Blood runs thick for Waters brothers at Spring Valley
No one ever asked Spring Valley sophomore Raymond Waters if he wanted to wrestle.
He tried the sport in sixth grade after watching his older twin brothers, Rashad and Rasheem, compete. But Waters focused on gymnastics through middle school.
Spring Valley wrestling coach Fred Meyer had other plans, though.
“Coach Meyer was like, 'Oh, you’re going to wrestle for us in high school,’ ” Waters said.
Four years later, Raymond and juniors Rashad and Rasheem Waters are the cornerstone of a Grizzlies squad that hopes to make an impact in the state tournament.
The 145-pound Raymond Waters owns a 14-2 record and is one of the few Spring Valley wrestlers with state tournament experience.
Rashad also boasts a 14-2 record, and Rasheem is 13-3.
“You always want to have brothers on a wrestling team; you want to develop that,” Meyer said. “Any kid that is on our team now, if they’ve got a younger brother, we want them wrestling in our youth program. That’s at the heart of what we’re trying to get done here.”
The juniors stand next to their younger brother in the lineup, with Rasheem filling in at the 152-pound weight class and Rashad at 160 pounds.
“I think (wrestling together has) brought us closer, because if you see your brother out there wrestling and he’s having a hard time, it hurts you to see him lose as much as it would hurt you to lose yourself,” Raymond said.
Rashad was the first in the family to try wrestling in middle school.
“Rashad got me into wrestling,” Rasheem said. “I really, honestly wasn’t going to do it. But I thought I’d give it a try since I saw him doing it.”
The 152-pounder is glad he started.
“Without wrestling, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said. “Wrestling is what keeps me doing good in school. ... Being in the sport made me crack down in some books and actually pay attention in class and do all the things so I can stay on the team and keep wrestling.”
The tight-knit brothers have tried to draw the rest of their teammates together as well.
“After last season, we rallied up a lot of people ... and we went to a lot of offseason tournaments,” Raymond Waters said. “We wrestled a lot in the offseason just to get kids experience and working hard in the weight room to get ready for this season.”
The Waters brothers moved to Las Vegas from Chicago nearly eight years ago to live with an aunt and uncle.
“They’ve really played a big role in our lives, taking care of us,” Raymond said.
Meyer also has been active in their lives.
“You wouldn’t think he’d be the person to help you out, but he does,” Rashad said.
“This coaching thing, it’s all about caring,” said Meyer, in his fifth year coaching the Grizzlies. “If they know that you care about them, they will give you their best effort because they want to make the coach proud of them.
