VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Wrestling Through Loss: Coach Niver Builds a Family Beyond the Mat
Heather Niver: That’s good that means you’re in the right stance.
Kyra Ceryanek: For Heather Niver, coaching the first girls wrestling team in the syracuse city school district is not a challenge she takes on alone. Niver’s late son Brady had a strong passion for wrestling. So when the opportunity came to coach, Niver strapped into Brady’s wrestling shoes, believing he was guiding her to share the sport he loved.
Niver: These girls have saved me during this season, these last few months. They’ve actually saved me because there’s been days where I didn’t think I could get out of bed, and I didn’t think I could put my two feet on the floor because I miss him so much. I miss Brady so much. And it’s wrestling season, and he should be in his freshman year in college, so I’ve been struggling. And then I would think to myself, I have to go to practice. I have the girls are counting on me. So I’ve learned so much more from them this season than they can ever learn from me.
Ceryanek: Corcoran junior, Me’shaya Ross said learning about brady’s love for the sport made her want to take on wrestling. But she’s gained much more than this. From practices to matches, She says that Coach Niver is there for her on and off the mat.
Me’shaya Ross: I feel like she’s like a mother to me because, like, I have a mom, but like, mom isn’t my life and I don’t live with her. And my dad actually passed when I was seven. So like, she’s like a parent to me and I look at her like my mom.
Ceryanek: But it’s not just her coach that now supports her. Ross recognizes the growth she and her team have had since their start. From rolling out their very own mats, to cheering each other on, these girls have grown to be more than just teammates.
Niver: We fight like a family. We eat like a family. We talk like a family. We love like a family and we love hard. So, these girls, I know that nobody is ever going to do anything to me or say anything to me when that team is around. Because they are. They are right there. They have my back and I have their back no matter what.
Ceryanek: Despite never wrestling before this year, 6 of the team’s “family members” are moving onto sectionals. Coach Niver is hoping to retain team members and get her girls to love the sport as much as Brady once did. In Syracuse, Kyra Ceryanek, NCC News.
SYRACUSE N.Y. (N.C.C NEWS) — Most new sports teams have at least a few players with experience. For the Syracuse City Girls Wrestling team, its first season was a true fresh start—every single member was a wrestling rookie.
Even the coach had never wrestled. But varsity coach Heather Niver brought her late son Brady’s love for the sport to the mat. She even wears his wrestling shoes to practice.
Brady passed away two years ago in a head-on car accident. Niver said Brady’s passion for wrestling pushed her to lead this new team.
“When I’m around wrestling—in the sport, with wrestlers, on a mat, in a gym, at a tournament or a match—I just feel so connected to Brady,” Niver said. “So when the opportunity arose, I thought, this is where I’m supposed to be, and this is the path that Brady put me on.”
As a college career counselor in the Syracuse City School District, Niver saw first-hand why a sport like wrestling could be a healthy outlet for these girls. She didn’t, however, get the same feeling from many of her colleagues.
“I heard a lot from coaches, wrestlers, and parents,” said Niver. “It’s going to be tough. There will be excuses, transportation issues, and lack of commitment. They won’t show up for practice or will want to fight on the mat.”
“And I said, ‘Bring it. Bring all of it,’” she continued. “Because if anyone needs it, it’s the kids in Syracuse and the school district. We want to teach them to overcome struggles and channel their anger and frustration into wrestling, a positive outlet.”
So Niver dove in head first. She was vulnerable about her lack of experience and learned every move right alongside her team.
She was also upfront about why she got involved in wrestling and why she decided to coach. By opening up, Niver said she helped the girls realize they weren’t alone in facing challenges.
Niver said that this honesty is what allowed her to build such a strong relationship with her girls.
A junior at Corcoran High School, Me’Shaya Ross said that when Niver discussed Brady’s love for the sport, she believed it could help her channel her anger.
Since then, Ross feels Niver has not only taught her how to better manage her emotions, but has also become a significant figure in her life, both on and off the mat.
“I feel like she’s like a mother to me because, like, I have a mom, but like, mom isn’t my life and I don’t live with her. And my dad actually passed when I was seven,” said Ross. “So she’s like a parent to me and I look at her like my mom.”
Like her teammate, senior Briella Corless was also motivated by Brady’s story.
Originally a soccer and flag football player, Corless first heard of Brady when Niver came to speak to her flag football team last spring.
It was then, that Corless first learned about “#BradyStrong,” a movement that Niver created to memorialize the eight days Brady fought in the hospital following the car accident that eventually took his life.
“Be kind, be strong, be determined, be a champion,” is the message that Brady’s family believed he lived his life by.
The movement, which promotes strength through adversity, resonated with Corless.
“That (BradyStrong) is what inspires me, especially during this wrestling season as I’ve learned more about the sport and applied it on the mat.”
This phrase is how Brady would describe his wrestling idol, Yianni Diakomihalis. Niver repeated these words to Brady in the hospital and now, she repeats them to the girls on the SCSD Wrestling team.
Six athletes competed in the sectional meet last weekend.
“I’m hoping to really get them involved in off season wrestling in some tournaments that’ll be coming up in the off season,” said Niver. “I’m hoping to get them to fall in love with the sport, just like Brady had me fall in love with the sport.”
