BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Michigan Connections Academy student Andrew Frazier is a wrestling powerhouse.
Frazier, who was once bullied, is now a collegiate folk-style wrestler who won multiple championships nationwide at 13 years old.
“I won states in 2020, and then, the most recent states, I took third and nationals in Lansing, I took first in the nationals for Nu Way Wrestling,” said Frazier.
The Brownstown Township native trains at the House of Pain in Highland Park with the Silverback Wrestling Academy, but his motivation for becoming a wrestler, was because he wasn’t so big and was bullied.
“It started with the neighborhood bullies picking on me, taking my stuff, just everything that a normal kid in the neighborhood would have to go through,” Frazier said.
His father, LaRue Frazier, spent much time figuring out how to help Andrew defend himself.
“I went to boxing first,” said LaRue. “I tried to take him to a boxing camp. They said he was still too young, so we found our way into wrestling.”
That’s when he met coach Glenn Washington of the Silverback Wrestling Academy.
“I watched him when we had to peel his hands off the door to bring him in here,” said Washington. “We had to peel him off the door to just watch his progress every year.”
The group meets nearly every day at the House of Pain, which gives the kids a place to let out some pent-up energy.
“We call it the rites of Passage,” Washington said. “That’s what we call it over here. It does a lot for me to know that we’re keeping these kids off the streets.”
Andrew’s father couldn’t be more proud, not knowing this would be the end result of trying to teach his kid to stand up for himself.
“Actually, when he first started, I was for a while ready to give up, but Coach Washington told me the cream was going to rise to the top,” LaRue said. “So, he actually turned it around and became one of the better guys in the room.”
As far as what the future holds for Andrew, he’s still trying to figure that out.
“I’m still like pondering on it, really,” Andrew said. “I don’t know what I want to be.”
Andrew doesn’t have to look over his shoulders as bullies no longer pick on him.
“Never,” Andrew said. “I haven’t seen them once.”
Andrew will continue training for a few competitions that will be coming up this summer.