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Sibling rivalry still driving Paulson twins
By Evan Bland
Date Posted: 2009-05-29
LINCOLN - There is no such thing as routine wrestling for Trent and Travis Paulson, especially against each other.
The twin brothers, former standouts at Lewis Central, talk about their feats against one other on the mat like old fishing tales; each story is more impressive than the last.
And for the most part, they remain stories. After all, their parents forbade them from wrestling against each other in public growing up for fear of what might happen. As youngsters, they had to rotate who loses matches by forfeit when the situation arose.
But occasionally, the 26-year-olds' inner teenagers still make an appearance.
Take last fall for example. After falling short in qualifying for the United States Olympic team, the pair strolled into Nebraska's wrestling room following a six-week break to work out some kinks. One Paulson hit a little harder than expected. The other returned the favor.
"It was a wrestling/fistfight for probably an hour straight with no break," Trent said. "We pretty much quit when neither one of us could stand any more. He socked me a couple times, and I might have choked him out once. It was pretty much a UFC deal there."
Stitches, broken body parts and lots of blood have been typical outcomes of Paulson bouts since the siblings were in grade school. The encounters have also helped them earn favorite status at this weekend's U.S. World Team Trials at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs. The two-day event begins Saturday at 9 a.m., with winners earning the right to be America's representatives at the World Wrestling Championships in Denmark this fall.
Though the brotherly brawls are scarcer than in days past, neither doubts the role they played in inching them closer to their dream of an Olympic gold medal.
“We’re like the same person; we’re both competitive and neither one of us are going to back down,” Travis said. “Once it’s out of us, we’re usually cool. That’s the reason we’re tough is because we push each other like that.”
***
Years ago, Keith Massey would take it personally if his practices degenerated into fisticuffs.
As an assistant coach with Lewis Central, Massey worked with the 10-year-old siblings when they were in club wrestling. Even then, the two were trying to one-up each other on the mat.
“Wussy,” one would say in the middle of a match. “You’re a weenie,” the other whispered back.
“I’d get frustrated because I thought it was them being disrespectful to me,” Massey said. “But as time went on, I realized it’s not anything against me, it’s against each other because they have to be better than each other.
“As soon as I figured that out, I wouldn’t have to go outside and count to 10.”
Massey eventually found that Trent and Travis were exceptionally good at following his advice and making quick adjustments in the circle. By the time they left high school, the duo had combined for five individual state championships and an overall 366-5 record.
It was time for college, but the Paulsons weren’t about to go their own ways. That special blend of brother, friend and punching bag was too good to give up. They picked Iowa State from a field that included Nebraska, Oklahoma and Northern Iowa.
But even as Cyclones, both continued to seek their old coach’s advice in addition to learning new techniques on campus. A self-admitted film junkie, Massey would offer his critiques to the wrestlers even as they raked in All-American honors and Trent was winning the 2007 NCAA championship at 157 pounds.
As the pair earned top seeds for the World Trials in their respective weight classes last month at the national tournament in Las Vegas, Massey still saw plenty to improve upon. Trent could focus better at the end of rounds. Travis needs to use his double-leg move more often.
“It’s nice that you won by wrestling bad,” he told them. “But when are you going to start doing these things?”
***
Mark Manning still shakes his head at the twins who got away.
Though the Cornhuskers were among the four finalists for the Paulsons’ grappling services out of high school, they were the only team not to offer a full-ride scholarship.
“It was my worst recruiting mistake,” the Nebraska coach said.
Manning and the Paulsons didn’t interact much in the following years as they battled each other in the Big 12 Conference. But the coach’s name resurfaced for the brothers when they began to consider wrestling after college. Having worked with him at the Sunkist club training camp in summers past, they knew of his experience competing and coaching on the international level. He is also helping coach this year’s World Team.
Manning’s emphasis on freestyle wrestling, with an altered format and scoring system from NCAA matches, was so much stronger than then-Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson’s that the Paulsons packed up and moved to Lincoln last fall to work out with the Huskers.
“Not to say anything bad about Cael, but he was kind of a young coach, and I don’t think he had the overall perspective that elite freestyle guys in the room breed elite college wrestlers, too,” Trent said. “When we’re traveling all over the world and training with the best, we’re bringing that back to the room.”
Trent and Travis even stayed with Manning and his family for six weeks as they transitioned from Ames while preparing for an international meet in September. When the Nebraska coach was offered the prestigious Cyclone job this spring, the twins shared some of their experiences with him.
“Manning was really thinking about it,” Travis said. “But ultimately he decided here because he’s been developing this team for the last nine years, and he’s really starting to see results now. I just told him he couldn’t make a bad decision.”
Earlier this week, Manning identified his relationships with NU Athletic Director Tom Osborne and his wrestlers as too good to leave behind.
Now he includes the Paulsons in that group.
“They’re just wearing a little shade different color red than they should have been,” Manning joked. “But now that we got them in the right red, they look even better.”
***
Used to be, Trent and Travis could roll out of bed and beat most of their opponents on the mat.
Like many successful collegiate wrestlers, they would win on ability and technique. Rarely did they have to worry about what the other guy in the ring was up to.
It was an attitude Massey, their high school coach, finally pounded out of them following an unsuccessful run at the Olympics last year. The brothers now add film study to their daily routine together.
Though the Olympics aren’t on the line this weekend, there’s plenty at stake for any wrestler looking to establish himself internationally. After all, these trials are just an annual occurrence.
Trent in particular has devoted himself to dual success with his brother by dropping to 64 kilograms (145.5 pounds), more than 25 pounds lighter than his natural weight - rather than pursue Greco-Roman wrestling or stay in his brother’s class at 74 kg (163 pounds).
It was the only way the Paulsons could train together and not have to compete in public.
“He’s the most important factor in my training,” Trent said of Travis. “I wouldn’t have had to make the sacrifice to shrink my body and cut all that weight if I just would have wrestled Greco, which I had a lot of success in. But what’s made me successful throughout is battling with my brother on a daily basis.
“We push each other to limits I wouldn’t be able to get to without him pushing me.”
After this weekend, the pair will continue to hear overtures to train at Nebraska, Iowa State and at the U.S. Olympic training facility. But first things first: Travis wrestles Saturday in his class, while Trent goes Sunday for a spot on the World Team.
Trent pointed out this week that the second guy between them usually tops the first performance out of sheer will.
If Travis wins, Trent joked that he’ll just have to score more points. With these two, bragging rights are everything.
“I’m around (Trent) more than I would be my wife because when you’re married, you go off on a job,” Travis said. “Yet we’re doing the same job. We’re training together (and) we live together, so we’re around each other 24 hours a day.”
By Evan Bland
Date Posted: 2009-05-29
LINCOLN - There is no such thing as routine wrestling for Trent and Travis Paulson, especially against each other.
The twin brothers, former standouts at Lewis Central, talk about their feats against one other on the mat like old fishing tales; each story is more impressive than the last.
And for the most part, they remain stories. After all, their parents forbade them from wrestling against each other in public growing up for fear of what might happen. As youngsters, they had to rotate who loses matches by forfeit when the situation arose.
But occasionally, the 26-year-olds' inner teenagers still make an appearance.
Take last fall for example. After falling short in qualifying for the United States Olympic team, the pair strolled into Nebraska's wrestling room following a six-week break to work out some kinks. One Paulson hit a little harder than expected. The other returned the favor.
"It was a wrestling/fistfight for probably an hour straight with no break," Trent said. "We pretty much quit when neither one of us could stand any more. He socked me a couple times, and I might have choked him out once. It was pretty much a UFC deal there."
Stitches, broken body parts and lots of blood have been typical outcomes of Paulson bouts since the siblings were in grade school. The encounters have also helped them earn favorite status at this weekend's U.S. World Team Trials at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs. The two-day event begins Saturday at 9 a.m., with winners earning the right to be America's representatives at the World Wrestling Championships in Denmark this fall.
Though the brotherly brawls are scarcer than in days past, neither doubts the role they played in inching them closer to their dream of an Olympic gold medal.
“We’re like the same person; we’re both competitive and neither one of us are going to back down,” Travis said. “Once it’s out of us, we’re usually cool. That’s the reason we’re tough is because we push each other like that.”
***
Years ago, Keith Massey would take it personally if his practices degenerated into fisticuffs.
As an assistant coach with Lewis Central, Massey worked with the 10-year-old siblings when they were in club wrestling. Even then, the two were trying to one-up each other on the mat.
“Wussy,” one would say in the middle of a match. “You’re a weenie,” the other whispered back.
“I’d get frustrated because I thought it was them being disrespectful to me,” Massey said. “But as time went on, I realized it’s not anything against me, it’s against each other because they have to be better than each other.
“As soon as I figured that out, I wouldn’t have to go outside and count to 10.”
Massey eventually found that Trent and Travis were exceptionally good at following his advice and making quick adjustments in the circle. By the time they left high school, the duo had combined for five individual state championships and an overall 366-5 record.
It was time for college, but the Paulsons weren’t about to go their own ways. That special blend of brother, friend and punching bag was too good to give up. They picked Iowa State from a field that included Nebraska, Oklahoma and Northern Iowa.
But even as Cyclones, both continued to seek their old coach’s advice in addition to learning new techniques on campus. A self-admitted film junkie, Massey would offer his critiques to the wrestlers even as they raked in All-American honors and Trent was winning the 2007 NCAA championship at 157 pounds.
As the pair earned top seeds for the World Trials in their respective weight classes last month at the national tournament in Las Vegas, Massey still saw plenty to improve upon. Trent could focus better at the end of rounds. Travis needs to use his double-leg move more often.
“It’s nice that you won by wrestling bad,” he told them. “But when are you going to start doing these things?”
***
Mark Manning still shakes his head at the twins who got away.
Though the Cornhuskers were among the four finalists for the Paulsons’ grappling services out of high school, they were the only team not to offer a full-ride scholarship.
“It was my worst recruiting mistake,” the Nebraska coach said.
Manning and the Paulsons didn’t interact much in the following years as they battled each other in the Big 12 Conference. But the coach’s name resurfaced for the brothers when they began to consider wrestling after college. Having worked with him at the Sunkist club training camp in summers past, they knew of his experience competing and coaching on the international level. He is also helping coach this year’s World Team.
Manning’s emphasis on freestyle wrestling, with an altered format and scoring system from NCAA matches, was so much stronger than then-Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson’s that the Paulsons packed up and moved to Lincoln last fall to work out with the Huskers.
“Not to say anything bad about Cael, but he was kind of a young coach, and I don’t think he had the overall perspective that elite freestyle guys in the room breed elite college wrestlers, too,” Trent said. “When we’re traveling all over the world and training with the best, we’re bringing that back to the room.”
Trent and Travis even stayed with Manning and his family for six weeks as they transitioned from Ames while preparing for an international meet in September. When the Nebraska coach was offered the prestigious Cyclone job this spring, the twins shared some of their experiences with him.
“Manning was really thinking about it,” Travis said. “But ultimately he decided here because he’s been developing this team for the last nine years, and he’s really starting to see results now. I just told him he couldn’t make a bad decision.”
Earlier this week, Manning identified his relationships with NU Athletic Director Tom Osborne and his wrestlers as too good to leave behind.
Now he includes the Paulsons in that group.
“They’re just wearing a little shade different color red than they should have been,” Manning joked. “But now that we got them in the right red, they look even better.”
***
Used to be, Trent and Travis could roll out of bed and beat most of their opponents on the mat.
Like many successful collegiate wrestlers, they would win on ability and technique. Rarely did they have to worry about what the other guy in the ring was up to.
It was an attitude Massey, their high school coach, finally pounded out of them following an unsuccessful run at the Olympics last year. The brothers now add film study to their daily routine together.
Though the Olympics aren’t on the line this weekend, there’s plenty at stake for any wrestler looking to establish himself internationally. After all, these trials are just an annual occurrence.
Trent in particular has devoted himself to dual success with his brother by dropping to 64 kilograms (145.5 pounds), more than 25 pounds lighter than his natural weight - rather than pursue Greco-Roman wrestling or stay in his brother’s class at 74 kg (163 pounds).
It was the only way the Paulsons could train together and not have to compete in public.
“He’s the most important factor in my training,” Trent said of Travis. “I wouldn’t have had to make the sacrifice to shrink my body and cut all that weight if I just would have wrestled Greco, which I had a lot of success in. But what’s made me successful throughout is battling with my brother on a daily basis.
“We push each other to limits I wouldn’t be able to get to without him pushing me.”
After this weekend, the pair will continue to hear overtures to train at Nebraska, Iowa State and at the U.S. Olympic training facility. But first things first: Travis wrestles Saturday in his class, while Trent goes Sunday for a spot on the World Team.
Trent pointed out this week that the second guy between them usually tops the first performance out of sheer will.
If Travis wins, Trent joked that he’ll just have to score more points. With these two, bragging rights are everything.
“I’m around (Trent) more than I would be my wife because when you’re married, you go off on a job,” Travis said. “Yet we’re doing the same job. We’re training together (and) we live together, so we’re around each other 24 hours a day.”
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