Blind faith
ADAMS TWP — Max Lamm lost his eyesight when he was 10 years old.
He never allowed himself to lose perspective on life and what he wanted to get out of it.
Cancer — a disease he has since beaten — caused detached retinas in both of the Mars resident's eyes. He can distinguish between light and dark, but has no vision otherwise.
“I played soccer when I was younger, up until I lost my sight,” Lamm said. “I was going into the fourth grade when it happened.
“Since I could no longer play soccer, I had to find another sport I could do. Wrestling was it.”
Lamm began wrestling in sixth grade. Now a freshman at Mars, he was 7-11 this season at the varsity level and fared well in a pair of junior varsity tournaments.
Mars coach Jason Wilk was a wrestler at Fox Chapel and said he never came across a blind wrestler during his own prep career or as a coach before Lamm came along.
“I might have seen one in college somewhere, but there aren't many blind kids doing this,” he said. “I remember my team competing against a deaf school that had a wrestling team. Those guys couldn't hear, but they could see.
“I can't imagine what it's like to wrestle against someone you can't see.”
There are specific rules in wrestling when a blind person is in the match. Both competitors must maintain some type of physical contact at all times — whether it be with hands, arms, feet or legs.
As soon as contact is broken by either wrestler, the match is stopped and restarted.
“It's difficult because referees aren't used to dealing with that rule,” Wilk said. “It may take the official a few seconds before he realizes contact was broken.
“Max's opponents go through that unfamiliarity as well. Kids who have wrestled him before understand the rule and are used to it. Those matches go off much more fluidly. When he's wrestling a new opponent, the match usually gets stopped quite a bit until his opponent adapts to the rule.”
Lamm admits he's more susceptible to giving up the first shot of the match as he stands facing his opponent.
“I definitely wrestle more from a defensive posture,” he said. “I react to my opponent's moves most times. But I am working on ways to get a quicker feel for where he's at so I can be the aggressor.
“There are stances I can get into to prevent some shots he can take to begin a match or from the neutral position.”
Lamm has pinned a few opponents this season, including two in the Section 3 Championships while qualifying for the WPIAL Tournament. He was available to compete at 138 pounds in the section meet because teammate Jake Richardson — ranked among the WPIAL's top six at 138 — was sidelined for the season with a concussion.
“Physical strength is Max's biggest strength,” said Mars teammate Nolan Wicker, who goes up against Lamm at times in the Planets' wrestling room at practice. “He has a tremendous grip. Once he gets it on you, you're not getting out of it.”Wilk agreed.“Once he gets control of a kid on the mat that way, it's over,” the coach said.Lamm's season ended with a 7-4 loss by decision to Peters Township's Daniel Florentino in the pig-tail round of the WPIAL Championships.His wrestling career at Mars is just beginning.“I'm hoping to land a regular starting spot next year,” Lamm said. “I'm nobody special. I'm just another guy on the team trying to earn time on the mat. If I'm able to develop to the point I could wrestle somewhere in college, I'd love to do that.“Once a match starts, no opponent treats me any differently than anyone else. I've never been disrespected by anyone on the mat. When the whistle blows, my opponent helps direct me back into the circle and I appreciate that.”Wicker and his teammates hold Lamm in high esteem.“I give the guy a lot of credit for doing this,” Wicker said. “He works so hard at it and you can see him getting better all the time. He's amazing to watch every day.”Wilk sees Lamm as an inspiration.“We're all inspired just because a lot of kids in his situation wouldn't even try to do this,” the coach said of Lamm's wrestling. “Max shows a lot of talent. He has the work ethic and a willingness to learn. He struggles with mat awareness at times for obvious reasons, but he's learned how to cope with that.“He trusts me and the other coaches totally. We tell him what to do on the mat or in practice and he does it. Every athlete should be like him.“When practice and workouts feel like they're getting too tough, our other guys can't complain. They look at Max, see what he's overcoming ... They realize it's not so tough for them,” Wilk added.
