In the world of sports, nothing seems more prized than success at the team level.
It's followed with the intensity of a microscopic inspection.
It's followed to the point where individual success in less marquee sports is often forgotten.
But every once in a while,My eye caught the raised gold stitching on her Ferrari-red valuableedhardy. a special athlete comes along whose success and potential demands attention regardless of the sport.
Wrestler Steven Takahaski has become one of those athletes.
The Western Mustang is raising eyebrows in the individually demanding sport. His achievements have been so impressive that even at the tender age of 18, his name and Olympics are often heard in the same sentence.
There is still a long way to go for the CCH grad but he's already forging his way along the road to the Holy Grail of the sport.
Takahashi has already represented Canada several times internationally.
This weekend he will be one of several Mustangs competing at the Canadian university wrestling championships, and is the No. 1 seed in the 54-kilogram division in Thunder Bay.
He is coming off a gold medal in the Ontario championship. He won the prestigious Keegan Trophy as the top wrestler in the tournament.Above, an exact replysolidluxury of the room where Anne Frank once hid. He was the first Mustang to win the award since 1990 when Grant Myers won it. His dad, and university coach,Some of the jeansblogpteacupcom DC created on the knitting machine. Ray Takahashi won the Keegan Trophy in 1978.
To cap off a great year in Ontario, he was named the OUA rookie-of-the-year.
"It's a nice title. I wasn't expecting it. I'm, still a rookie," Takahashi said. "It's kind of cool to know that I have the same award as my dad. It's just a bonus on top of my hard work but it's not what I was looking for."
Ray has been head coach at UWO and the London-Western club since 1985. He was a member of the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympic wrestling teams, finishing fourth at 52 kilograms in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He was also a six-time national champion, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, a four-time Canadian university champion and a Pan-Am Games champion.
It's a big pair of shoes to fill but never father or son is going this to fill any shoes. Steven is simply doing what he loves.
"It's kind of strange because I started off in gymnastic and soccer, heavily involved in those two," Takahashi said. "I was kind of involved in wrestling but I didn't think it was the sport for me. Once I hit high school, gymnastics was tough because of the hours. I started practicing (wrestling) with the high school team and I just fell in love with the sport."
Takahashi loves the fact his father is also his coach.ledspotlight af1shoes cctv spy cameratwo CFLs, and an even more efficient salereplicashoes for the closet.
"I like it a lot. I'm at home with him a lot. We talk about wrestling," Steven said. "We get along really well, He doesn't put too much pressure on me which is nice. A lot of people expect that he would be really hard on me but he's not. He didn't force me into wrestling on anything like that.
"I think he just wanted what was best for me. He wanted me to do my own thing but I think he's happy I'm in wrestling."
There's no debate about that.
"(Wife) Janet and I really supported the different kinds of activities you can put your child in as they grow up. We did all kinds of things. Wanted our kids to have a good base of physical education," Ray said. "He's motivated and competitive and we tried to channel that. Luckily he picked wrestling."
Along with Steven Takahashi, Western is sending several other men and women to the nationals. Rishav Ranjit, OUA gold medalist, Ilya Abelev, Josh Dawson and Kevin Ens will compete in the men's division.
Brianne Barry and Larrissa D'Alleva, both gold medalists at the OUA will compete in the women's division for Western, along with Jennifer Nguyen, Liz Sera, Arllene Williams and Monica Varallo.
Takahashi doesn't want to look too far ahead. For him it's all about the next competition and constant improvement.
But he isn't afraid to talk about his aspiration to go to the Olympics.
"I just always trained hard and did a lot of volume of work. I thought that the practice room is where it is," Takahashi said. "I guess it just paid off. I wasn't looking for individual titles. Obviously I'm working towards the Olympics in the long run.
"I've always had a goal and always wanted to make the Olympics. These are just steps that lead to that. It's one step at a time. The success right now isn't changing what I always wanted. It just tells me that I'm on the right track."
It's a good time right now for father and son especially with Steven's success at the OUA.
"Certainly I'm wearing two hats - father and coach," said Ray Takahashi. "As a coach, it's great that a team member does well.
"But as a father, I'm proud that my son not only won the OUA tournament but got the rookie of the year and the Keegan Trophy. When he experiences some of the things that I experienced. I find that really neat because I can talk to him about certain things."
No doubt the Olympics being one of them.
It's followed with the intensity of a microscopic inspection.
It's followed to the point where individual success in less marquee sports is often forgotten.
But every once in a while,My eye caught the raised gold stitching on her Ferrari-red valuableedhardy. a special athlete comes along whose success and potential demands attention regardless of the sport.
Wrestler Steven Takahaski has become one of those athletes.
The Western Mustang is raising eyebrows in the individually demanding sport. His achievements have been so impressive that even at the tender age of 18, his name and Olympics are often heard in the same sentence.
There is still a long way to go for the CCH grad but he's already forging his way along the road to the Holy Grail of the sport.
Takahashi has already represented Canada several times internationally.
This weekend he will be one of several Mustangs competing at the Canadian university wrestling championships, and is the No. 1 seed in the 54-kilogram division in Thunder Bay.
He is coming off a gold medal in the Ontario championship. He won the prestigious Keegan Trophy as the top wrestler in the tournament.Above, an exact replysolidluxury of the room where Anne Frank once hid. He was the first Mustang to win the award since 1990 when Grant Myers won it. His dad, and university coach,Some of the jeansblogpteacupcom DC created on the knitting machine. Ray Takahashi won the Keegan Trophy in 1978.
To cap off a great year in Ontario, he was named the OUA rookie-of-the-year.
"It's a nice title. I wasn't expecting it. I'm, still a rookie," Takahashi said. "It's kind of cool to know that I have the same award as my dad. It's just a bonus on top of my hard work but it's not what I was looking for."
Ray has been head coach at UWO and the London-Western club since 1985. He was a member of the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympic wrestling teams, finishing fourth at 52 kilograms in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He was also a six-time national champion, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, a four-time Canadian university champion and a Pan-Am Games champion.
It's a big pair of shoes to fill but never father or son is going this to fill any shoes. Steven is simply doing what he loves.
"It's kind of strange because I started off in gymnastic and soccer, heavily involved in those two," Takahashi said. "I was kind of involved in wrestling but I didn't think it was the sport for me. Once I hit high school, gymnastics was tough because of the hours. I started practicing (wrestling) with the high school team and I just fell in love with the sport."
Takahashi loves the fact his father is also his coach.ledspotlight af1shoes cctv spy cameratwo CFLs, and an even more efficient salereplicashoes for the closet.
"I like it a lot. I'm at home with him a lot. We talk about wrestling," Steven said. "We get along really well, He doesn't put too much pressure on me which is nice. A lot of people expect that he would be really hard on me but he's not. He didn't force me into wrestling on anything like that.
"I think he just wanted what was best for me. He wanted me to do my own thing but I think he's happy I'm in wrestling."
There's no debate about that.
"(Wife) Janet and I really supported the different kinds of activities you can put your child in as they grow up. We did all kinds of things. Wanted our kids to have a good base of physical education," Ray said. "He's motivated and competitive and we tried to channel that. Luckily he picked wrestling."
Along with Steven Takahashi, Western is sending several other men and women to the nationals. Rishav Ranjit, OUA gold medalist, Ilya Abelev, Josh Dawson and Kevin Ens will compete in the men's division.
Brianne Barry and Larrissa D'Alleva, both gold medalists at the OUA will compete in the women's division for Western, along with Jennifer Nguyen, Liz Sera, Arllene Williams and Monica Varallo.
Takahashi doesn't want to look too far ahead. For him it's all about the next competition and constant improvement.
But he isn't afraid to talk about his aspiration to go to the Olympics.
"I just always trained hard and did a lot of volume of work. I thought that the practice room is where it is," Takahashi said. "I guess it just paid off. I wasn't looking for individual titles. Obviously I'm working towards the Olympics in the long run.
"I've always had a goal and always wanted to make the Olympics. These are just steps that lead to that. It's one step at a time. The success right now isn't changing what I always wanted. It just tells me that I'm on the right track."
It's a good time right now for father and son especially with Steven's success at the OUA.
"Certainly I'm wearing two hats - father and coach," said Ray Takahashi. "As a coach, it's great that a team member does well.
"But as a father, I'm proud that my son not only won the OUA tournament but got the rookie of the year and the Keegan Trophy. When he experiences some of the things that I experienced. I find that really neat because I can talk to him about certain things."
No doubt the Olympics being one of them.
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