Role Model

Syracuse’s solo state-qualified wrestler just wants to serve people

Naseem Fielder, a senior at Corcoran High School, competed in New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s Division I championship on Feb. 26. He’s been wrestling since he was a freshman, but this was his first trip to the state finals. At the sectional competition on Feb. 13, Fielder won the Most Outstanding Wrestler award, his second such title for the season.

“It’s obvious he wrestled well and he won and that goes into it, but it’s also how you won, how you handled yourself and what you looked like,” said Matthew Cosgrove, Fielder’s assistant coach. “There’s a lot of great wrestlers, but that day people just noticed that he wrestled technically sound, he was positive and a model athlete throughout the whole tournament.”

During the Section III wrestling finals, Cosgrove explained, each team’s coach cast one vote for the MOW award, and Fielder won out of the 15 section champions. At the Cazenovia Invitational in January, Fielder also won the most Outstanding Wrestler award, plus the title for his 145-lb weight class. But it isn’t just team coaches that recognize Fielder’s character. Rob Northup, the head coach for Syracuse wrestlers, said that Fielder’s teammates admire him as a role model as well.

“If we say something for the team to do, they automatically look at him, like ‘what are we doing, Naseem,” he said. “They really look for his leadership and guidance at times.”

Students in the Syracuse City School District all compete as one team under Syracuse ITC, and Fielder is the first from the district to capture a sectionals title and compete at the state competition since 2010, when Lamont Fleming (also a Corcoran student) won third place in the 160-pound weight class.

Although Fielder lost in the preliminary rounds of the state competition, he said he uses the skills he’s learned in wrestling in other areas of his life.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re wrestling, you just have to go in with a good mindset,” he said. “And I approach everything with the right mindset: whether it’s school or helping a family member out.”

The 17-year-old got into wrestling because he was practicing karate at the time and wanted to pick up another sport. His friend suggested they try wrestling and Fielder said he “just got hooked.”

Since the wrestling season has ended, next up for Fielder is track and field, where he runs in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash and 4×1 relay.

After he graduates, Fielder plans to attend community college and then become a firefighter so that he can serve others.

“I love to be there for people in a time of need,” Fielder said. “Because I believe that everybody deserves a chance to be saved.”

 

 

— Story by Ashley McBride, The Stand Staff reporter