The NCAA Wrestling Championships over the weekend got a dose of the Easter spirit when two college wrestlers competing in the tournament showed up wearing headbands proudly proclaiming their faith in the very public ara. The headbands both wrestlers wore said “100% Jesus” in large, black block text over a white cloth headband.
The two wrestlers who wore the faith-proclaiming headbands were Aaron Brooks and David Carr. Brooks is a Penn State wrestler, and David Carr is an Iowa State wrestler. The two young men are close friends and faithful Christians.
The tournament went exceptionally well for both Brooks and Carr, both of whom managed to win in their weight classes. Joining him with a victory was a Penn State teammate, Carter Starocci. Making their dual victories all the more amazing is that both young men, Brooks and Starocci, both became four-time champions when they won the Saturday night tournament. In doing so, they joined a small group of four-time winners, one that includes their Penn State coach, Cael Sanderson.
Speaking about his win, Brooks made sure to put the focus on God, saying that the Holy Spirit keeps him in the right mental space during his matches. “It might be boring – it’s the truth, It’s the Lord, the Holy Spirit,” Brooks said. Continuing, he explained, “It keeps me calm. It keeps me poised, but I remember it’s bigger than this.” Then making sure the focus was firmly on God, he said, “These four titles come and go, His word remains forever.”
Carr joined him in focusing on God after the match. He said, “Like always, all glory to God.” Continuing, he explained how he prayed before the match not to win but to be able to focus and give it his all, saying, “I prayed before the match, ‘Give me unlimited energy and focus.’ And when I was out there, I just kept telling myself just focus and keep wrestling hard. It feels awesome to end my career on top.”
Those two young men aren’t the only ones to have spoken about their faith in a powerful way. Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan did so in an interview with TBN, during which he discussed his view of how “Knowing of Jesus and knowing Him are two different things.” Using that point to make a broader one, Hogan encouraged viewers and listeners to build a personal relationship with Jesus instead of just being vaguely and generically Christian.
Speaking about his faith journey during the interview, Hogan said that he once was one of those who knew of rather than really knew Jesus, and that it took a long time before he fully surrendered himself to the Lord. He began, “I was always a believer, but I didn’t completely surrender.” He continued, “I thought I could drive better than He could. I thought I could make the decisions better than He could. And now He takes His hands off the wheel and says, ‘Okay. You think you can do it better, go ahead and do it.'”