by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
The life of a wrestler is based on being organized. “My in-season training routine from Monday through Friday is lifting by 9 am, then going to class, next is going to practice and after practice I study and do homework,” said Jamaal Baird.
Jamaal Baird is 5-6, 141 lbs., and is a sophomore wrestler at Itasca Community College, Grand Rapids, MN. The 141 lb. weight is also his competition weight. He was a four-year Minnesota Class AA state wrestling qualifier and placed fifth his senior year at the state meet.
“My tribe is Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (LLBO),” said Jamaal. “I am from Ball Club, Minnesota. My dads name is Jamaal Baird Sr. and his tribe is Oneida. My moms name is Marie Wilson and her tribe is LLBO. My parents both live in Ball Club.
“I have always been very involved with sporting events through my tribe,” said Jamaal. “Growing up during football season and living on my ‘Rez’ was always a fun and exciting time. I would look up to the older native football players who lived in my community. I was always looking forward to Friday’s to go watch them play. My ‘Rez’ had vans that would bring anybody to the football game that wanted to go. Most of the time the vans were packed. I remember watching the older natives perform and seeing how cool it must be to play at their level. I always wanted to be just like them. I wanted to play sports at that level and it was a real inspirational time for me. I watched how older members of my community approached the sport and that was really the turning point for me.”
“As I got on to the varsity level of sports I saw how younger members of my community looked up to me. They were always excited to watch me perform. It gave me a lot of motivation to do even better because I felt like I was setting a positive example for the younger generation and that is always good feeling. I was thankful enough to have a tough grandpa who forced me to do a sport I didn’t want to. I’m glad he was hard on me because if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have been able to discipline myself at such a young age. So these are what really define the type of athlete I am,” added Jamaal.
“I owe most of my skills as a wrestler to my grandpa Blaine Baird who always brought me to camps and tournaments that made me so much better,” said Jamaal.
“We come from a wrestling family,” said Grandpa Blaine. “I coached all my sons. My dad coached me. My grandpa wrestled. We put a lot of time and commitment into Jamaal with wrestling. That’s what we are supposed to do. We raised him.”
“Brent Schmiek impacted me in a positive way of being an athlete but he also impacted my entire life in a positive way. He was also my football coach and athletic director but he is more of a mentor/father to me. I can’t give this man enough credit for what he did. He has seen more to me than I could see in my own self. Right off the bat my freshman year of high school he recognized how much of a hard worker I was and how much potential I had. After the football season of my freshman year I decided not to wrestle and he found out about that. He came up to me and hit me with a lot of inspiring words. I don’t remember word for word what he said to me but it was along the lines of ‘someone as hard working as you, with as much potential as you, as talented as you, as good as you, as skilled as you would be dumb not to wrestle. You’re never going to be able to do this stuff when you’re my age. You’re going to miss it and if you don’t wrestle you’re going to regret it when you’re as old as me.’ I have always looked up to this man and always listened to him. That night I couldn’t sleep. All I did was think about that.”
“The next day I showed up to wrestling practice and stuck with it through the whole season. I even ended up making it to state and after I qualified for state, I’ll never forget this, Brent came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘I’m proud of you. Now all that’s left to do is go have fun.’ That was one of the greatest feelings of my life when he said that to me. Ever since then he has always been the person I go to for advice on anything.”
“I was very fortunate to coach Jamaal for four years and as a student for seven years,” said Brent Schimek, Itasca CC wrestling coach and Athletic Director, Deer River HS. “His mark on my heart is he is a great young man and one of the best. There are many different types and styles of leadership and Jamaal’s is through example. In the classroom, field, mat, wherever he is he demonstrates hard work, dedication, and loyalty. He shows his peers every day the correct process for achieving their goals and dreams. He does this with humility and kindness. He cares about his family and friends with a true sincerity. There are many examples I could give where he has demonstrated this but they are just a small part of the good person that he is. He has overcome so many obstacles along the way and still keeps striving to be the best he can be everyday.”
“I wouldn’t be the athlete I am now if it wasn’t for Brent Schimek,” said Jamaal Baird.
Photo Credit: Jamaal Baird
