Sports
Gil Sa
With one state championship and a runner-up honor in hand, Gil Sa looks for more titles in the New England wrestling tournament.
Gil Sa
Class: Junior
Age: 17
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High School: Framingham High
Sport: Wrestling
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Weight class: 130-pound
Year first started competing: Freshman
Career highlight: Winning Division 1 state title two weeks ago.
Favorite athlete: Ed Ruth, Penn State freshman wrestler; as a middle school football player Sa admired Walter Payton.
Gil Sa didn’t have a burning desire to be a wrestler when he was young. It took a bit of serendipity to get him interested in the sport and a great deal of hard work for him to become a state Division 1 champion and the No. 2 wrestler in his weight class in all of Massachusetts.
As a freshman he was approached by a teacher who asked if he wanted to try wrestling.
“I didn’t have any winter or spring sports, so I thought’s I’d give it a try,” said Sa. “They were looking for someone because someone on the team broke his ankle. I made the varsity and that was sweet, being a freshman and wearing a varsity jacket.”
Sa has learned some life lessons along the way to becoming a state champion, lesson he expects will bring him more honors when he and two Framingham teammates travel to New Haven, Conn., this weekend to compete in the New England tournament.
“I learned that hard work actually pays off,” said Sa. “You can’t get there by doing just 50 percent. You have to give 100 percent every day. It’s going to practice. Lifting weights. Do more pull ups. Run another mile. When I go into a match, I have to believe that who I’m wrestling worked hard to get here. But I worked harder. That’s what gives me the edge. Hard work.”
He is determined to take his wrestling on to college. As a junior, however, he hasn’t picked a school or a course of study. “I’d love to wrestle Division 1, but I’d be happy wrestling anywhere – D 2, D 3. I’m pretty physical, and after college, I’ll probably get a job that requires the physical. Something like a police officer or a firefighter or a gym teacher. I don’t have anything specific in mind.”
No matter what he decides, Gil Sa’s work ethic will power him to reach his goals.
