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Ousmane Diarra: October Wrestler of the Month

BTSPhilly   |   Nov 4, 2016

Ousmane Diarra is Beat the Streets Philadelphia’s October Wrestler of the Month. Although he didn’t start wrestling until his sophomore year, Ousmane’s skills developed quickly, a testament to his hard work and dedication in the practice room. As a sophomore, he spent time in and out of the lineup and finished the year with an 8-4 record. Just a year later Ousmane was the full time starter at 126 pounds compiling a 26-11 record finishing the season as the Section champion and a Regional qualifier. Jeremey Julian, Ousmane’s coach at Central High School emphasized that it’s the work Ousmane puts in during the offseason that has allowed him to progress so quickly. “I try to have all of my wrestlers doing stuff in the offseason, and that can be a real struggle. I know I never have to worry about that with Ousmane. In the middle of the summer he will be going to practice 4 or 5 times a week, putting work in every single day. His goal next year is to be a state qualifier, and he knows how hard that is. So he is doing everything in his power to get there. He even skipped a family vacation in order to keep up his training regiment. That takes real discipline. He’s a leader on the team and always does stuff the right way. When we run stairs he’s always one of the first ones done. After practice, he hops on the treadmill, and runs a couple miles to keep his weight down. Outside of wrestling he is a good student and never causes any problems. He does things the right way and never makes excuses.” At Beat the Streets Trenton’s free clinic this past month, Ousmane won an exhibition match against one of the Trenton wrestlers. His skills caught the attention of BTSP’s Director of Wrestling Operations, Juan Ramos. “For only being a second year wrestler, Ousmane has really good movement and activity levels. He doesn’t sit around and wait for his opponent to create action; he makes it happen. He wrestled really smart and stayed in positions where he had the advantage. He cleared ties really well and didn’t allow his opponent to control him with underhooks. He did a great job of scoring off his own opportunities as well as scoring off his opponent’s offense.” Ousmane’s offseason dedication and skillful progression made him an obvious choice for October’s Wrestler of the Month.