GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Some people might call it an obsession.
“I wake up every morning and (wrestling) is the first thing on my mind,” said Skylar Hattendorf, who first started dreaming of being an Olympian as a young child.
Her father coaxed her to try judo and with him in her corner as coach, she won two gold medals when she was eight.
“I’d say the biggest lesson I learned from him was to never stop, to keep going, to always pursue your dreams, no matter what anyone says to you, or tells you you’re crazy,” said Hattendorf.
Her passion for winning was strong but “I fell out of love with judo and I started wrestling,” said Hattendorf.
Skyler first tried wrestling at age 10 and was immediately hooked. Now, her life revolves around the sport.
“For me, normal is going to bed really early, so I can get up and get ready for practice, eat good food, put nutrients in my body and have another practice at night. That’s my normal,” Hattendorf said.
Her normal also includes winning. In 2019, she made her first U.S. team and finished 2nd at the world championships. Everything was trending in the right direction.
“I think he taught me a lot of valuable lessons in the fifteen years he was with me,” Hattendorf said.
But 15 years was all she got.
“It’s hard when your dad is kind of a coach in your life. So, with any teenage-father relationship, we had our ups and downs. But he loved me more than anything,” she said.
As if adjusting to her father’s death wasn’t difficult enough, the COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after. Practicing social distance is not a recipe for success for a wrestler.
“You need someone to practice with. We did it, we pushed through,” she said.
With the help of her mother, Hattendorf said she has come through the loss of her father and the isolation of COVID-19 stronger, both mentally and physically.
