Crestwood Red Devils’ graduate J.P. Wrobel is used to being in high-pressure situations throughout his four years as a varsity wrestler. The winningest wrestler in school history may have retired his singlet, but he will continue putting it all on the line as he prepares to begin his training to become a firefighter in Mantua.
“It takes a lot of responsibility because you are helping others and people are putting their life in your hands,” Wrobel told The Weekly Villager on June 26. “It is something I am willing to do.”
Wrobel will begin his training when he attends the Cuyahoga Community College in Parma for the Fire Academy in September for an 11-week training course and will begin studying to become a certified paramedic, which will last a year. While Wrobel is studying, he will also gain first-hand experience working part-time at the Mantua Fire Station. Once Wrobel completes his training, he will be elevated to a full-time position.
As successful of a high school wrestler as Wrobel was, he always believed he was destined to become a police officer because he always liked helping people. He attributed his generous nature to coming from a large family where everyone supported each other.
“In my family, my cousins and I always have each other’s back and we are willing to help each other no matter what the cause is,” he acknowledged.
When Wrobel interned with the Mantua Fire Department last fall, he decided that his future was in firefighting instead of police work. According to Wrobel, he enjoyed how the Fire Department helped people in different situations while always remaining calm.
He will be the first member of the Wrobel clan to pursue a firefighting career and he is excited about the opportunity to create a new legacy. He added that he has always enjoyed taking a different direction in life.
“In middle school, I went to a catholic middle school and when everyone went to Walsh Jesuit, St. Ignatius and St. Edward, I was the first one to go to Crestwood,” he said. “I loved taking my own route and just being me.”
Although residing in Twinsburg his whole life, Wrobel has come to love Mantua as his second home after four years in the Crestwood School District. In addition to becoming a firefighter, he is also relishing the opportunity to serve the community he represented when he wrestled all four years of high school.
“The past four years I was able to call Mantua home and I feel like I grew with the community while I was there so helping give back to them is really nice and I really like helping people that I know,” he said.
While a firefighting career is filled with high stakes and high-pressure situations, Wrobel said that his experiences in high school wrestling have prepared him well as every match he wrestled, the responsibility was all on his shoulders. Whether he won or lost, it was his own actions that determined the outcome and Wrobel plans to apply that same mindset to firefighting.
“Once you wrestle everything else is easy and I believe that because I have been in much crazier situations with wrestling, like losing my quarterfinal match and having to bounce back or losing in the semifinals at district at three straight years and having to go to the blood round,” he noted.
In addition, Wrobel’s success in wrestling boiled down to learning to trust his instincts and he will have to do the same when he takes on this new chapter of his life.
Wrobel has been out on some calls with his crew but because Mantua is such a small community, he has yet to have first-hand experience any fires. He has mostly just sat back and observed how the crew responds on calls.
As physically demanding as wrestling was, Wrobel said he has faced a new degree of difficulty in his training to become a firefighter, but he has adjusted on the fly.
“At first it was a little bit overwhelming because I did not know much but now that I know some things they are easier and I am just learning,” he said. “It is really going to help me in the fire training because I will be ahead of my class, and I have all of this training.”
The training has been extensive for Wrobel so far in his quest to become a firefighter but it is nothing Wrobel has not experienced having stayed active through all four years of high school to prefect his wrestling technique.
Although Wrobel’s career choice carries a lot of risk, he said that his whole family is behind him.
“I think my Dad actually liked the idea a lot because he knows me,” he said. “I think they were a little bit nervous, but I think they are happy. My Dad loves the idea and so does my Mom and they have supported me.”
