Thoughts from Sayeed Shad, BTST student

Hello my name is Sayeed Shad and I am 17 years old and my native home is Iran. I have only been in Canada 2 years in total and I have learned a lot about North American culture since I have been here. Everything is different, food, religion, and lifestyle.  This is ok for me because I want to adapt to this way of life.

The one thing I do bring from Iran to Canada is my love for wrestling. In Iran, wrestling is the number 1 sport. The best wrestlers get a lot of attention and are celebrated like heroes. I always wanted to join wrestling back home but I had a lot of responsibilities with taking care of my sister and mother. When I got to Canada I was able to be freer and have more time to pursue my interests.

I tried wrestling at other facilities but I didn’t feel right until I found Beat the Streets Toronto. When I met coach Sanchez and the other coaches I felt very welcome. Coach Kris is a master of what he does and I really enjoy his knowledge of ground wrestling. My goals with the sports is to one day make the Olympic Team here for freestyle wrestling. I want to make to the big stage and Beat the Streets Toronto is helping me along the way with making me believe that I can do it. I just want to thank coach Neal Ewers for his great work with Beat the Streets and hope it continues to be such a great organization.

Sayeed Shah