“My Dad tries to use as much positive reinforcement as he can,” said Ryan, who was not happy that he allowed Perry to escape and eventually use two third-period takedowns to make Churella’s 1:07 riding time advantage necessary after leading 4-0. “I may have looked terrible in the third period but he’s not going to tell me that now. Once we get home, he’ll tell me what I did wrong.”

Normally, any time of criticism is the last thing a young athlete wants to hear from his parent. But in the case with the Churella boys — Ryan and younger brother Josh, who won the 141-pound Big Ten title — of Northville, Mich., they relish such moments and don’t mind listening to the old man.

“If you look at his accomplishments, it’s kind of hard to turn your back on someone who was so successful in t

he sport,” said Ryan, who happens to be the second of three sons born to Leslie Churella and her husband, Mark, who is the most-decorated wrestler in Michigan history with three NCAA championships (1977-79).

“From a young age, he’s been such a motivation for my brothers and I,” said Ryan, whose older brother, Mark Jr.., also wrestled for the Wolverines (1998-2001). “He knows how to tell you things, how to explain stuff and use the right words. A lot of times, you have coaches or people trying to show you stuff and they don’t know how to explain it. He’s good at expressing himself and can show you what’s he’s trying to get across.”

And regarding wrestling, their father has instilled an intense wrestling style where one can also punish his opponent from the riding position.

“My attitude was that wrestling on the mat was equally as important as wrestling on your feet,”

said Mark Sr., who compiled a 132-13 record in earning four All-American honors for the Wolverines (he also finished third as a freshman in 1976).

“He was one of the best college wrestlers on top,” said Josh, a redshirt freshman, who got a chance to see his father in action from old films their grandfather showed them. “He showed how many moves you can put together in chain wrestling. I take stuff from his matches and implement in my matches.

“When he was on top, he’d never stop. I like looking at my dad, whose style was to never stop wrestling. He went from one move to the next. He would shoot as many as ten times in a period. I think that’s rubbed off on Ryan and I a little bit. If you take more shots, you’re going to get in more than the other person.”

So in a sense, the Churella boys are using the “old school” moves that were once popularized by their father.

“For some degree I would say that they have that in them,” Mark Sr. said. “If old school means that you have to be a tenacious competitor and sustain action for the entire match, then I would hope that they are old school.”

But the Chure

lla elder also believes both Ryan and Josh have their own “new school” style.

“Some of the techniques that I see for single-leg finishes and a lot of that funk is something that you never saw 25 years ago,” Mark Sr. said. “Now it seems so prevalent like single-leg defenses of diving through legs.”<p(You can read the rest of this article by subscribing to W.I.N. Magazine. Either contact our office at 1-888-305-0606 or subscribe through this website by selecting the “Subscribe” section on our front page.)