SAND SPRINGS, Okla. (AP) - Champion wrestler Daton Fix is putting his passport through the paces.
In the past 13 months, the Sand Springs teenager has competed in Colombia, Brazil, Slovakia and China.
“Four countries in one year,” said his father and coach, Derek Fix. “There are some people who never get to experience that in a lifetime. He’s a pretty humble young man. He doesn’t talk a lot.
“… He’s done a really good job at keeping everything in perspective. Everything along the way is just part of his journey.”
And what a trip it has been.
Daton Fix won a silver medal in the Youth Olympic Games last month in China, easily winning three matches in the 54-kilogram (119-pound weight class) before losing by one point in the final to Kazakhstan’s Mukhambet Kuatbek, the Tulsa World (https://bit.ly/1DgaXRN ) reported.
Leading up to that, he captured two gold medals in the Cadet Pan-American Championships in August 2013 (Colombia), won another two golds at the Pan-Ams in April (Brazil) and competed in the Cadet World Championships in July (Slovakia).
“It helped me a ton having international experience as a wrestler,” Fix said. “You don’t get that kind of feel when you’re in America.”
“He has given up a lot to get to this level,” Daton’s mother, Stacee Fix, said. “He’s not your typical 16-year-old. He doesn’t have his driver’s license. He doesn’t have a car. He doesn’t have really time to do anything outside of what he does.”
The teenager’s fixation with wrestling runs in the family.
His father wrestled at Oklahoma State, where he was a teammate of current OSU coach John Smith, a six-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Derek Fix’s father and father-in-law were wrestling coaches, and Derek Fix also coached at the high school level at Sapulpa before going into officiating. He retired as a referee after officiating the 2008 Division 1 wrestling championships in St. Louis and now is an assistant high school coach at Sand Springs.
Derek Fix said he didn’t let Daton Fix wrestle competitively until fifth grade in hopes that he could avoid burnout and gain an edge.
“I wanted him to be the guy who wanted to wrestle because it’s one of the toughest sports in the world, and it’s one of the hardest sports in the world if you don’t love it,” Derek Fix said. “Early on, he took some losses because he was behind (in experience).
“The gamble we took in starting him late, I think it’s been good for him because he’s not afraid to lose. He’s been there. It’s about getting something from every match and making yourself better. He has a good mindset about it.”
As a high school freshman, Daton Fix won all 33 of his matches, capturing a state championship as a 113-pounder. He also wrestles for Team Big, a Sand Springs-based traveling club his father started six years ago.
“I love it,” Daton Fix said. “He pushes me. He treats me just like any other coach would treat a wrestler. I still see the other side of him where he’s my dad. It’s pretty cool.”
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Information from: Tulsa World, https://www.tulsaworld.com
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