Brad is Rad
Bradley Grubham was born in St. Maries, Idaho, and grew up in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he went to elementary school. He later moved to Rathdrum and started going to Lakeland Junior High School.
Grubham attends Lakeland High School, where he is a two-sport athlete for the Hawks. Grubham is on both the swim and wrestling teams.
Grubham has been going to Lakeland since 8th grade, and he is now halfway through his senior year. He has played two sports while at Lakeland. Grubham has been on the wrestling team since he was in eighth grade.
He is also on the swim team and made it to the state swim tournament this past season. This was Grubham’s fourth year competing in swim. He made it to state by being one of the top boys in his style. Grubham placed in the 200-meter IM and the 100-meter men’s butterfly.
Grubham said that out of the two sports he competes in, his favorite is wrestling. However, some of his favorite memories come from being on the swim team. One of his favorite memories from being on the swim is when they took the trip down to state.
Grubham said, “I got into swim because I wanted to try something new and some of the guys from the wrestling team did it. They really encouraged me to try it and see what I think. I really loved the atmosphere, and I made a lot of new friends”.
Grubham is on the varsity wrestling team and is currently the starting 182-pound wrestler. This is Grubham’s first year being on varsity. He has come really close in the past three years and finally was able to lock down a varsity sport after a lot of hard work and dedication.
Grubham said, “It has been a hard fight to get to where I am. In the past, I had a lot of talented guys in front of me, and I was the number two guy in the lineup for two years. I think that I got after it more this year and really wanted it because it is my senior year, and it’s the last shot for me to be on varsity.”
When asked how he was feeling about the wrestling in the Battle for the Paddle dual, Grubham talked about the stress and nerves of wrestling in front of most of the Lakeland student body. There’s a fear of getting beat in front of all of your friends and classmates that makes you feel like the whole school depends on you.
“This is probably one of the biggest matches that I have ever wrestled in high school,” said Grubham.
Another fun memory that Grubham shared is the overnight wrestling tournament in Bonners Ferry. During this tournament, the wrestling team travels to Bonners Ferry high school, and the team stays the night in the Bonners Ferry Badgers wrestling room. On night one, they wrestle in two duals. After the duals, the team weighs in for the next day. The team and the coaches then all go to AJ’s Lanes for a fun night of bowling, laughing, and pizza. This is just the start of the fun; once the team heads back to the high school is when the real fun begins. The team plays spike ball and chases each other around the mats. They find leftover balls of tape to play catch with, and they come up with fun new games to play.
Owen Rose, a teammate, and fellow senior of Grubham, said Grubham shows up to practice every day even though he does not want to most of the time. He gives everything he can to get better each day and to improve. He has stuck with it throughout high school, which is more than most people do.
Grubham will be wrestling in the IEL 4A district tournament on Feb. 17. This is Grubham’s last shot at making some noise at the state tournament. If he can place first place at this tournament, he will be guaranteed a spot in the state tournament. If he places second, there is still a chance that he could go to state, but it will all depend on his record at the end of the season, and whether or not he has won more significant matches against other opponents in 4A.
Austin Howell, a sophomore wrestler for the Hawks, said, “Brad has been working hard. I think that he has a good chance of placing at districts. He has been working, and he wrestles with Devon most of the time, which I think that is really helping him get better.”
When asked about how he felt about his improvement and how his work has been paying off, Grubham stated that he thought he had come a really long way from the first time that he wrestled. He feels like he is getting better every day and that he is feeling the improvement.
Grubham is going to continue to do everything that he can to improve.