A monthlong absence from wrestling due to a fractured rib worried Cameron Mashburn – but not enough to keep him from hitting the mat.
On Dec. 30, the Springtown wrestler was about to compete at the Hornets Nest Invitational duals tournament despite a rib still smarting. His pain was obvious during his first match. He hadn’t been able to keep up with his cardio conditioning program during rehabilitation, and he winded quickly during the battle and lost by points.
After the loss, Mashburn made his way to the Porcupines bench and sprawled on his back, gasping for air. For a couple of minutes, he was unable to talk to head coach Sawyer Cooper, who likes to critique his wrestlers after each match.
“It hurts,” was all Mashburn managed to say while lying prone and staring at the ceiling.
Watching from her chair nearby was Victoria Mashburn, his mother. She attends as many meets as she can. She didn’t like seeing him in pain but knew he was doing what he loves.
“I love to watch him compete,” she said.
Her son had missed the first two tournaments of the season because of his injury that occurring during one of the first practices of the season. He has been impatient to return.
“He really wants to pursue wrestling,” she said.
Football was his first love, but Mashburn switched his focus to wrestling fulltime. At about a buck-fifty in weight, Mashburn figures his chances of earning a college scholarship are better in wrestling than football.
“He went all the way to state last year,” she said.
He didn’t win at the state tournament but enjoyed the experience, she said.
Wrestling’s individual nature appeals to the teenager more than team sports.
“He loves that he gets that win just for himself, versus football, where you win as a team,” she said.
Wrestling has boosted his confidence while improving his physical well-being.
“It has helped him with his strength and flexibility,” she said.
Cameron Mashburn feels at home in Springtown, even though he is relatively new. He is glad his family moved to Springtown from Fort Worth a couple of years ago after attending Fort Worth schools for most of his life.
“It's a smaller school,” he said. “I know almost the whole school personally. That's a lot better coming from Fort Worth where it’s all big 6-A schools with 4,000-plus kids.”
He is happy to be back on the mat despite the pain. A doctor had advised him to rest his rib for four to six weeks. Only four weeks had passed, but Mashburn couldn’t wait any longer. The prospect of wrestling against Azle was too strong.
“That’s the school we want to win against,” he said. “It’s the next town over. We know all the kids. We go to the same wrestling club as half the kids in Azle.”
After losing his first match, he knew he would be in for a long day. His adversary, a kid from Lubbock Coronado, had come from behind to beat him.
“I have not had enough cardio,” Mashburn said afterward. “My first round was really good. I was up in points. As the rounds started progressing, my vision got blurry. It started to be very noticeable that I was tired. He took advantage of that.”
Collapsing on the mat afterward was in response to the painful rib and lack of breath, he said.
“Having to repeatedly take full deep breaths after four weeks of not being able to hardly take a deep breath, it's just the pain of trying to get over that,” he said.
More pain would follow. He was scheduled for four more matches over the course of the day.
“It will probably get worse before it gets better, but I'm OK with that,” he said. “I'll just wrestle through the pain and try to overcome.”
The Springtown boys wrestling team earned second place at the Hornet Nest Invitational. The team’s scores were:
Springtown 51, Lubbock Coronado 24
Springtown 42, Saginaw 36
Springtown 60, Azle Green 18
Springtown 18, Azle White 66
Springtown 72, Arlington Sam Houston 6
Devin Bell and Dallin Fabrizius were named Punishers of the Meet after each went 5-0 and won all their matches by pins.
“The Pines showed up to work today after taking time off for Christmas,” Cooper said on social media afterward. “Kids had three days of practice before competing in five duals. Kids fought hard and continue to improve. Very proud of this group of kids.”
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