When choosing a leader you have to ask yourself several questions. What makes a good leader? Is it the person or the situation? IS it nature or nurture? I believe it is both.

I have seen circumstances were each aspect of the debate has been proven. When I decide to chose a leader I do not just look at the task at hand but also the people involved in solving it.

I came to these conclusions in high school. One of the most influential leaders in my live was as unsuspecting of a surprise as it was a blessing. When I was in Jr. High I joined the wrestling team, I was at a new school and I wanted to stand out. In doing so I got involved with an older crowd and seemed to get in more trouble as the months went by. A month before my ninth grade summer began I had got in trouble and was suspended, ISS to be more precise, that is in school suspension.

Although I was not focusing on school I had done very well in all my sports that year and therefore had already met most of the high school coaches. The last day of school a man came to the detention room and asked the teacher if he could speak to me, we went to the hall and he told me his name was Mr. Forniege (Forn-yea), and he was the new wrestling coach. The previous coach, Coach Reynolds, had told him he was concerned with my resent “lack of judgment”, he called it. He asked me if I was still interested in wrestling next year and I told him that I was. He said it was a rhetorical question and if I thought I was going to join his team I had better clean up my act. Of course I took this as a challenge and spent the first month or so of summer hanging out with my friends and basically wasting time.

When practice started in July I showed up expecting just another day. Coach took one look at me and said,”Well I guess a month was not enough”. When I asked him what he meant he said if I wanted to be on the team I had until the first day of school to prove it. Besides making me wrestle three classes lower than I had the year before, (about twenty five pounds less), he had weekly visits with my mother to make sure I was staying out of trouble. It took a lot of work but when the first day came he told me the last two months gave me a stay of execution and everyday forward was another test.

I feel I should state at this point I got in a little more trouble than I let on, the reason I got suspended was some friends and I got a great idea to break into the chemistry lab after school and steal some chemicals. Acids and such. In my own defense it seemed like a good idea at the time. Nevertheless, I did it, I got caught, and I paid for it.

Every week I had to make weight, even if there was no meet. He went over my grades and sometimes gave a few extra assignments he call “character building”.

By the end of ninth grade I had turned a significant corner in my life. I learned that with responsibility and a little Canadian guy kicking your butt every day you can accomplish a lot. Seriously I chose him because he never gave up on me, even when I did.

As far as his leadership style, I really do not think he had one. Or at least not just one. He was always so good at being able to read the situation and decide if you needed a friend or a parent, or just a swift kick in the pants. Even after reading and trying to think of something that he could have improved on I am left at a loss. He is what I aspire to be, everyday. My only hope would be that he continues to find kids to help and that they are smart enough to listen because everyday is a test, and you better be prepared.By. James Wharton

JamesW@getinmagazine.com