leehelbig

Hearing only what he needs to hear

By RYAN LUCAS / Laramieboomerang.com

A bigger, stronger opponent stares you down.

The whistle blows, but you don’t hear a sound.

On the official’s simultaneous signal, you start circling the competitor,
matching his movement while keeping your distance. All around you, a
cacophony of voices starts clamoring for action.

But silence is your only motivator. Inescapable quiet accompanies your
every muscle shift and flex, and you strain for three periods while
wrestling up a weight class.

Welcome to Lee Helbig’s world on the mat.

Helbig, the University of Wyoming’s heavyweight, is a deaf grappler.
Although the redshirt freshman does use the cochlear implant in his left
ear to hear during practice and everyday situations, he battles in an
arena devoid of noise.

And while some challengers may perceive his condition as a disadvantage,
he sees it with heightened vision.

Full-on concentration helps toughen his game.

“It definitely makes it easier to focus,” Helbig — 18-14 overall,
including a 15-9 mark at 197 pounds, where he split time earlier this
season with sophomore teammate Alfonso Hernandez before taking over his
current slot full time — said.

“Some wrestlers in high school, when they’d go on the mat and hear people
boo or yell that they’re not good wrestlers, I know they’d have a hard
time trying to perform or feel good about themselves.

“If you’re wrestling when you’re down, you can lose easily.”

Where other athletes must deal with constant distractions, tuning out
everything is never an issue for Helbig.

“I just focus in my head,” he said. “Some people have wondered: ‘What is
it like to have a head with no sounds when you’re out there? What’s it
like?’

“I like to think it’s just blank except for all the things I need to do to
win, so it’s easier to keep my focus.”

Helbig, who finished 22-8 at 184 pounds last winter as a redshirt in open
competition, is now adjusted to both the rigors of the Cowboy program and
the slight teaching tweaks head coach Mark Branch and staff made to
accommodate him.

“The first couple months were a little bit hard,” he said. “I was new,
they were new and they’d never had a deaf wrestler on their team.

“This year, it’s been easier; they know what it’s like now, and I’m
getting used to it.”

During breaks between the action, Helbig’s lip-reading skill becomes his
method for guidance.

“I just try to make sure every time we stop that I take a look at my coach
to see if he has anything to say,” he said.

Right now, he’s interpreting plenty of positives along with the requisite
constructive criticism.

The Lansing, Mich., native — a two-time high school state champion,
accumulating undefeated records in his freshman and senior seasons — is
playing an integral part in the ’Pokes’ rise to national prominence.

When an academic issue forced UW — ranked No. 25 in the nation — to
reshuffle its roster earlier this winter, Helbig proved himself as an
invaluable asset.

With no eligible true heavyweights available, he and Hernandez took turns
against the big dogs, rotating between 197 and the largest size slot.

“I had to take a step up,” Helbig, who is 3-5 at heavyweight, said. “I try
to help out the team any way I can because I know our coach is very strict
on teamwork. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to show teamwork,
to show I can be a good teammate.”

The display of selflessness isn’t over.

As Helbig and the Cowboys continue their preparations for the NCAA West
Regional/Western Wrestling Conference Championship tournament on March 6
in Brookings, S.D., the learning process is on full-bore.

“I’ve been working with my coaches, and they’ve been giving me lessons on
how to wrestle heavyweight,” Helbig said. “I’ve won some matches, but I
lost some matches, too.

“But I feel like I’m gaining a lot, and it’s a good feeling because I can
wrestle anywhere now; I could cut down to 184 if I want.”

Against the biggest athletes around, Helbig is still discovering how to
use his agility and mental ability to his benefit. Understanding the ins
and outs of wearing the opposition down is essential.

“For the last three weeks, I’ve tried to train my mind as a heavyweight
wrestler,” Helbig said. “All I know is all I can do is do my best to keep
working — keep working on conditioning, keep working on speed and keep
working on being a smart wrestler.

“If you’re not smart against a heavyweight, there’s a good chance you’ll
get caught and get pinned.”

Along with his sharpened versatility, Helbig also now better appreciates
the importance of cerebral qualities in any role.

“He likes his wrestlers to keep thinking all the time,” Helbig said of
Branch. “If something’s needed, you’ve got to be ready for it.”

“… I believe that’s how you become a good wrestler, is making sure you’re
prepared for anything that can happen.”

Grasping drastic change comes somewhat easy to the UW grappler.

After all, when the silence that characterized much of his childhood ended
— he got the surgical device implanted in fourth grade — his world altered
in an extreme way.

And while he must return to the soundless state on the mat, Helbig is
appreciative of all his opportunities — with noise and without.

“It’s nice to be deaf sometimes,” he said with a laugh. “That way, you can
always sleep good.”