S05E194 Special Guest State Wrestling Champion & CrossFit Athlete Francesca Gusfa

What does it take to become the first state wrestling champion from your school in nearly 60 years? Today's guest, Francesca Gusfa @francescagusfa, joins coach David Syvertsen @davesy85 as she shares the remarkable journey that led her to make history at Ridgewood High School.

Fresh off her state championship victory, 18-year-old Francesca opens up about the winding path that brought her to wrestling excellence. Unlike her brothers who started wrestling early, Francesca initially pursued gymnastics and other combat sports before fully committing to wrestling. That diverse athletic foundation gave her exceptional body awareness and movement patterns that now define her quick, powerful wrestling style.

The conversation dives deep into the mental game that separates good athletes from champions. With refreshing candor, Francesca admits, "For me, the mental game is the toughest one." She details how losing last year's state championship became the fuel for her triumphant return, and how visualization practices helped her overcome performance anxiety. Her insights about pre-competition mindset and the challenge of "staying on top" reveal wisdom beyond her years.

Perhaps most fascinating is Francesca's perspective on women's wrestling's rapid growth. As one of the pioneering female wrestlers at her school, she's actively working to recruit and train the next generation of girls to the sport. Her story illuminates how quickly opportunities are expanding for female wrestlers, from high school competition to collegiate programs.

Whether you're a wrestler, an athlete in any sport, or someone who appreciates the psychology of high performance, Francesca's journey offers valuable lessons about resilience, discipline, and the power of mindset. Listen now to discover how this remarkable young athlete balances 6am training sessions, academic excellence, and championship aspirations while helping build the future of women's wrestling.

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S05E194 Special Guest State Wrestling Champion & CrossFit Athlete Francesca Gufsa

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker Names

David SyvertsenHost

00:05

Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, coach David Syverson. This podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition and, most importantly, mindset. All right, welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am Coach David Syerson. I'm here solo, without Coach Sam. I'm here on a Friday morning because I have a really, really special guest today, someone I've been looking forward to talking to in this regard for a really long time and sitting to my right actually kind of far away, but it's okay.

00:39

This is Francesca Gusfa from Ridgewood High School. If you've been living under a rock, she just recently won the state championship for wrestling, the first one since 1965 from Ridgewood High School. I was trying to put that into context about how long ago that was. My dad was born in 1954. He was 10 years old the last time someone from Ridgewood high school won a state championship. Francesca, thanks so much You've been hanging out for waiting for a half hour. You just got done training here at Bison. Thank you so much for hanging out for the extra half hour and giving me some time here at the Herfit podcast. How are you?

Francesca GufsaGuest

01:18

Um, I'm good. Um, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Um, you know I'm doing great. I just had. I just did the hang workout.

David SyvertsenHost

01:27

Coughlin Coughlin.

Francesca GufsaGuest

01:29

Yeah, gotta love that one.

David SyvertsenHost

01:31

When I when I programmed Coughlin here it's funny, coughlin, by the way, is a hero workout that you have to compile six minutes hanging from a pull-up bar and every time you come down from the pull-up bar you have to run 800 meters and 30 push-ups. So it's like a penalty every time you come down. And when I saw you and your brothers signed up, I was like they're going to crush this workout because the strong bodyweight athletes the ones that are very strong in relation to their bodyweight they always annihilate this workout. They can usually get it done in two sets and Manny, your brother, hang on for five minutes and 20 seconds.

Francesca GufsaGuest

02:07

Manny and Yaya are good at this workout. Manny hung on for, I think, 520, yaya for four. Oh my gosh.

David SyvertsenHost

02:13

And you were three. No, I was two, two, yeah.

Francesca GufsaGuest

02:16

I was like I'm going to do two, two, two. It turned into one one, that's everyone's goal.

David SyvertsenHost

02:24

Yeah so, francesca, I want to kind of just talk about some of your story of going and reaching the peak of New Jersey State Championship Wrestling, because I've always been kind of intrigued by your story. You're the youngest person we've ever had on the Hurt Fit Podcast not including my son, who was four at the time, but he was just sitting there but you're also, in my opinion, probably one of the most accomplished athletes we have we've ever had here, and even the, including all sports. And I always like to dive into what is your story? What is your what? How do you take mentally, what gets you to that stage? Because whether someone has a wrestling career ambition or an athletic career ambition, no matter what, I believe that you can learn from someone that has accomplished things at a high level, like you have. And I would just like kind of dive into your mind and because, again, you, your brothers, your dad, now you guys come at 6am, I would say four or five days a week.

Francesca GufsaGuest

03:20

Yeah, we try to. We try to come majority of the days.

David SyvertsenHost

03:23

Yeah, and like that's impressive. That alone is impressive to me. We have another one high school guy, jamie, that comes in the morning. I'm just impressed by that because I always relate to like I would have never been able to do that in high school and the fact that you guys do that. There's something different about you and even your brothers, and even seeing your father now that I like kind of dive into that mindset a little bit. So before we dive into some of that deeper stuff, let's just give some background information on how old are you, what grade you are, what your grade you're in and when you started wrestling um, so I'm in the 11th grade, I'm a junior at richard high school and I'm 18, okay, um, and I started wrestling when I was.

Francesca GufsaGuest

04:01

So I, my mananny started wrestling first when he was like four I think, and I was, yeah, and I was like a gymnast and I think I dabbled in like figure skating. So I was. I never really like saw that for myself. I thought I was going to grow up to be like a pro gymnast. But then eventually I think I started doing it just because all my brothers were doing it, so like I might as well too. And I did like jujitsu.

04:26

When I was younger I did judo and so I already had already done like all these combat sports, and so this was just like another like activity to do.

04:34

And if my mom was already driving all my other brothers to this, like why not drive me too? But then, like, eventually it became like a well, gymnastics is like three days a week for like three hours and it's hard for my mom. It was hard for my mom to drive me to gymnastics and then all my brothers to like everywhere they had to go, and I mean I wasn't happy with it at the time, but the family decided that I was, I was OK without gymnastics, yeah, and so I started wrestling and I don't think I ever really took it that serious because I was like it started off where I was, like I just don't want to be here, and then it eventually became like okay, like I have to be here, type thing, and like I wouldn't say I was going through the motions, but for a long time it was like I I didn't like have that goal set for myself.

05:23

And then eventually, like I think it was like one of my coaches introduced me to the idea I was like late middle school by now, and then I'm like I realized that like I wasn't, like I wasn't bad, like I could totally do it too, like I think that was part of the reason, like I didn't realize I was like totally capable of doing all these things and so, like, with a lot of support from my family and from my coaches and from, like all the people I surround myself with I was I kind of like it helped set me up for that.

David SyvertsenHost

05:53

Awesome, that's really cool. So this is a good lesson, I think, for a lot of parents that have young kids is to put them in a lot of different things while they're young, because that's one thing that I I pay attention to some of this stuff more than I used to, because my son's five now and you know a lot of parents want the best for their kid and I always respect that. But they feel like if they need to get good at wrestling or get good at baseball or football, that's what they need to do all year round. But really all of your activities growing up probably really fed into you being a really high level wrestler, like all that background. I didn't know that about you and I could. It's funny.

06:27

I've been watching you, uh, work out for almost two years now. You've been with bison for almost two years Once. One of the things that you do body weight wise is like you move like a gymnast and it's funny that you come in. It's like, oh, I had some sort of gymnastics background, it wasn't a long time, but those basic level like this is how you move your body, this is how you strengthen your core, this is how you understand body awareness. I want to tie that to wrestling a little bit later on. That makes a lot of sense to do. You look back on that at all, with how good of an athlete you are. Take wrestling out and say, hey, it was, because I think, um, all the different sports that I did they.

Francesca GufsaGuest

07:08

They were all very, you know, there it was a variety of different things, so it wasn't like I was just concentrating on like one muscle group, or just like like, say, I ran track right, like that'd be endurance, or um, like power, like a power movement but like if I hadn't done other things, I don't think I'd be able to like move the body in the way I have to for wrestling and I also feel like um, a lot of like.

07:33

I wouldn't say I'm like the strongest person ever, but I feel like, because I started out young, like doing all these different things where I had to move my body, I think my um, like my strength, where I have to like my body weight, like move my own body weight, is like not bad.

David SyvertsenHost

07:48

Right.

Francesca GufsaGuest

07:49

So I think that definitely contributed to that.

David SyvertsenHost

07:51

Awesome, Cool. So when did you so? That's like your childhood, your athletic career, if you want to call it that. Growing up, when did you kind of realize that, hey, I can do this at a high level, I can wrestle at a high level, and and I want to because there's two parts there there's some people that just don't want to do it because it burns you out. It's hard to get into an elite level at anything. It takes a lot of time, discipline, sacrifice. When did you, when did it start to click in your head? Was it high school, junior high, when you were like, hey, I really want to go after this at the highest level possible?

Francesca GufsaGuest

08:25

I think it was, um, I think my eighth grade year or it was late middle school, I don't really remember when but um, I had I had done like all the local, I had done local tournaments. I had gone to some more tournaments in like Pennsylvania, which is kind of like where there's a lot of like very good wrestlers concentrated there, and um, and I think one of my coaches, like I was saying this earlier, had said something about like this tournament called Women's Nationals.

David SyvertsenHost

08:47

Okay.

Francesca GufsaGuest

08:47

And it was out in Texas, I think that year and basically, um, it was, I was, so I was the age group I would be in was you 15. Okay, and what it was is that you could qualify for like a uh Pan American team and represent like the usa at like, go against other 15 year olds for other countries around the world.

09:08

Yeah, yeah and so, um, I think I that year I didn't actually win. I think I went and I lost, and then the girl that I lost to decided to go up a weight class.

09:19

So it was like totally by chance that I was able to go interesting and I was like I was like a little bit in, like I was like a little lost in, like I was like a little lost, like not lost, but I was a little like, oh, like I'm just going to go, and then you know, and then I went and then I talked I remember talking to my dad about it, and I was like he was telling me like you could like really pursue this, you know, if you work hard, like my dad's one, a really big, like um, he really helps me, like push me, and like he's the one that like helps me get up at yeah watch 30 am to get here, because a lot of times I don't want to do it myself no, I could tell

09:54

but, um, yeah, so I had like a conversation, I had a series of conversations with him and I was like you know what? Like I actually really do want to do this, and for me, so basically how it works, is that there's the U15 age group. I think the lowest weight is like 70-something. I went 79 pounds that year, wow. And then the next level, like tier, is U17. And the lowest weight is 88 and 88.

David SyvertsenHost

10:19

Okay.

Francesca GufsaGuest

10:19

So I did that for two years. So now I'm U20, but the weight is like 110. And I'm a little bit. I'm too light for that right now?

David SyvertsenHost

10:29

Yeah, I was going to say how heavy are you?

Francesca GufsaGuest

10:30

I'm sitting at like 96, 97.

David SyvertsenHost

10:32

And that's a huge deal.

Francesca GufsaGuest

10:33

So that's like a big jump.

David SyvertsenHost

10:35

Yeah.

Francesca GufsaGuest

10:36

And, like in wrestling, there's cutting right, like people cut weight to get down. So, like right now, like this year, I decided that, like my family and I decided that I wasn't going to make the trip, okay, To do that, just because I want to wait till I'm a little bit bigger, okay, and I think maybe in the like next few years I'll be able to get up to that weight class and be able to compete again, which I'm excited for, yeah, so that's kind of like a big overall goal.

David SyvertsenHost

11:01

Okay.

Francesca GufsaGuest

11:06

Goal, big overall goal.

David SyvertsenHost

11:06

Okay, goal right now and then, um, I have some like not smaller, but I have some more um like reachable goals right here, yeah, I mean state championship right when I I watched you on stream not this winter, uh, winter 2024 and you and you lost your state championship meet right and I remember texting you and your mom after that and just saying, talking about how it's almost required for you to lose to really reach your people no, 100% you have to really take that punch and fail, because it just makes you work that much harder.

11:35

I always tell people, if you're always winning, you're just around the wrong people.

Francesca GufsaGuest

11:38

No, yeah.

David SyvertsenHost

11:39

Can you describe some of that? One of your goals, I'm assuming, was state championships right. Yes, yeah, you describe some of that. Yeah, one of your goals, I'm assuming, was state championship right, and I want to talk about that journey of failing the first time through and second time through. You come back with some fire in your eyes and you kick ass, and I would like to have you maybe just dive into one of the mindset of what was it like to a lose? Take that bump. How long did it take you to recover mentally and did that, was that able to fuel you all year long?

Francesca GufsaGuest

12:06

um so definitely yes, um so one of the things I hate most is losing like using, like I hate losing like I'm upset about it for like a month yeah so, um, and I think like that's problematic, but I think that also helps me, like once I do like um, hop, like, hop, like get out of that and I, you know, move on eventually. I think that's what really, that's what really like lights the fire under me and I'm like okay, like time to like get ready and go again, because so last year I so when I was a freshman, I was too like to wrestle at the high school level, which is it's 100 pounds, the lowest weight class for girls, and I was 75 yeah, that's way too much yeah and so I um focused primarily on club wrestling.

12:54

Okay, and then I moved to um. I had been in ridgewood already, but I was at a private school, so I moved from private school to ridgewood high school for my sophomore year. Okay, and um. The wrestling coach there was great. He's the reason, he's one of the biggest reasons, I decided to go to the school. He's very supportive. Coach Watson, thank you.

David SyvertsenHost

13:16

Yep, coach Watson Shout out Nice.

Francesca GufsaGuest

13:19

And so I was at that school and you know I had great partners, I had like good coaching, I had, you know, like a very regimented system. I was getting practice, I was on the boys dual team. I was system, I was getting practice, I was on the boy like the boys.

13:40

Dual team, I was the 106, and so all year long, you know, I've been doing pretty well like I had it, like I've been doing very well, yeah, I think, yeah, you're correct, and so, um, and then I got, I think, to the counties maybe, and there's this one girl that, um, if you, she like texted me, like absolutely beat me and I was very upset.

13:55

but of course um, yeah, and so I had to like kind of like reset and I got to States and I think so I think one of the biggest challenges for me is like like the mental game. That's very difficult for me, I think, like physically. Like physically, like I, I can work out, I can do all these things, except for running maybe, but um, as like for the mental game is like the toughest one for me, and so I don't think, going in that I had a bad like mentality, but I think I was kind of focused on I was focused not really on the crowd, but I was focusing, focused on losing, focused on I was focused, not really on the crowd, but I was focused on losing, focused on her, focused on all of that, and I tried to like push all that aside, but like I think it's hard to do, Absolutely Especially.

David SyvertsenHost

14:40

This is where experience comes in, for athletes is like the way you're talking right now. You're talking as an inexperienced athlete, like focusing on the crowd and hopefully that you don't lose and all the other distractions, where the second time through you are. You now have that experience and that's why experience in sports experience and coaching it matters so much. But you have to earn that. Like you, you, you don't, you don't, don't get to skip steps and that's why I remember talking to you after losing that student championship last year. That's just a step towards where you are and like and sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. You won. That doesn't guarantee you're going to win the next time through, but it's still a necessary punch you have to take. And any experience in anything you do, whether someday you're going to go to college and get your job, you have to fail, you have to make mistakes, but no one likes making those mistakes in the moment.

Francesca GufsaGuest

15:29

Yeah, no, I one likes making those mistakes in the moment. Yeah, no, I think, um, it definitely sucks in the moment, but I think that you know, if you don't have that experience and you're, you're never really pushing yourself you know, and I think the only way you can actually like grow and like develop as a person is by um, is by like putting yourself through those like situations.

15:48

It's awesome and I think, like um, I think that's one of the perks of like doing um, not only working out, but also like doing like crossfit, like I feel like um. When I started I was like okay, just like another thing I gotta do like okay, like check off, check off, check off yeah but I think like not only I feel like it doesn't. I was talking to my dad about this. Actually it works out like a lot of different body parts and.

16:11

And it's like it's funny because, like we were talking and he was saying how, like some of these workouts, like we're looking at it and we're like, oh okay, Like why are there like 60 different things I have to do today? But I think it's part of that's important, because it's like you're not working out the same things every day. I'm not, like you know, going to the gym and hitting chest every Monday. It's like it switches it up and I think that's important.

David SyvertsenHost

16:36

Yeah, how much has CrossFit really? Kind of, because I know the goal when I talked to your mom before you joined was like hey, we need to get her stronger for wrestling and that's been a key focus. Like, we talk about weights all the time, like what weight should you use, but we also don't want to get you hurt. We got to be really careful about that stuff. But taking that goal aside, just the idea of working out with other people and it does get a little competitive in there, it gets a little intense, Does that? Do you think that's actually helped your wrestling career, Not even just physically but mentally? Grinding through and seeing the light at the end tunnel, sacrificing the moment for the long-term gain has that kind of added some fuel to the fire of you becoming a state champion wrestler?

Francesca GufsaGuest

17:21

yeah, 100. So, um, how I kind of see it in my head is like when I'm working out, especially here, like I'm like okay, like I can do xyz amount and then but I'm doing it for, like for the next goal, like for the next. So for me right now it's so. There's fargo nationals in july, so that's my next big thing. Like that's what I'm like aiming to um win next nationals in july.

17:46

Yeah and so when I'm like doing a workout in my head, that's what I seem like, that's what I, what I'm seeing okay when I'm like pushing through the workout and I think the competitive aspect is totally like, definitely there, like I'll be looking at people next to me and I'm like, all right, like you're done, I feel okay, like I'm, and then, um, maybe not for the running actually, but but for running off for for every, like pretty much everything, yeah, especially my brothers, like, if I like, especially body weight workouts, like where I know I can like do good.

David SyvertsenHost

18:18

Yeah, smoke them.

Francesca GufsaGuest

18:19

Yeah, Like I'm like okay, like let's go yeah.

David SyvertsenHost

18:22

I think being competitive is a skill, like mentally. I think that's something that people need to develop if you want to do well in sports or competitive CrossFit right, I think I know so much. I've been doing this so long. I've seen people that want to compete and they do well. But and I talk about this, I call it the edge and I some of my coaches that I work with and athletes that I've worked with I said, like that is what needs to be developed, is you need to have a little bit of like an FU mentality that hey, if I actually voiced what I was thinking inside my head while I was working out, you would probably think I'm an awful person.

18:54

Yeah, definitely, but that needs to be developed if you're going to reach your ceiling, especially in an effort-based sport. Right, if we're talking about golf, even baseball, a lot of that stuff is skill, concentration, accuracy, coordination, timing, which can be trained as well. But when you're talking about something like crossfit, wrestling, football, soccer, grit means so much like how bad you actually want it like to me. Sometimes I've watched you wrestle twice, right, um, and and then, yeah, it was. Uh.

19:30

I remember I went to a meet, uh oh, I do remember that, yeah, the dual, the dual meets yeah, the dual meets and that, yeah, the one was in the bit, the main ridgewood gymnasium, and the one this past one I loved more had the dark, the dark yeah yeah, I like those ones the best it was against clifton, that was your, and I brought my son to that and he he had so much fun.

19:48

But watching you wrestle I don't. I don't come from a wrestling background so I don't know that much about it. But watching, but I do know about movement, anatomy, athletic sport strategy and watching you wrestle. Your game is very much based on speed and quickness. That you're just a very quick, like quick like a cat, but you're also you're very strong, like your lower body is very built and I feel and the last thing that I noticed is you're very mobile and it wasn't even just watching you, watching other people wrestle too, like other guys.

20:21

Like flexibility, mobility it means so much because you you get wrapped up into a pretzel sometimes like if your body can't bend that way, like I was watching a few of the positions that you guys were in, all you wrestlers I was like snap tendon, snap ligament no way can't do that. But being strong in those positions is a huge deal and when you train here, a lot of your goals is to get stronger, right, but you also need to train different movement patterns, different positions, different positions. That's why I can see a huge correlation between CrossFit and wrestling, because there is almost too much variety, sometimes Like, why are we doing 60 different things in the workout? And there's always a method behind that madness, but it's the grit that you can train in across the gym. I've had people say their yard work at home is different because of the grit that they've trained at the gym.

21:11

Have you gotten any mentally tougher? Have you always been tough? Do you concentrate on that at all? Because right now you're telling me, like especially Manny and Yaya, your brothers when you're going against each other in a workout here, there's a little competitive fire in you that helps you out. Have you put that into wrestling at all?

Francesca GufsaGuest

21:28

For sure I think so. I, like I was saying before, I've always struggled with mental toughness. That's like the. I think that's probably the hardest thing for me okay and um, I think I think that I mean just from this year to last year. I think I've definitely jumped with that and cross it has definitely helped, um, but I've also, like I feel like that's something that I haven't always trained, like when I was younger.

21:56

Like I go to practice, I go to the gym, like I go to another practice right, or I go on a run, but like I never, like I I when I was young, I didn't really take the time to like sit down and like visualize yep and like I think that's and like visualize, yep, and like I think that's critical to being successful in a sport or just in a competitive environment, because if you're not visualizing it, then when you're there, like you know all this like when you get nervous and everything that doesn't, that never goes away, and so I would like I would get so nervous like that. I very, I very much struggle with that and I still, I still struggle with it. I get nervous before every single match, every single tournament.

David SyvertsenHost

22:34

Well, you don't look at just so. You know you're very stoic out there when I feel like you wrestle, but that I mean we have Rafi's probably listening to this right now. Rafi is a mindset coach and he's worked with a lot of different people. He's worked with me as a CrossFit athlete and we've had them on again at some point. But hearing you talk like that, the fact that you're saying that as a you're 18, now you said yeah the fact that you're saying that as an 18 year old, now that you're ahead of the curve Because at some point everyone's gonna find out the mindset is the key to reaching your potential.

23:04

It's not training at CrossFit, it's not learning a new move on the mat, it's not flexibility, mobility, work. It's not running with a garbage bag. I'm sorry, I just have memories of people running with garbage bags to cut weight in high school. That's all secondary to the mindset, where we grow up thinking. The mindset is secondary to the training. It's the other way around. The fact that you're already talking like that is huge for you and I think there's so many resources out there now, rafi being one of them, that can really truly help you reach that part of your upside. Do you apply some of this, like you're a pretty good student and I'm you know. Are you applying that these lessons to? Are you like a hey, how I do anything is how I do everything. Type? Like, how do you balance all your schoolwork with all this travel and all these meets that you're doing all over the world?

Francesca GufsaGuest

23:54

um so uh, for me, school always comes first. That's like that's my biggest priority, and um, I think that stay cultured. I'm sorry yeah, you're good, is this better?

David SyvertsenHost

24:05

yeah, you're good, it's better okay.

Francesca GufsaGuest

24:06

um. So, like I was saying, school has always come first to me and I think it always will Okay, but I think wrestling and like being tough with wrestling has definitely helped me push myself. Like in school and just like I think, just like if I so right now I'm in high school, and like it's not, it's, I wouldn't say it's easy.

David SyvertsenHost

24:29

Yeah.

Francesca GufsaGuest

24:30

And so I think like, especially when I'm waking up early now to do CrossFit, like that was a huge adjustment for me, like having to wake up early and like not stay up very, very late to do my homework.

David SyvertsenHost

24:40

Right.

Francesca GufsaGuest

24:41

So I think part of it, the problem is that, like I procrastinate a lot and that's like the problem.

David SyvertsenHost

24:47

Yeah.

Francesca GufsaGuest

24:48

But so I've been like of like forcing myself to like get stuff done, like in the like when I can like find time for it, like during lunch, like go sit in the live, like I can go sit, like sit with my friends, but also like I can like knock, sit with them and like knock out like a homework assignment, yeah, so that when I get home I don't have to do that got it um, and I think that CrossFit and just like I think also this is another point when I'm, when I'm not very busy, like I don't, I am doing nothing.

25:14

Like does that make sense? Like if I, uh like after season it took me a while to adjust because, instead of having practice every single day, there were some days where I like had nothing at when I got home from school and I was like I can get so much done today. Yeah, I didn't.

David SyvertsenHost

25:26

No, yeah, you kind of like forces me to like get it done and be more productive Yep.

Francesca GufsaGuest

25:39

So you know, there's that.

David SyvertsenHost

25:41

Yeah, there's the on and off switch. All right, like the CrossFitters and students that take school seriously. Wrestlers, you're all three Right. It's like it's either all in or all out, and I do think they're. I'm actually going through that right now, like I have a little bit like a lull two, three week lull, even though we just opened up the second gym. There are times at night where I don't have anything to do and I'm like I feel guilty for not having these. So I'm like what am I? And I understand, but I think it's important to have little spurts like that you know, without losing control.

26:17

Like hey, have a night where you don't have to do anything, like one of my brothers has been helping me out with something and he says you need to find a day every week where you're not doing any work. And I do. I I work seven days a week and I have for years whether I'm on vacation or not, and I'm working on that where you get to a point where and you don't feel bad about it you don't try to catch up for lost time, because it's kind of just like restarting your system a little bit.

Francesca GufsaGuest

26:39

Yeah, I definitely feel that I think so this year I went on a trip like a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. And so I was like like during it I yeah. And so I was like like during it. I was like I'm not, like I'm not working out like I. I was doing like two a days for yeah the past year and a half and I was.

26:59

I was just there and I just wasn't working out. And I did. I did feel guilty. I was like I should be, like I went to the hotel gym, I was doing push-ups in my room. I was like. I just felt like I don't know.

27:11

I think part of my brain was like, oh, if I don't work out like two times a week this entire week, I'm gonna go back and like lose it like I'm gonna be like terrible, like it's gonna be horrible, and I think I'm still working on that like being able to take rest days without feeling guilty about it, because when I'm competing, like part of my pre-match anxiety routine, I I'm like okay, like I think back to like I did all the workouts, they didn't. I did all the runs, they didn't, I did everything and like sometimes it's like it's like it's kind of a little like nagging doubt where it's like well, actually, like on that Wednesday, I decided not to go upstairs and work out and instead like sit in my bed. So basically, I'm like yeah, so, so I'm working on that too and I think I think it's like a like it's it's important because pushing yourself to actually do those workouts is what helps your mindset in like you in the like in the end.

28:01

But also, I think being able to rest and like take a day off and like is not only good but it's it's also like important for recovery, because I've noticed, like like I've noticed that I I started yoga recently with- my mom awesome but I've noticed that, like I'm like, and I went to the chiropractor- okay, but I've noticed that like I'm like kind of like I I'm not as flexible as I used to be, like stuff hurts same same here yeah, like my um, like I sprained my finger like four times yeah, this one, and I didn't break your finger last year or it's the same one. I sprained it yesterday wrestling or yeah yeah, but it's like.

David SyvertsenHost

28:38

So I just have a permanently fat knuckle now, so it's okay, it is what it is, but like battle score yeah, but I think that it's okay to like take time off and I I just like I just need to be okay with that yeah, no, I know and trust me, I think you, you are singing the song that so many people that have ambitious goals physically and it could, even doesn't have to be a state championship, wrestling or or even higher level than that could just be I want to be really fit. Here at the gym, we deal with that all the time. People will not take days off and part of it's the routine. They feel like lessers of themselves if they, if they don't go work hard. But now that I think, as you get older, you could start concentrating on some other things on these rest days, like you could start reading about mindset. You could start you know, I don't know go down to the meditating stage or yoga, like those are. That's just part of a maturing athlete to me, because I am impressed by people that work hard every day in the gym. But I don't think it's smart. No, it's just not like the.

29:37

If you don't recover, it's almost like you're. You're going to get less out of every single training session that you do If you're not fully recovered. If you look at it from that perspective, it's like all right, I'm going to take that day off because that is required for you to to get to that stage In in regard to recovery lifestyle, what? What are your sleep habits, what are your nutrition habits? Because you, I mean you just burn calories all day. A you're young. B you work out in the morning, then you have wrestling. I mean, are you, do you track how much you're eating and and what you're eating in regard to being an athlete?

Francesca GufsaGuest

30:09

so I probably should, because I'm trying to put on weight yeah but I am, I don't, okay, um, but I. So I I wake up, I work out, and I come home and I have like breakfast, like eggs and like bread or like a protein shake, and then I go to school, I have lunch, and then I come home, I have a snack, and then I go work out and then I have dinner, and then that's like pretty much.

David SyvertsenHost

30:35

Yeah, pretty much Okay.

Francesca GufsaGuest

30:37

And I say I would think I eat pretty healthy Like my mom does it. My mom does a good job of like making sure I'm eating like healthy stuff. Yeah, um, and I think that.

David SyvertsenHost

30:53

Uh, yes, I could like put down the ice cream sometimes, but I think you gotta be a person, though.

Francesca GufsaGuest

30:56

Yeah, I think I think overall it's like it's, it's okay yeah, I probably eat pretty good and um. As for sleep, my sleep schedule is not good. Yeah, I need to work on that.

David SyvertsenHost

31:05

Okay.

Francesca GufsaGuest

31:06

I mean I think I average like five or six or seven sometimes. Yeah, it depends, I think, on days where I'm like I have like a big test or something the next day, like I'll be like okay, like maybe not CrossFit tomorrow morning because I have to stay home and study.

David SyvertsenHost

31:22

Yep.

Francesca GufsaGuest

31:22

Or like other. But like there's other days where, like I stay, I have to stay up to like 11 or 12 and then it's like totally preventable, because I could have done this earlier in the day, but I just chose not to yeah which is like, that's like a me problem and that's something I do have to work on, okay, but, um, yeah, I would say my eating is better than my sleep, okay it's all it's.

David SyvertsenHost

31:42

It's it all comes in in droves Like it's not. It's not easy to check every box at a high level. Like you know, we do reset here every winter and we talk about hydration, nutrition, working out, sleep, alcohol intake, and you know that's why we always said, like you're doing a great job If you're doing three out of five at a high level. If you're doing four out of five, wow, five out of five. You're probably a robot, but it's. It's hard to be perfect and but I think awareness of you know trying new things too. If you ever feel like you've ever hit a plateau as a wrestler and you're training, it's like, all right, maybe I need to put some thought into something else, lifestyle wise. Maybe that next thing for you could be sleep. It could be stress management, could be a lot of different things. Um, changing gears here because I don't want to keep you long. I could probably keep you here for another hour, but I won't the.

32:27

When I went to high school, I mean, fuck man, I'm like how much older than I am. I mean I'm, I'm 21 years older than you, which makes me upset to say, but I graduated high school. I don't think you were born. Yet when I was in high school, uh, girls in wrestling it wasn't really a thing like, it was incredibly rare. And you tell me because over the past five to ten years I've seen it grow and when I've been to some of your matches, I see a lot of girls wrestling, which is really cool to me. When did this start becoming a little bit more popular for girls to get involved in wrestling?

Francesca GufsaGuest

33:02

So I've definitely seen the growth and I think the opportunities have really grown. And talking to some other female wrestlers, I've been talking to some coaches. When I go to some tournaments or I get to go to the OTC, I talk to them and they're sharing their experiences and they're saying when we were your age, we had to fight to be on the team, our world team. There was like like six girls and they, you know, they didn't win cash prizes like the guys. Like I remember one coach telling me the guys would win cash prizes at like these big tournaments and they would win like a blender or like a toaster. Gosh, that's like crazy to me, but I think it's definitely grown at.

33:42

it is really fast. I think the level has also me. Yeah, it is, but I think it's definitely grown really fast. I think the level has also grown yeah.

David SyvertsenHost

33:48

I'm sure.

Francesca GufsaGuest

33:49

People, people, people are. Girls are good now, like there's some girls out there that are like. I know a girl who's in high school. I was on like a team with her and she's at she's wrestling to be on like a senior world team spot right now.

David SyvertsenHost

34:03

Wow.

Francesca GufsaGuest

34:04

She's very good.

34:05

So it's definitely grown and the opportunities have expanded a ton, and I think that at the high school level too, I think there are significantly less girls in wrestling than there are guys, but I feel like that makes sense because it's such a new sport right and it's like not people bashing on it, but like when people are like oh well, like the level is not there, or it's like not like minimizing your like what girls do, but it's like okay, but you have to like put it into perspective like your sport has been like boys wrestling has been around since what?

34:44

like the ancient grief yeah, I don't know, like I, like we have, like we just started having the same opportunities. And like recently, like like this year, um, like women's wrestling was added as, like ncaa, like like there was a championship for them like that's what I mean.

35:00

It's definitely getting bigger, yeah, and like colleges are starting to add like women's teams instead of just clubs. So it's it's. I think it's definitely not there yet at the same level, but I think it's growing at a pace where, like it's going to be there a lot sooner than we thought it would be, because it just gives the people a lot more opportunities and it kind of like changes people's minds about things, like you see it, and you're like, oh, like they can't do that or like something like that. But that's not the case.

David SyvertsenHost

35:32

Yeah, I mean, I think one thing that you might not even see right now, I mean maybe you do that. You're almost kind of like a pioneer, especially in this area, the fact that you're a state champ and like your name's out there. Now you're getting interviewed on this on this very famous podcast. No, but really your story I'm telling you right now you, whether you realize it or not, is one is definitely gonna inspire other young girls because they see you Like we posted that picture on our Instagram back when you won the state championship. It's an awesome picture of the ref holding your hand. You just look so relieved and tired but proud at the same time and that again, that's a result-oriented picture.

36:08

But that is where a lot of dreams start, is they see someone else accomplish something and they put themselves in those shoes like maybe I can do that, because wrestling, to me, you have to be wired a certain way to do it at a high level.

36:20

You have to be very different than other sports and I'm really looking forward to what sports my son gets into and, like I joke with ash all the time my wife that brock's gonna want to be a wrestler because he just wants to wrestle all the time he wants to take kids down. He knows how to do some of these moves. I don't even know how to learn them, not for me and um but they sometimes like he, what if he can't catch a ball? I can't throw a ball, I can't shoot a basketball, or he's not tall enough for this or big enough for that, like wrestling, they might find wrestling and find someone to look up to and say, hey, she did that, I want to do that. I think it's a really cool opportunity for you as wrestling gets bigger. Like you, could be a trailblazer for a lot of young girls that that want to do this someday no, yeah, I, I really hope I can.

Francesca GufsaGuest

37:03

I mean, I think, um, I don't know, there's a couple younger girls at bridgewood and there's definitely so many more in the surrounding area. But you know, if I, if I can get a girl to just like try it out and maybe she'll really like it, I think that's a win right, because the more people and more girls that we get involved and that, um, we get like support for the sport, the more it grows. And I think that also at the high school level, like a lot of schools don't have girls teams, and I think I mean I'm on my school, like the girls at my school are on our boys team, which I don't think is a problem, but this year we're not. Like the girls aren't allowed to wrestle boys anymore.

David SyvertsenHost

37:44

They made a new rule all right, I was gonna ask you about that yeah, so I can't be on the boys dual team anymore is that starting next year?

Francesca GufsaGuest

37:50

yeah. So which like I'm kind of like I'm kind of bummed out by it, because I like doing the duels with the lights and everything yeah, yeah and also, I think, um, it's good to compete against people who are, like, stronger than you faster than you better than you, and so that was a really good opportunity for me. So I can't do that anymore now, which is understandable, because I think what they're trying to do is they're trying to make it so like teams are now like making girls teams and things like that.

David SyvertsenHost

38:19

Right, do you think there are some girls out there that don't want to wrestle because they don't want to wrestle against a boy Totally? Yeah, so I can understand that perspective, right? Do you think there are some girls out there that don't want to wrestle because they don't want to wrestle against a boy Totally? So that's part, so I can. I can understand that perspective.

Francesca GufsaGuest

38:28

Yeah, I can too, which I get.

David SyvertsenHost

38:30

Yeah.

Francesca GufsaGuest

38:30

But it's still a little frustrating.

David SyvertsenHost

38:32

Right.

Francesca GufsaGuest

38:32

But you know, it's OK, I'll figure it out.

David SyvertsenHost

38:34

Yeah.

Francesca GufsaGuest

38:34

But yeah, so what you were just saying there's. So I'm trying to get more girls to join my team at richwood, okay, and I've gotten three nice, let's go we're gonna be six girls instead of four next year, hopefully, okay, um, but yeah, a big thing. One of them was like texting me the other day and she was like, uh, yeah, so am I gonna have to like wrestle a guy?

David SyvertsenHost

38:53

like is that, am I gonna?

Francesca GufsaGuest

38:54

have to do that, yep, and I was like your question I was like, I mean, I didn't like, it's not a concern for me because I've done it my entire life. It's just like that.

David SyvertsenHost

39:05

Just another wrestler, yeah, just someone else.

Francesca GufsaGuest

39:07

But from the perspective of someone who's just getting into it, I can totally see why that's.

David SyvertsenHost

39:12

Absolutely. It's one of my first questions when I didn't know. I didn't know how the system worked. When I came to watch you the first time, I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to be that guy want to ask. I didn't want to be that guy, I don't want to bother. I don't want to bother your parents either. So I just went and I was like all right, let's see what happens. And I don't. I'm not used to that. I haven't done it for 10 years.

39:29

But it's a very natural question for people to have.

Francesca GufsaGuest

39:30

Yeah, no, totally, and I think that that's one of the big um factors that maybe a lot of girls are like wait, I don't know if I want to do that right and.

39:41

And so I think I mean, I think it's important, it's definitely important, like if you're, if you grow up with a combat sport, you're more comfortable with it. And I I don't have that perspective, where I didn't come from like a combat sport. So I don't like I try to put myself in their shoes but I can't like I can't really like do that because I just have never done it. But I totally see where they're coming from. And so for the girls, this year I'm going to try to host like some practices with them that's awesome Before, like the summer, maybe even during the summer too, just to get them kind of like acclimated to wrestling being on a mat, so that they have like one less thing to worry about when they like come back next season.

40:25

Yeah and so that's smart yeah, hopefully, like we can get, like we can hit the ground running then and so and then maybe at that point they'd be okay with like going with other guys, and even if they aren't, that's totally okay, because now we're at the point where there's so many of us that we could all just rotate yeah, and hopefully the numbers just keep multiplying.

David SyvertsenHost

40:42

I mean, that's mean, that's how these, that's how these things grow. That's how CrossFit grew, that's how our gym grew. It started off with just a few people, but eventually it becomes something that other people are seeing because of people like yourself, and they want to be a part of.

Francesca GufsaGuest

40:54

Yeah.

David SyvertsenHost

40:55

And I think it's a huge opportunity for you and and for the girls out there that are kind of on the to do something. But I don't want to do track, I don't want to do basketball. Um, I think it's a. It's probably the perfect time to get involved in it too, at the early stages, just because you get so much attention and it's probably a lower barrier of entry. Like in 10 years, 20 years from now, uh, when that gym's named after you, right, it's probably going to be harder to start because it would be more competitive at that time.

41:20

This is probably the perfect time to start no, yeah, I would say.

Francesca GufsaGuest

41:23

I mean, I think anytime is a good time to start wrestling yeah but, um, uh, I think that now would be a very good time also because, um, I think that the team's like small enough right now where it's like everybody knows everybody, like it's like it's a good community, like there were four girls, including myself, last year on our team. We all know, know each other, we're all friends. That's awesome. And I'm not saying I like I'm not saying I don't see that like camaraderie on the guys team, but I'm saying I think we're a lot like more tight knit and closer than they are all with each other. And I think. But I also think it's important, like I and not to distinguish like that's the guys' team and this is the girls' team, like I think we're all one big team really at the end of the day, because we all do practice with each other. But I do think that there's like you do feel a lot closer with you know the girls that are on your team.

David SyvertsenHost

42:13

I believe that, yeah, I mean you kind of just bond together. Yeah, it's kind of like your own little like I don't know, your own like group of rebels, almost like you guys are just like different. Again, that's so cool to me, um, because I think you guys also can relate to each other and what you guys are going through mentally a bit more yeah, you know like hey, we're all kind of all struggling with some of the same stuff and the fact that you do it together.

42:33

I've always said that about anything sports. This is why I want my son to play sports. It's not because I think you know I want him to go pro, yeah, go pro or live vicariously through him.

42:42

It's like, I think, that it creates bonds that you can't get anywhere else, like when you physically struggle with each other and see each other go through ups and downs. We see that here all the time. You know how people do. They struggle to get through stuff and you know no one likes to struggle Obviously no one likes to lose in the state championship but it it it can bond you tighter with other people and those relationships to me are some of the most genuine and like realist relationships you're ever going to have. Like I can look back on my career from playing baseball a lot when I was a little kid and like those relationships were as strong as any of I had in my entire life.

Francesca GufsaGuest

43:19

Yeah.

David SyvertsenHost

43:19

And like outside of my family and I feel that same way about CrossFit sport is some of those relationships were just the tightest I've ever been with someone. Last thing here If I had no guys and girls wrestlers kind of sitting in front of you right now and you were able to just give them, from your experience, just a little bit of advice on, hey, you're entering high school or you're entering junior high they could be Yaya's age, manny, whatever, yeah, what would you say to them in terms of like, hey, what are a couple of things I would really want you guys to stay focused on as you start that journey.

Francesca GufsaGuest

43:55

So I would definitely say the mindset thing. I think that's-.

David SyvertsenHost

43:59

Get on that first.

Francesca GufsaGuest

44:00

Yeah, get on that as fast as you can, because it took me a while to I mean, I'm still, I don't think, I don't think I'm there yet, but it took me a while to like, okay, like I have to if I want to win and if I want to put myself in a position where I'm going to be successful, I have to like visualize. Like I have to take the time, like a month before, like every night, I have to like close my eyes, like I have to like picture myself like going through it, like wrestling, getting my hand raised, getting my medal, like winning, like I have to visualize all of that and, um, I think I mean I'm I'm sure the process is different for everybody, but make sure, like you have to make sure that you're doing something mentally, because I get a lot of like anxiety, like like test anxiety, like performance anxiety, and so being like relaxing is very hard for me when I'm about to be in a like high pressure situation. So being able to like mentally focus and like have something I can like draw back on and realize that, like I've basically done it before in my head, I can do it again now is really important, awesome. And then also I would say, like you know the general stuff, nutrition, you know, make sure you're training and working out and all the things like that. But I also think, like it's it's okay, like this was like a big theme from earlier.

45:14

It's okay to like lose, like it's yeah, it sucks, but I think it's okay because, like like this year I was, was um, coming off from last year, I was like okay, like I'm winning this year, like okay, like enough, enough, um. But I think, uh, I came off of last year and this year I was doing very well and I I was. You know all the support I got from my coaches, my family, um, they're, they're all very, they're all very helpful and I was putting in the work because I really wanted to win this year and at Regions, which is like the tournament before you get to States, I lost.

David SyvertsenHost

45:54

Yep.

Francesca GufsaGuest

45:55

That was, I think, my one.

46:00

No, I lost to guys during the season, but that was my first loss against a girl this season okay and I was like oh, oh, okay so I can still lose some okay, and I was like I think I was kind of like getting complacent because I was like, like we were saying earlier, if you're not being challenged and you're not like around the right people, and I I would say like I was getting challenged, but not like in like that like deep gritty, like you have to like tough it out type way, and so I was like that was like a complete reset for me. Um, I was upset for like a day and a half and then I was like, okay, like states is in like two weeks time to snap out of it. And when I wrestled I wrestled her second round at states and I wrestled her and I was like I quite quite, like I have literally like nothing to lose, like I already lost and I'm I just I just wrestled, like I, just I it was, it was great.

David SyvertsenHost

46:51

Yeah, so again that that brought you to your peak losing.

Francesca GufsaGuest

46:54

Yeah, and I think that's important and I think that's something I'm going to struggle with, like, I guess, this coming year, like also I think.

David SyvertsenHost

47:07

I think it's harder to like, stay like at the top yep than it is to be chasing someone at the top 100?

Francesca GufsaGuest

47:09

yeah, I think that's gonna be.

David SyvertsenHost

47:10

I would relate that to even a little workout that you just did. It's. It's so hard to stay in front of everyone yeah because people are coming after you where you don't have anyone to chase after.

Francesca GufsaGuest

47:18

I completely agree yeah and or, or even if it's like you like. Especially if it's like you like, especially if it's like you've already done it once. It's like in my head I'm like oh, I can do it again, I can do it again, but it's like you can't underestimate people Like. For me it's harder. It's harder going against someone I've beaten before when it was close, than someone I've never gone with before.

David SyvertsenHost

47:38

Absolutely.

Francesca GufsaGuest

47:39

Because I it messes with me mentally and Absolutely Because it messes with me mentally, and I think that's another really important thing. Like you can't sleep on anybody, like you can't underestimate anybody, because the girl that had beat me at Regents I had beaten her like two times before- I'll tell you what.

David SyvertsenHost

47:51

I'll tell you right now what happened. She was, you were in her crosshairs, yeah, and she thought about you at bedtime. She thought about you when she was training. She's like I'm going to take this chick down when I see her, because we're all like that If you find someone that you lose to, you're going to think about that a long time.

48:06

And one thing about being at a high level is you, francesca, are going to get everyone's best effort Because you have a name now, you're known, you're good at what you do and wrestlers train a lot for years for that one moment against that one person that is at the peak and that's who you are and that puts that does. That adds a little bit of pressure to you, but I think how far along you are mentally and the fact that you're already talking mindset and it's something that you want to work on you're going to add that to the mindset work of how do I cope with this. But that alone is going to make you a better wrestler yeah, I think.

Francesca GufsaGuest

48:42

I think it's another way I'm going to have to push myself and I think overcoming that again is going to be what helps me improve and jump to the next level. So I think it's important and I think it's totally going to be tough, but I think it's.

David SyvertsenHost

48:59

You do tough things. That's what you do.

Francesca GufsaGuest

49:00

That's kind of what has to happen.

David SyvertsenHost

49:03

Thank you, francesco, for coming on with furred fit. Uh was, it was really hard to schedule this, you and I, because we're both busy people, but really thankful for you, thankful for sam, so much for having me. Yeah, definitely, and I would love to get you on at some point down the road once you start now going through, because I I do one thing I want to just keep track of with you is just like how's that mindset training going? Because I think a lot of us myself included, even though I'm 21 years older than you can, we can learn from from you and that and I think that's a really cool thing, that that you can offer some other people.

Francesca GufsaGuest

49:33

Thank you.

David SyvertsenHost

49:33

All right, thank you guys. We'll see for next week's episode.