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Do you feel underestimated when you go out on the mat?
No, not anymore. I walk up to somebody, if we're about to go, they really try to rip my head off
because if they don't, I'm going to do it to them.
What's up you guys? I'm Rachel Namita and welcome to the Courtside Club.
Today I'm joined by NCAA wrestler, professional track athlete,
Guinness Book of World Record holder, and a motivational speaker, newly, Zion Clark.
Welcome to the Courtside Club.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you so much for joining me. I heard about your story a few years ago,
but it was only this week that I found out you were from Ohio.
How did I miss that portion of your story?
I don't know. That's kind of where all the things and all the magic was happening for a while.
Yeah, it was awesome being at Kent State.
Everything was really crazy, actually.
I watched your Netflix documentary, The Short, and I saw the Maslin jersey.
I said, hold up. I was like, is there a Maslin other places in the country that I don't know about?
Then I dug into it. Right.
So Ohio also, I love having Ohioans on the Courtside Club.
I have a super random question before we even get into it
because I feel like only Ohio people know this.
And I want to see if you know. Do you know what JoJo's are?
Yes. Listen, I love chicken and JoJo's. Those are smack.
Thank you. Thank you.
You ever went to Krause's Pizza?
Anytime you're back in Ohio, go to Krause's Pizza.
They have JoJo's there?
Yeah, they're fire.
No, when I was a kid, we'd always get chicken and JoJo's or pizza and JoJo's.
But so explain to the Courtside Club fan,
because nobody's going to know what JoJo's are unless they're from Ohio.
JoJo's are practically potato wedges.
But they're really good.
But they're like really crispy potato.
Anyway, your story is so inspiring and super dope.
You're an athlete on so many angles.
You were born with a very rare, what is it even called?
It's called Caudal Regression Syndrome.
Yeah, which affects one in 100,000 people.
Looking back to how you grew up,
not only what you're doing now as an athlete,
but how you grew up is so inspiring
because you were in foster care.
You were in foster homes.
You moved around a lot.
What was that like?
Tell our Courtside fam your backstory.
I grew up through the foster care system,
and it was challenging.
There was a lot of things going on from school life to from bullying
all the way to being out on the street and being in different homes
throughout a span of 17 years.
Every couple of years or every other year,
sometimes it was two backstories.
Back to back years, you'd be placed in a different home,
so you got to readjust a lot, readjust a lot, readjust a lot.
Each place, new people, new ways of thinking,
new different styles of parenting.
Sometimes they didn't always work for certain kids.
Each kid that's through the system, they're all different.
Just like everybody in this room is all different.
It made for a lot of trauma, I guess, coming up.
As I got older, I learned to just learn from it,
use those experiences,
especially with the family I got adopted into
and was able to use them.
They were able to help me to really get a hold of my own life
and do what I really wanted to do.
I wouldn't say it's a driving force in my life,
but I would say it definitely was a big part given I'm only 24,
so a lot of it was not too long ago.
I mean, being a kid is hard.
It's hard enough without all of those things.
So when you did get to your family,
your mom, I've seen her in interviews with you now,
and you call her your mom.
What was that like?
What did she instill in you that was maybe different
than these other people that you were growing up with?
Man, that was my mom.
She's one of a kind.
So when she took me in, I was really hardheaded.
I had seen just I had enough.
I'd seen the worst.
I was just pretty much done with everybody and everything.
If something made me mad, I'd tell you about yourself.
You know what I mean?
And I wouldn't be nice about it.
And it was just I had this whole gray cloud of dark energy
that was over me all the time.
And she started just kind of working with me in different ways.
Instead of screaming at me or taking away food and stuff like that,
it was just like a conversation.
For 17 years, nobody ever actually just sat down
They just talked to me and let me tell you exactly how I think
about what's been going on.
That was definitely a different change of pace.
And after that, I started getting comfortable.
And that's one thing I wasn't used to either, being comfortable,
being able to just relax and let your guard down.
My guard was constantly up at all times.
You wouldn't be able to sneak up on me.
That's how hard my guard was up all the time.
And my mom really just kind of cooled me down.
And then once I was cooled down,
I was able to focus and then became a multiple-time track state champion
and all these other cool things.
So how did the sports start?
Because, okay, wrestling, you're known for that.
You were state runner-up, right, at Massillon?
No, actually, I didn't even make it to the States,
but I got a scholarship to Kent State.
That's just how vicious the bracket was to get there.
I was going through sectionals and districts.
Sectionals, I ended up getting third place.
And, you know, I was like,
I was able to get in, you know,
but my match just to get to third place
went into triple overtime, sudden death.
That's the, yeah, the match that was featured, yeah.
Yeah, definitely never going to forget that one.
I remember after I won, I jumped a good,
like, I don't think I've ever been,
like, had so much adrenaline running through my body.
I remember I jumped, like, this high off the ground
and my coach caught me.
It was super lit.
Talk about your coach for a minute,
because when I was watching the Netflix,
Doc, he got so emotional
just, like, being in that ride with you
and cared about you that much.
What was your guys' relationship like?
Well, I met the man and his twin brother
when I was, like, five, six years old.
Gil and Greg Donahue.
Those guys really mean everything to me.
They've both been a huge contributor
in me being a wrestler.
My styles of wrestling, I learned from them.
he was my coach when I was at North Canton,
because that's where I started wrestling,
was North Canton, you know, like, Hoover High School.
Yeah, yeah, Hoover, yeah.
Yeah, that's where I started my wrestling.
The black and orange,
both of your teams are black and orange, yeah.
Yeah, I was one from Hoover and Massillon,
never had to change my clothes.
I don't know, he just was really invested.
He gave me a flyer.
He was my art teacher
He gave me a flyer.
At the very beginning of the year.
And told me I should try out for youth wrestling.
I don't know why he told me.
I didn't, I didn't, I had no idea.
I was constantly in my wheelchair every day.
I never really got out.
And if I did, I was on the playground.
wrestling never skipped,
never crossed my mind.
And he just kind of gave me the idea.
So, I took it home to my foster mom at the time.
after being told no for a lot of things all the time,
the wrestling was a quick yes.
And I was just like,
So, I got really excited.
I got to go do something.
I remember he would just work with me every day.
And then I went to Massillon.
And I just found this out,
But he had called his twin.
So, they're twin,
they're identical twins,
So, he had called his twin brother,
who was the head coach of Massillon.
As soon as I transferred school districts,
told him all about me.
he's a really good friend.
He's really good friends with your son,
one of my best friends.
he's really good friends with Jake.
We'll put our heads together.
I didn't know any of this.
for the next 10 years,
putting their heads together
without my knowledge,
trying to help me develop
a style of wrestling.
And by the time I turned 17,
it finally started to,
And I was finally able to,
break down what exact movements
to execute my moves
and score some points.
I was going to say,
because it has to be
a brand new strategy for them.
They're geniuses.
They really developed
a whole new style of wrestling
I didn't develop that.
when I first started doing well
developing my own style.
But all the genius was them.
talk about that a little bit,
if you could get technical with me.
wrestling is a full body sport.
You were born without legs.
what is that extra challenge
to only be able to use?
you're pinning people.
how did we even start
was it strength first?
Was it technique first?
Or is it the perfect mix of both?
I was always strong.
I just didn't have good technique.
when I first pinned somebody,
I kind of did it by accident.
I fell into a move
I've never hit before.
then I remembered it
and started drilling it
and I still hit the same thing
It's called a tilt.
mine is like a modified
you got to get like a seatbelt,
and then you make sure
their body's kind of crumpled up
and you just take,
usually you just grab the elbow
and kind of go over.
I go under the leg,
and then pull your ankle
and then lock them both down
and then I'll come down.
That feels like math to me.
it's really technical.
my brain's having a hard time
they really like,
like I hit it in a match
I scored like two points.
really helped me like
develop a whole style
and once I figured out
what my strong suits are,
when it came to starting
in the top position,
I was strong enough
put up enough pressure
and do what I want.
And I was also like
strength training
and speed training.
So all that played into that.
in one of your interviews
that you actually
lifting necessarily.
I can't stand it.
that's hard for me to understand
because I see you like
and doing all of this training
that looks so dope.
just like the performance
is performance based.
not saying that like
I'm going to become really fat,
I'm going to obviously
keep my body healthy,
my stuff comes more
in the actual technique
of doing the action,
especially when it comes
to stuff like fighting
here's the thing.
I could be the strongest guy
get my ass kicked
by the smallest guy.
that's way smaller,
just because he has
better technique.
So I learned a long time ago
that the strength,
strength doesn't matter
when you're fighting.
It's the technique
if you're fighting,
where your fists go,
where your attacks go,
where your submissions go,
when you go to execute
and when you're wrestling,
where your shots go,
where your head position is,
depending where you can
like ankle pick him
or snap his head down,
it's real technical.
So how did you transition
I watched my sister
win a state title
and break the state record
your whole family
is a no excuses family.
won a state title
and then the year after
I won two state titles.
into Massillon High School
Massillon only has
12 state champions.
So me and my sister
are one of the 12.
is right next to hers.
what year was that?
A year and a half ago.
So how did that come about?
Which world record
I hold the world record
for being the fastest man
What is the distance?
Like how did you even know
I was just filming content
at this high school
with the Real Deal Squad
and all the homies.
I asked the videographer,
I want to record this video
because I was like
working on sprints,
conditioning stuff.
So like he sprinted
Next thing you know,
we got hit up by Guinness.
Can we come and film you
Yeah, pretty much.
And then next thing you know,
I'm in Massillon, Ohio.
Inside the indoor football facility
breaking a world record.
Setting a world record.
Has there been anything
that you haven't tried yet
that you want to tackle?
I'm already tackling
a first pro level fight
Looking for the opponent
But as soon as they got one,
promotions go out.
And somebody's getting
that's like on your
I want to see how I feel in there.
Get to know who I'm up against.
And then I'll start
knocking heads and calling names.
Who's in the combat world
is like your training
that you'd love to
I've kind of done
mostly what I wanted to.
with Anderson Silva.
I train with Rampage Jackson
down in Long Beach
That's where you came from,
I've trained with Chris Cyborg.
like I've learned
from a lot of people.
Has there been anything
that like stood out
some fans like us
is a lot more simpler
it's more about like
if someone throws
a straight punch,
everybody's thinking
you got to put your hands
you can still guard
and defend right here
by just doing a simple.
So basically just like
simplifying your movement
so then you're not
wasting the energy
Because your body
that's just exercising
just to get to the same goal
as something you could do
in a more simpler way,
like you're losing
And here's the thing,
your body is like
And the less oxygen
So what does a typical
training day look like
somebody probably
punches me in the back
Then we start drilling.
And then we keep drilling.
What is drilling?
We drill striking.
We drill grappling.
We drill wrestling.
And sometimes it's like
we drill all of those.
but we can only do
our semi-live goes
before our full sparring
can be on a full attack,
but the guy in defense
we can only counter.
So we can't throw
just because we think
it's something like
somebody's constantly
defend and counter.
Defend and counter.
Whatever they throw,
they throw an uppercut,
You know what I mean?
But like you don't know
because we're not told
to do a certain thing.
somebody throws punches,
somebody counters.
It's like it's a good
completely uncertain
when you're fighting
because you can't
read that person's mind.
You can read their
to a certain degree
if you really pay attention,
but like that only
So you just got to
I do want to dive
deeper into your story,
take a halftime break
if you're done with that.
I felt like it would
a start bench cut
we have Ohio athletes.
So athletes from Ohio.
We have Russell Wilson
and Simone Biles.
I'm starting LeBron.
benching Simone Biles.
he didn't do too well
the last couple of years.
We have two goats
Ohio music artists.
We have Kid Cudi,
You're like kind of young
like a small connection
my other manager,
was like real good friends
they're an older crowd.
So like really good friends
with their managers and stuff.
and had like this big
to the Cleveland Browns
that I couldn't go to
because I was giving
a speech in Columbus.
they made the new song
for the Cleveland Browns.
The new intro song.
I have it on a little
like Cleveland Browns
wristband hard drive
that says Bone Thugs on it.
Then it says Dog Pound
on the other side.
so where do you have them?
I'm probably starting there.
So we're going to start
We used to like run out
Fetching Kid Cudi's
Cut and John Legend.
that's what I would do too.
John Legend's talented,
but it's an acquired
I don't want to feel sad.
That's so unfair.
that's a hard one.
who are we starting?
We'll start with that.
I think we're going to start.
We're going to start
Start the Browns?
in the Super Bowl.
I was going to say
because like Paul Brown
and stuff like that.
I like the Bengals
up until recently
for the last like 50
their stadium was named
Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
Just like Maslin.
it was really cool.
So I was about to be like,
I'm going to bench the Bengals
and cut the Ohio State.
Just because you went to Kent?
I just like the Bengals.
So Browns and Bengals.
another good luck streak
for Ohio sports teams.
their first game.
I was amped up about it.
lost in overtime.
I grew up in Kent.
I went to the Cleveland
when they were like
a dollar a ticket
when they went 0-1-16.
sometimes it's rough
for us Ohio sports fans.
We've been through the rumor.
Those were trying times.
And last but not least,
this is kind of a wild card,
but I have Ohio celebrities.
So we have Holly Berry.
We have Dave Chappelle
and we have Thomas Edison.
I'll think wisely.
I'm starting Dave Chappelle.
I'm starting Dave Chappelle.
Okay, we're going to start him.
He's super, super funny.
Bench and Holly Berry
cut in Thomas Edison.
I heard that he actually
I heard that he actually
for the light bulb.
Somebody else created it,
but then he put his name on it.
I think that's like factual too.
So you think even if you cut him,
then the other person
would have still invented
Yeah, we still have lights.
You think we'd still have it?
Okay, I'll take that.
You know, I tried to throw
your wild card, but
Nope, I'm on point.
Well, I like that.
Start, bench, cut.
Yeah, that was fun.
Time for the second half.
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So you've gotten into
motivational speaking now.
Tell me how that started
and what have been
some highlights for you.
Well, I was a sophomore
I had a really good
And I was, you know,
I was your typical
Kent State wrestler.
Partying and going to class
So I was in architecture
and then the athletic director
take me to his office,
set a stack of papers
down in front of me.
And I thought I was
getting kicked out of school.
That was the most realist thing.
on that weekend before
I just got called
to our wrestling house.
Because it was just,
because it was just
And then our coach found out
it was a big ordeal
that was going on
So then we get called
and have a stack of papers
I was just like sweating.
And he told me to open it
all these Syrian kids
had wrote me these letters.
And they were in like
a really small school
in Akron, actually.
Like a makeshift school.
They were refugees
that were sent out here.
It was like during like that time
a couple years ago.
And they had watched
got really inspired.
You know, I was in college.
The documentary was out
I was really just like,
and I was trying to win still.
waking up at 5 a.m.
and going to practice.
You're a student athlete.
doing all this stuff.
And it just kind of
brought me back down
to earth real quick.
I was kind of like,
I was kind of on my high horse
and it really humbled me.
what these kids are going through.
Like their parents
had sent them over
to the United States
they'd escape the war
so they'd have a chance to live.
when stuff like that's going on
in real perspective.
So then I asked them
I've never even spoke before
I was failing public speaking.
I didn't even know.
I'm thinking in the back of my head
what the hell are you doing, dude?
Why are you asking
to speak to these kids?
You're failing the same class
on something you want to do.
Can I go give them shirts?
of my scholarship money?
can make them something.
of like anything I could do.
Because I might have had
I was still broke.
Or maybe did you?
To where you could make money.
That was like a year
after I was going.
So you know how much money
I could have made
being at Kent State?
when I was there.
the student portal
the first thing you saw
with my headgear on
just moss and some cat.
like two years straight.
That you could get
this is so stupid.
And I still got a shirt too.
Listen, make that a thing.
You know what I mean?
You want to start a campaign?
So anyway, sorry.
everything that was going on.
Like, it was just,
I was an athlete.
I ended up getting,
I'd like to actually
reached out to them,
told them what was going on.
And like, you know,
it kind of helped out.
the newly recent dude
across the world,
And they're like,
got them all shirts.
And it said be a design,
but it was like her drawing
with like the Kent State colors.
Yeah, that's dope.
like a little eagle,
kid eagle that she drew.
Then you spoke to them after?
Yeah, I did a surprise visit.
it ended up getting recorded
by like Fox 8 News
and all this other stuff.
that was happening.
to see these kids,
I peeked around the corner.
yeah, it was so fun.
So how do you go about,
did you have a speech ready?
Or is this just something
where you just tell your story?
I wanted to tell those kids,
thank you for writing me letters.
That's really why I was there.
I heard you talk about
in another interview
that you're like,
but this is all I've ever known.
And you don't make excuses,
but there are so many people
and like myself being one of them,
or like feel bad for myself
or do it like all the time.
like who instilled that in you
to really kind of believe in yourself
and really go after anything
Was that just you?
that was Percy McGee,
the assistant wrestling coach
he was terrified.
I remember this man
wouldn't let us leave
the wrestling room
The parents are outside,
wouldn't let us leave
because we weren't like
getting the time sprints right.
So we were just sprinting.
We had to get down
and back across the wrestling room
Or we had to keep going.
And if the heavyweight
we have one person
in the team doesn't make it.
It's the same with basketball.
And the heavyweight,
he's the biggest,
lowest guy on the team.
he got that done.
He had this one push,
and we all got to go home.
like wrestling is brutal.
Like you would think
like if you are like,
you should just like,
you have youth kids
and then the coach
is just screaming at them.
Because like wrestling
is like wrestling.
If you're in a match against,
college national championship
and you get upset,
the other guy's just going
to beat you even more.
You know what I mean?
Like you got to instill
that toughness so early on.
sometimes it's tough
watching these kids cry.
so that seems to be
the coaching style
that like pushes your button
because that was the same.
like he'd really be like
like I was making
some sort of mistake
I just saw him last time
a couple weeks ago.
like he's always,
he always pushed me
like to that next level.
I remember the day
it was sectionals,
the sectional championships
to get to districts
and I lost my semifinal match.
who had also lost
his semifinal match
his semifinal match.
he went to the locker room
and like told us like,
if you don't get this job done,
we've been together,
we've been working
because like I've known him
and like the Donahue's
if you guys don't come through
don't ever talk to them.
It was terrifying.
Like me and my boys
were looking at each other
we should go out there
and we should go out there
We should get this done.
And then we all won
and we all made it to districts.
that I've told multiple times,
but I feel like it was really
kind of a turning point
So I was a freshman
who played on varsity
and I played a significant
amount of minutes.
I started some games
and we were a really good team.
Barberton girls basketball,
really tough on me
and like the girls bullied me
I was like crying.
Like I leave practice
pretty much every night
because they were so tough on me.
I had missed a shot
and I would get reamed out.
Another girl missed a shot
and they were like,
And so I scheduled a meeting
I'm just like having a hard time.
Like you guys are really
like tough on me.
like they looked me
straight in the eye
you can get thick skin
or we can put you on JV.
what you want to do.
but it was at that moment
I just have to toughen up.
You just gotta do the job.
I was the only freshman
playing on varsity.
and they were hard on me
because they knew
there was more in me
that I could give.
they really believed in me
and so they took that route.
Do you feel underestimated
against your opponents?
because Cassidy used to
but I started making waves
throughout the world
in the sport of wrestling
and martial arts.
I walk up to somebody
and if we're about to go,
they really try to rip my head off
because if they don't,
I'm going to do it to them.
that's just like,
that's that mentality of,
whether you want me to be here
knock for your buck.
is that your life motto?
what is your life motto?
my life motto is no excuses.
I live that to the fullest.
But at the same time,
I really love to fight
and I really enjoy wrestling.
And I'm pretty decent
It's like no excuses
but that mentality
is what keeps me driving
when I'm fighting.
I get punched in the face,
When I'm getting choked out,
You know what I mean?
sometimes that's,
that's what you need to do.
when you're getting choked out,
it's easier to get away
than if you're fighting.
Most holds in MMA,
the more you try to resist,
the tighter things are going to get.
it's actually a trick for your brain.
when you get punched in the face,
you know how there are some times
when you get hurt,
I don't know if this applies to you,
but it applies to me,
and I don't understand why I'm laughing.
But it's actually a good thing
because then your brain
doesn't associate the pain
with like such a negative emotion.
sometimes I associate pain with anger,
you got to learn how to control it
Wouldn't that be hilarious though?
You get punched in the face,
you start laughing?
there have been times
where I've been like,
You know what I mean?
I'm going to give you your kudos
and I'm going to punch you in the mouth
and then we're going to just
keep this thing going.
You know what I mean?
So what's on the horizon for you?
What are your goals right now?
One of my main focuses
just really dialing in,
getting my technique down.
when it comes to a fight,
you got to be ready.
like there's like so many,
there's only so many different things
you can do to defend a certain move,
but you got to learn all those things.
So you can be ready
if someone decides to counter one way,
you can attack a different way.
If they counter that,
go to the third way.
And if you don't get that,
go back to the first one, right?
that you could possibly work,
but it's like a reactive playbook.
you have all these things
but you need to know,
what's going to come at you.
So you got to be ready
with everything that you got.
Fighting is definitely something
I see myself doing
for the next 10 years or so.
So we're reaching the end of the game.
I have some buzzer beaters for you.
Describe your ideal
courtside food and drink combination.
Who was one person dead or alive
that you would love
to sit courtside with?
I was going to ask you
to you as an Ohioan?
one of the youngest ever in the NBA
to be at the world,
to be at the finals
for like his first,
like first couple of seasons
You're 18 years old
leading an NBA team
to a championship,
trying to lead them
to a championship
and having a lot of success
that they're at that too.
do you see doing that right now?
and I know they changed the rule,
do you see doing that now?
do you see doing that?
And we grew up in that area too,
so we were able to witness it
like from high school on.
mainly in Cleveland
that was like a huge flex for me.
Everybody talking about
like their favorite team
when I'm somewhere else
that are wrestling me,
talking to other wrestlers,
like, bro, you know,
I'm from Canton, bro.
Cleveland's only an hour away.
We got LeBron James, bro.
You know what I mean?
in the go on every right.
He might not have
but he's got the stats
And he says he wants to play
until Bryce is there too,
that'll be amazing.
We'll see if it happens.
Imagine LeBron James
with LeBron James.
With Bryce James.
one event in history
that you would have loved
to have been courtside for?
Watching Jesse Owens
break the 100 meter record
at the Olympic Games
In front of Hitler
and being a black man
Were you prepared
for this interview?
That was the quickest.
that's one of my things
I always think about
I'm a track athlete.
I won my state title
at Jesse Owens Stadium.
And I have a picture
of me with hell of medals.
Just like Jesse Owens
I've read into him a lot
still look up to him a lot.
our Courtside Club audience
find you on socials?
and look out for that.
look for the promotion
here the next week or so.
thank you so much
the Courtside Club.
Thanks for having me.