on a path of mental transformation.
“Never leave a practice upset,” he said. “After every practice, do a body scan of yourself and look for any anger or frustration in your body.”
According to Cooper, being angry on the mats is a common teaching practice for wrestling programs. For Cal Poly, it’s the opposite.
“There’s almost a pride in being upset,” Cooper said. “I’ve learned that athletes have this idea that if they don’t feel crappy after a loss they don’t care. And I tell them that if you care you’ll work hard not to feel crappy.”
So, Romney met with Cooper the rest of the season and throughout the summer. He found his identity in both wrestling and in life by framing his sport as a tool for personal growth, rather than just competition.
As a result of his commitment, he heads into the Pac-12 Championships as the No. 9-ranked 133-pounder, according to Intermat’s wrestling rankings.
An offseason spent finding his identity
Once Romney’s first season as a Mustang ended at the NCAA Championships in March, he got right to work with Cooper.
The two established a routine. In addition to the regular team calls, they met for one 30-minute weekly session with each other.
Cooper’s focus was finding out who Romney wanted to be, as a person and a wrestler.
Head Coach Jon Sioredas praised Romney, saying it was really up to him to change his habits.
“It has to be him looking in the mirror, making the decision,” Sioredas said.
The ninth-year head coach of the Mustangs explained if you don’t practice the habits that Cooper is teaching – such as meditation, visualization and journaling – you won’t get better at controlling your emotions.
Romney, along with three other wrestlers on the team – redshirt sophomore Cash Stewart and redshirt juniors Kendall LaRosa and Trevor Tinker – became part of a leadership team helping implement personal growth strategies.
This group was made of the guys that were embodying what Cooper was teaching at a high level. According to Cooper, these guys walk into the room and help set the tone for what the coaches are trying to establish.
As the summer progressed, Romney’s conversations with Cooper centered around his personal goals.
It wasn’t just about trying to become the best wrestler he could be – and eventually a national champion – but trying to be the best person he could be in every situation.
Romney’s perspective on the sport transformed into enjoying all the hard things too, meaning the grueling practices, the competition and cutting weight. With that, came a domino effect.
Walking into every day, practice and match with a more mindful approach, Romney says the consistency and composure he’s establishing will help him later in life.
“When you have control of your emotions, you have control of how you approach things,” Romney said. “That makes life so much easier when you enjoy going and doing all those hard things.”
How the changes impacted his season
The date is Nov. 16, and Cal Poly is hosting No. 14 Stanford on the O’Neill Green lawn. Romney’s record sits at a clean 4-0 after capturing the 133-pound title at the Tiger Style Invite in Kansas City.
Over 1,500 fans are packed onto the lawn for Cal Poly wrestling’s annual alumni weekend. No. 13 Romney was facing off against No. 12 Tyler Knox.
The match kicked off, and when his bout went final, Romney had lost 5-3.
Considering the rankings and the fans in attendance, there was some added pressure to the bout. Instead of beating himself up over the loss, Romney could now process his emotions and began working on improvement.
“No matter who I’m wrestling, it’s just another guy,” Romney said. “Win or lose, it’s not going to change the course of my life.”
On his call with Cooper after the match, he recognized exactly what he needed to work on – finishing his moves. So, he and the coaches went to work.
“Immediately, we were getting to growth,” Sioredas said. “We were like okay, we’ve got to fix this position and so we came in and spent several days in the position and then we moved on from it.”
When Romney returned to the Cliff Keen Invitational this season, he got the chance to wrestle Frost and Bouzakis again.
He took on No. 11-ranked Bouzakis in the quarterfinals, winning 6-5. In the finals, he took down No. 6-ranked Frost with a 7-3 victory.
Instead of boasting about becoming the first Mustang in 15 years to capture the 133-pound title at Cliff Keen, his composure remained even.
“Those wins don’t really matter,” Romney said. “I try not to focus on winning or losing because it’s just cool to compete and learn from my mistakes even when I’m having a good season.”
The work Romney put in over the summer – and continues to put in every week – helped him become less result-focused and it showed in Vegas.
Even after the title win in Las Vegas, Romney mentioned that he could have scored more points against Frost.
“He’s weightless,” Sioredas said. “He knows the performance is going to come along the way as long as we put forth our best effort.”
Continuing to work on his mental game
Finishing with eight wins against ranked opponents and an overall record of 13-3, Romney awaits the Pac-12 Championships on March 6.
Throughout this season, Romney, along with the rest of the team, engages in meditation and visualization. On his own, he carves out time to meditate weekly, envisioning himself being creative and healthy.
As anyone would, Romney still feels nerves. But now he knows how to process them with the tools Cooper helped him establish.
Last year at the NCAA National Championships, he didn’t know how to deal with the pressure and wasn’t fully confident in his abilities. With another chance to qualify this year, the feeling is much different as he continues to craft his “art.”
“I like to call this my art,” Romney said. “I’m going out there and creating. So, why would I be so emotional about it if that’s going to stop me from being as free as I can?”