By: centraljersey.com
A gymnast since he was 7, Etai Yonah was recruited last year to join the West Windsor-Plainsboro South wrestling team.
He didn’t start to wrestle for the Pirates until this season, but they like the sophomore’s potential.
"He’s got what we call tabula rasa," said WW-P South head coach Jesse Palermo. "He’s not starting with any bad habits. That’s what’s cool about Etai."
Tabula rasa, a Latin term that translates to blank slate, with experience gained every day in the wrestling room and in competitions. As expected, Yonah took his lumps early, though he was competitive.
"He’s still learning," Palermo said. "He has such athleticism. His first match of the year, he wrestled the Woodbridge kid who won the East Brunswick tournament – he won it by pin the finals – and he only beat Etai, 6-1. It was a great match."
Yonah bounced back from a pair of tight losses at the East Brunswick Bears Invitational – he lost, 10-8, to WW-P North’s Joe Bryde in his other match there – to capture his first win on the mat with a pin of Hightstown’s Jeffrey Weingast in 1:20 on Thursday.
"I did lose against both of the kids and I was disappointed," Yonah said. "I thought about it overnight and I said, tomorrow I want to do well and I’m going to try my best. I went out and got my first pin against Hightstown. That was nice.
"When I wrestled him, I didn’t really use my strength. I thought I was very technical so I did well."
Yonah is still picking up the nuances, but he has the right approach to his new sport.
"I’m working a lot on the basics," he said. "I’m not looking for the big stuff. I haven’t been wrestling for so long, so I want to get the basics right so I can move on to harder skills. I’m also used to training hard in gymnastics."
It’s a different kind of training that Yonah is doing now. He still competes as a Level 7 gymnast out of the Schafer School of Gymnastics in Lawrenceville. After wrestling practice, every day he goes to his gymnastics practice.
"It’s hard for my mom to drive back and forth," Yonah said. "I love both of the sports and I want to continue to do both of them."
Though it can put a strain on his mother to drive to all those practices and competitions, she was the one that acknowledged that Yonah was well suited for the contact the physical side to wrestling.
"It’s my kind of sport," Yonah said, adding, "I really like it. I also like mixed martial arts. When I did wrestling, it’s kind of similar. I think about MMA. If I’m a good wrestler, and I go into MMA, it really helps your ground game."
The Pirates would like to see how far Yonah can develop for them over the next two and a half years. He’s made a strong impression.
"Etai doesn’t know enough yet," Palermo said, "but he’s competitive just based on his athleticism."
It’s what a couple of Pirate wrestlers had hoped for when they asked him to join the team last year. "My mom told me two days before it happened that I’d be a good wrestler," Yonah said. "It was coincidence they recruited me."
Yonah came to several practices, learned a couple of moves and then came to watch the Pirates wrestle. This year, he joined the team from the outset.
"The tough thing for me is building up my stamina," Yonah said. "I get tired very quickly. The pressure gets me tired. In practice, it’s easier for me to think because I’m not under pressure. Once I get my stamina up, I’ll be OK.
"I thought it would be a little easier than I thought," he said. "There’s a little more pressure. The other guys, they’ve been doing it for a good amount of years. It’s harder than I expected." It’s been harder than expected for the Pirates team as well. They are thin and their latest loss to Hightstown dropped them to 0-2 this season. Winners against the Rams were Kory Beach at 125 pounds, Brian Oglesby by pin at 130 and Tom Loury by pin at 145.
"It’s still early in the season," Palermo said. "You always look to improve. We have some guys that are showing some potential. It’s tough. We have holes in the lineup and very little depth. It’s one of those years where you try to mix and match and hope everything works out."
With Yonah, the Pirates can expect that things will improve with every match. He is determined to get better at the new demands of wrestling compared to what he’s done in gymastics.
"Once I do a sport, I continue it and don’t give up," Yonah said. "It’s a little hard for me when I do the sprints in wrestling. I just push myself to go farther."
Yonah is finding that he can meet challenges, whether they are the sprints or in more experienced opponents. Experience is a huge factor in determining success on the mats. He gained confidence with his win Thursday.
"I feel good about it," Yonah said. "It’s not going to be easy all the time. I got my first pin. It’s not going on be like that every competition. I’m going to do my best, go for as many takedowns as I can and try to do what I can."
Yonah is working in practice with freshman Ryan Moshman as well as sophomore Jack Gleim.
"We wrestle together and get each other better," Yonah said. "Our first competition was against Trenton High. He (Moshman) goes out and gets the kid in a headlock and pinned him."
Yonah will look to build on his first career pin when the Pirates wrestle at Robbinsville 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. It’s another chance for him to improve and show how much he’s added to his blank slate.
"When I get really tired," Yonah said, "that’s when I have to push it and do what my coach says and not give up."

