William Byrd is the first state champion for his high school in over a decade. He is pictured here after his win.

As the high school state championship season comes to a close, champions are congratulated on their success. The others go back to the basics in the off season, looking to improve, mostly at their local clubs.

No one took the basics more seriously after last season than William Byrd, a senior this year at Alabama’s Mountain Brook High School. He decided to take wrestling seriously in the off season of his junior, dropping out of the South’s most coveted sport: football.

“He is the hardest working kid I ever met in my life,” said club coach Terry Allison. “All of the kids grew up on football. [Byrd] talked to me and the head coach and said that he was quitting football. His ultimate goal was to be a state champion in wrestling.”

His extra work and focus paid off and he reached his goal.

“It was one of the greatest feelings ever,” said Byrd after winning a state championship. “I was bawling like a baby. I can’t think of a way to describe it.”

Mentoring him from the sideline was his high school coach, Chaz Tillman. He stressed the importance of the off season to Byrd, who took it to heart. It wasn’t an easy decision for Byrd to stop playing football, but he was committed.

“It came down to when I lost last year at state. When I saw kids I had beaten on the podium, it motivated me,” he said. “I learned how to push myself while drilling and going hard the entire time. All of my coaches helped. I was a mat junkie.”

But it wasn’t easy to stay motivated for Byrd. Tillman went to Fargo, N.D. for the ASICS/Vaughan Junior National Championships with Byrd, who wasn’t pleased with his performance at the tournament going 0-2 at 152 lbs in Greco-Roman and 0-2 at 152 lbs in freestyle. Tillman reassured Byrd that his efforts would pay off, and they did at states.

“The magic of what happened, it’s been an amazing ride. My past coaches wouldn’t stress the importance of the off season in the past […] no one else [from my team] would do it except me. It was almost like [Chaz and Terry] wanted it as much as I did. They wanted evidence of what training in the off season can do,” said Byrd.

Byrd trained with an unconventional group. The Agoge Wrestling Club, included him and just five other kids. Now, he’s training at Vestavia Wrestling Club under Christian Staylor where he has drilling partners that are state champions too.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Byrd said of coach Staylor. “He pushes me.”

His success with wrestling at a club has reached the community too. Allison said the local youth program grew from 12 athletes to 40 in just two years.

“The program and community just lit up. It opens people’s eyes for the programs. [Byrd’s] the first to reap the benefits of wrestling year round,” said Allison. “For these people in Alabama to understand what kind of coaches they have available is big. They never had coaches like they have now.”

Byrd is now hoping to wrestle at Div. I colleges like Old Dominion or Appalachian State, bringing his drive with him.

“William is such a great kid and a great influence,” said Tillman. “He’s a leader in the wrestling room and a mentor for the younger kids.”

And a true example of the slogan “summer wrestlers make winter champions.”