Few athletes ‘are built like’ Twin Valley’s indefatigable Ean Winchester
(Fifth of a seven-part series on three-sport athletes.)
By Michael Quinn — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
It’s 5 a.m. and Ean Winchester’s alarm clock is blaring. He pounds the snooze button a couple of times before he finally drags himself out of bed.
He showers quickly, grabs some food and is out the door. It’s not a school day. He isn’t headed to a morning football or lacrosse practice.
No.
He is headed to work at Pickering Valley Contractors, where he’ll clock a an eight- to 10-hour shift with a shovel or some other tool in his hands.
Monday through Friday he arrives at work by 6:30 a.m. to begin his day as laborer, digging, laying pipe or cleaning out inlets.
He took the job to help with car payments and to save for college. It’s one more commitment he has learned to balance along with weight training and three sports.
“It all kind of falls into place,” he said of his non-stop schedule.
Three days a week Winchester goes straight from work to football practice, where he does 40-yard sprints with tires harnessed to his back; he lifts and works on other football skills, as well. A couple days a week he hits wrestling practice. On Mondays he doubles up, working out for both sports.
His schedule will become yet more demanding next month when he adds a couple lacrosse practices each week.
“I take my work ethic from sports and apply it to my job,” he said. “I try to work as hard as I can in both places.”
His hard work has paid off. As a junior he was a league champion and All-Berks pick in wrestling, an All-Berks pick lacrosse and a two-way all-league pick in football.
He captains Twin Valley’s wrestling and football teams. He was a key piece in leading the Raiders to their first district playoff victories in both football and lacrosse.
Winchester says he doesn’t think about the honors. He appreciates them but sees himself as a member of the team, nothing more.
“I love being voted all these things,” Winchester said, “but I’m (just) a normal player.”
Winchester has a remarkable resume entering his senior year but he hasn’t let success inflate his ego. He registered 89 tackles as a linebacker and had 14 catches as a tight end last season, helping the Raiders earn their first home playoff game and match the program record for wins by finishing 7-5.
In lacrosse he dominated the most critical spot on the field, the faceoff circle, helping the Raiders finish 13-6, also a program record for wins.
He went 36-6 in wrestling and was sectional champ.
Wrestling was his first sport. Jeff Winchester wanted his young son – who has since grown to 6-2, 250 pounds — to have self-defense knowledge.
In one of his first wrestling tournaments Ean walked off the mat after a series of losses, threw his headgear to the side and started to melt down. Jeff rushed over.
“You do not come off this mat having a fit,” he told Ean. “Be the bigger man in the sport and on the mat.”
Ean learned an important lesson and now tries to lead by example.
He followed a sophomore season in which he went 36-4 by finishing fourth in the 16U National championships in Fargo, N.D., at 220 pounds.
“It meant the world,” he said. “I was expecting to do good, but I wasn’t expecting to place as high as I was.”
Winchester has a 95-17 record over three wrestling seasons. He is closing in on the school record of 134.
“It’s something that’s motivating me to work harder, better my moves, strength and speed to get that record,” he said.
Winchester’s success isn’t limited to the wrestling mat or football field. He has a 4.0 GPA and considers that his most important stat.
“It’s very important to do well in the classroom because sports don’t last forever,” he said. “Your academics will get you far in life.”
He plans to join TVHS Heroes next year, where he’ll go to the elementary school and work with younger students.
Winchester’s leadership skill are evident on and off the field.
“You’ve got a great kid who’s leading three different teams, three different ways,” said Twin Valley football coach Brett Myers. “The dynamics of each sport is different. Most people wouldn’t be able to lead in all three; he’s able to do it. Not everybody is built that way.”
Twin Valley lacrosse coach Decker Doupe first saw Winchester two years ago from the opposite sideline; he was coaching at Ephrata at the time.
Doupe’s specialist had been winning 70 percent of his faceoffs until running into Winchester, then a freshman.
“That was the first time my senior went under 50 percent,” Doupe said.
Winchester won 84 percent of his faceoffs this season, an incredible figure, and collected 128 ground balls. He is a force with or without the ball.
“If he wants a certain guy in a certain spot, (we) give him free (rein) to tell guys where to go,” Doupe said, “and the guys listen because he knows what he’s talking about.”
The Raiders went 13-6 this season, the first winning record in program history.
“(Ean) is an extremely high-level (player),” Doupe said.
Winchester enjoys weight training for his sports so much he has considered weight-lifting competitions, but not right now.
“I just don’t have time for that,” he said.
His max bench press of 350 pounds is a school record; so is his max squat of 530.
Winchester will play a sport in college – he just isn’t sure which. He’s not ready to give up any of them.
He has learned many valuable lessons in competition but one stands above the rest:
“I learned to lead,” he said.
