If there's any athlete who should heed his coach’s commands, it's Girard wrestler Nico Francis.
“Being that he’s my nephew, he has to listen to me,” Coach Jim Cardiero said. “Blood.”
While Cardiero is both Francis’ coach and uncle, the senior wrestler has the resume to do a little coaching himself. He's yet to lose this year, has posted 106 career victories and qualified for the state tournament as a junior.
“If you’ve come in there nervous, you’ve already lost the match,” Francis said. “You have to be confident. You have a game plan. You know what moves you’re going to hit. If that doesn’t work, you have a back-up.”
Currently 9-0 as a senior, Girard suffered their first team loss to Jackson Milton Wednesday. They are now 7-1.
Francis is the third nephew Cardiero has coached and there are more coming up through the ranks. Cardiero is in his 19th season as head wrestling coach at Girard.
“[Francis’] style is to be extremely explosive, like he’s being shot out of a gun,” Cardiero said. “That’s just how he has wrestled since the time he was little.”
Francis was five years old when his love for grappling began to grow. While he hopes to wrestle in college, Francis said his short-term focus is to improve on his seventh place finish at the state tournament in Columbus last year.
“A lot of kids would’ve been ecstatic and on top of the world,” Cardiero said. “He was talking about how he was going to beat the six guys that were standing above him and talking about beating them this year.”
“That’s my goal this year,” Francis said. “I’ve been working hard for it my whole life.”
If that dream comes true, family will be close by to help him celebrate.
