“There have been several Sharp brothers that have come through, and there’s several more coming. You’re going to hear Sharp a lot in Bolivar. They’re just tough, every kid I’ve coached with the last name Sharp have been really tough kids,” said Bolivar wrestling coach Glen Johnson.
Daryin Sharp is a senior at Bolivar, and he follows the pattern.
“I want to make Bolivar the place to beat. So someone’s like, I want to wrestle someone good, I want to wrestle Bolivar,” Sharp said.
What you don’t know is that two years ago, Daryin’s wrestling career almost ended.
It started as a normal day at practice, until —
“I just heard a pop, and I was laying there flat on the mat, and coach was like, okay get to the side, and I’m like, no I can’t,” said Sharp, “I woke up the next morning in the hospital and I couldn’t feel my toes, and that’s scary. They had to teach me how to walk again.”
He frayed part of his spinal cord. Luckily, he was able to walk again, but he wasn’t going to settle for that.
“I’m trying to go to college for wrestling, so, you’re not going to get that sitting in a chair,” Sharp said.
His junior year, Sharp was back on the mat, and he went on to finish third at State.
“There were a couple matches that he wasn’t supposed to win, and he came out and shocked people,” said Johnson, “You can’t miss him because he wears glasses.”
Daryin is also blind in one eye. But, despite that and his spinal cord injury, he still played linebacker for Bolivar in the fall.
“He could be the kid you can think of that’s overcome a lot of adversity in life,” said Johnson.
No matter what life throws his way, Daryin takes it in full-stride, which is why he’s this week’s Arby’s high school Athlete of the Week.
“I want to pin my way through State. I don’t just want to win State, I’m going to pin my way through so, that’s my plan this year,” said Sharp.
