The sport of wrestling can be a very harrowing and humbling journey. For Dylan Snyder, he experienced this firsthand and, like a great grappler, found his way through rough beginnings to burst through for great prominence and success as an upperclassman and leader.

The East Haven wrestling team senior member played soccer when he was very young before participating in Little League from ages 10 through 12. A wrestling mat was not even on his horizon until freshman year when he decided to give it a shot in order to get more involved at school.

Following a tough rookie campaign as a freshman, and a sophomore year interrupted by COVID, Dylan bounced back to post a 23-12 record as a final-year competitor at 138 pounds for the Yellowjackets, who finished eighth at the SCC Championship and 16th for the Class M State Championship, following a 7-11 campaign as a junior.

“At first, I saw wrestling as a very brutal and demanding sport, which are not appealing factors,” says Dylan, who also placed in the top 4 in both the CJ McCormack Tournament and the Bobcat Classic. “Yet I was out of shape as a freshman, so I saw it helped me get into shape; plus I was motivated by the adrenaline rush of winning a match. I also love that a technical person who may not be as strong can still win. Everyone’s first wrestling season is never particularly good, and mine was not. I got into shape for my junior year, where I made some significant improvements. I joined South Side Wrestling Club last fall, which gave me good competition and was the main thing that helped me have a good senior year.”

Each outing would yield bumps, bruises, aches, pains, and sores for Dylan as he departed from the mats. Still, it was the emotional high of getting his hand raised by a referee that kept him churning and coming back for more daily.

“Wrestling is so physically demanding on the body; you are sore after each practice because your muscles are contracting the whole time you are out there,” Dylan says. “It also affects your skin because you get mat burns on your face, elbows, and knees. Yet the winning part of the sport and prevailing in matches is really nice.”

When it comes to outcomes of each matchup in a meet towards the team tally, a pinfall victory awards six points to a squad, while a triumph via decision yields either three or four points, depending upon the margin. Dylan knew this all too well as he hung in there for his fellow Yellowjackets to edge out Glastonbury this winter.

“The Glastonbury meet sticks out to me. My match was the last one, and it was a close team score,” recalls Dylan. “I was also wrestling up a weight class, and we would lose the match if I got pinned. I did not win the match, but I was able to clinch the win for the team by not getting pinned.”

There are three vantage points when it comes to starting out a match in wrestling, which are three focal facets of improving one’s craft within the sport. Dylan explains that marked progress on a tandem of those positions has bolstered his fortunes in his final few years.

“When I started with wrestling, I was bad at all three aspects of the sport in starting out a match either on top, bottom, or neutral,” Dylan says. “I worked hard over the years to improve my top and neutral games. I knew I could take down kids who were handedly better than me and get one good one in for a match. I also worked on cradles and bars to help me.”

While he was not officially voted and designated as a captain this senior season, Dylan more than made his mark on the program and its future by helping to harvest a close, warm, and welcoming atmosphere within the wrestling room–whether he was competing or not.

“I still describe myself as a team leader,” says Dylan. “I try to help the younger kids and make them feel welcomed. I also give the freshmen kids rides home from practice if they need them. I was injured a few times this year, but I went to every match to help support the team.”

East Haven Head Coach Mark Tolla states that Dylan is always a quick and eager learner when it comes to his preparation while setting fine examples for his younger squad siblings.

“Dylan is highly intelligent and has always demonstrated excellent technique even when he began as a freshman wrestler,” recalls Tolla. “As a coach, you could see that he would execute moves learned in practice at a much higher rate than others. This year, he blossomed into a quite successful wrestler, as his mental abilities finally meshed with him being in the right weight class to match his physical abilities. Dylan is a mature young man, which made him a leader and role model for many of the younger wrestlers on the team. He and the other senior leaders were the driving force behind the 16-8 winning record the team compiled this season.”

In closing, Dylan may not have realized it a little less than four years ago, but he entered into a fraternity that forged its way into a family, which taught him a great deal about persistence through pain in order to succeed.

“I did not know what to expect when I joined this team,” says Dylan. “ But everyone here made me feel welcomed. This team had a really good sense of community, even through the COVID year. Now, it is nice to pass leadership skills along to kids, especially juniors, and build close relationships. It was a family here. Wrestling teaches you a lot about discipline with the weight classes and maintaining weight, along with hard work.”