Colin Plasko-the Hardest Worker

The sport of basketball was beginning to take a toll on Norwood’s Colin Plasko and he soon found himself tired of the sport. At the same time, he happened to come across a sign in the Coakley cafeteria looking for students to join the wrestling team. The Norwood sixth grader decided to give it a shot and found that the physicality of the sport intrigued him, and it wasn’t long after that he was giving up the basketball court for the wrestling mat.
For Norwood wrestling Coach Billy McDermott, it was a dream come true.
“Colin is a great leader and one of the hardest workers in the room,” Coach McDermott said. “It has been great to see him blossom into a competitive wrestler over the last three years.”
During his three years in the middle school where he began his wrestling career, Plasko was honing his skills for when he entered Norwood High School.
“Middle school was mostly fun and we only got to participate in one tournament a year,” Plasko said. “I did have success in those three tournaments finishing third, second and second in my weight class.”
Upon entering high school, Plasko began wrestling at 126 pounds where he found himself wrestling at a decent level, but when the coach made some adjustments, he excelled.
“One of the juniors had dropped down from 132 to 126, bumping me to 120,” Plasko said. “Wrestling at 120 I started to do much better and made the sectionals where I was one or two spots away from going to the states as a freshman."
After injuring his collar bone in football last fall, the junior was forced to sit out the first two months of the wrestling season, but once he returned to the mat, he did so with a vengeance. Wrestling in the 182 pound weight class, Plasko went an impressive 12-5; finished fifth in the Division 2 Sectionals, and was named an alternate for the State Tournament.
This season, his final on the high school level, Plasko began wrestling at 182, but was moved down to 170 pounds. At the time of this writing, he was 7-2 and finished with a 2-2 record at the Marshfield Holiday Tournament. With still a lot of wrestling remaining, Plasko is looking to continue to wrestle at a high level.
“Being my last year wrestling (Plasko will be joining the Marines following high school), I definitely want to have fun while wrestling well,” Plasko said. “My goal is to finish top 4 at Sectionals and get back to the States, but actually participate this year.”
Coach McDermott is looking forward to his senior captain doing just that.
“I’m expecting him to do damage throughout the regular season and into the post season,” the Norwood Coach said. “In addition to wrestling at the top of his weight class, Colin likes to help the younger wrestlers get better and is always motivating them.”