The Man in the Mirra

       BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! It's five-thirty in the morning and the alarm continues to go off on the nightstand in his bedroom, Micheal Mirra is already in his kitchen preparing a protein shake for his morning lift. After he is done, he gets into his car and drives to the Nelson Field House at Bloomsburg University. While he is driving he listens to Taylor Swift's song Blank Spaces to get pumped up for his lift. Once he gets to the gym he goes into the locker room and changes into his weight lifting clothes and begins his workout. 

Figure 1: See Note

        Micheal starts his workout with a little warm up then goes through many reps that test his strength and prepare him for the battle on the wrestling mat. Micheal is a student athlete for Bloomsburg University by being part of the Division 1 wrestling team. This is why he is in the gym at six o'clock in the morning sweating through his shirt. He is trying to make himself one of the strongest wrestlers in his weight class. Micheal starts and competes at the 197 pound weight class (Figure 1). Although being on a Division 1 wrestling team is difficult enough, he also has to survive the scholastic part of college. 
         Michael puts his body through workouts that many people can barley complete. He knows that he has to push his body to the max. Micheal, 23, stands at 5-feet-11 inches and 197 pounds, with his weight fluctuating depending on the day of the week. In the wrestling room, Micheal turns into the Incredible Hulk, but outside the room he looks Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator wearing his black leather jacket where ever he goes. He is a clean cut individual with a square jaw and smile that goes cheek to cheek as well as being honest and confident. 
         Even though Micheal is a student athlete he has to go through the normal college classes as well as practice everyday and weight lifting three days a week. When I sat down and asked him some questions about being a student athlete, he told me, "Time management is the key factor. If you don't have a planned out schedule then you won't get any of your work done." He continued to tell me that being a student athlete is hard work and its not built for everyone. "I love to be challenged though and I also love wrestling, so its a win win. I like the fact that it keeps me in line. It makes me keep on my studies so I can wrestle." 
          By the afternoon Micheal is done with his two morning classes and is eating lunch with his team at the Scranton Commons. While I was eating with Michael other students started to come over and start conversations with him. I also got the opportunity to ask some questions to Shawn Heist, Bloomsburg's heavy weight wrestler. He started to tell me that, "Micheal is a class act, he is very liked on campus by the other students. He is also like the role model for the team, because he is Junior and has a lot of experience in the sport. So the Freshman on the team look up to him and ask him a lot of questions about surviving the brutal season. I would say most of the guys on the team reflect their decisions off of his."

Figure 2: See Note

           When I asked Micheal what it is like to be the individual that the team reflects from? He told me that, "I don't consider myself the role model of the team. I just try to do me and worry about myself first. If people don't like me for who I am then that's their opinion. I can try and change it, but then I wouldn't be myself." Also Michael try's to help out with community service on his free time. This year he helped out at the annual tree fest held Caldwell Consistory downtown in Bloomsburg (Figure 2). While he was there he was setting up and taking down Christmas trees. In addition to the community service, he also referees at elementary and high school wrestling tournaments. 
           Micheal is considered to the total package in the wrestling world, this means that he has good grades, respectful, and can wrestle. He knows that for him to do the sport he loves he must excel in the classroom. But when you step on the wrestling mat with him you're in for a fight. When he's out there in the circle of the mat enjoying the sport he loves, there is a smile that comes across his face which is like looking the man in the mirror.