Belmont freshman wrestler living the American dream

Nimr Ibrahim lost his leg due to war in his home country of Iraq. His agility as a former soccer player and his upper body strength should help make him a contender at many meets, according to his coach.

Staff photo by Chris Stewart Nimr Ibrahim lost his leg due to war in his home country of Iraq. His agility as a former soccer player and his upper body strength should help make him a contender at many meets, according to his coach.

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By Greg Billing, Staff Writer Updated 12:47 AM Friday, December 11, 2009

DAYTON — In Arabic, his name means tiger. He has the heart of a lion in any language.

On Saturday, Dec. 12, Belmont High School freshman Nimr Ibrahim makes his prep wrestling debut at the Xenia Invitational. Four years ago, he was lying in a hospital bed in Iraq, recovering from a stray rocket blast that took most of his right leg.

“I want Saturday to come like this,” 16-year-old Ibrahim said, snapping his fingers and flashing that big smile. “I want to win, have fun.”

You could say Ibrahim is living the American dream since arriving Dec. 3, 2008. He’s two driving lessons away from testing for his permanent license. He and his family — his parents, three brothers and two sisters — are busy fixing up their large house off Xenia Avenue. They have two Fords, one Ibrahim and his brother share, and another for his father.

That’s far removed — roughly 6,200 miles — from the nightmare Ibrahim was living in 2005.

‘There was a boom’

Ibrahim said he was standing in the street next to his home minding his own business one minute. The next, “there was a boom.”

He still doesn’t know who fired or from where the rocket came. All he knows is the shrapnel killed a family friend and put him in the hospital with injuries to both legs, his arms, hand and back, and he later developed a blood bacterial infection.

“In the hospital, I see a (fluorescent) light. Never see light in Iraq,” said Ibrahim, who instead thought he was in his own bed having a nightmare. “In my home, never see light because no electric. Every house no electric. ... My back is hurting. They flip me and see two holes from rocket.”

The physical scars remain. But Ibrahim has done well moving on from the emotional scars. He’s extremely social, loves to smile and has an easygoing attitude. Ibrahim could only count to 12 in English upon arriving in the United States. Now he has a strong grasp of the language as a student in Belmont’s English as a Second Language program.

“You look at him and you feel sorry for him, but he can do more than some people with two legs,” said Belmont wrestling coach Kipp Grubaugh. “Everybody treats him as one of the guys.”

Beware of tiger

His opponents in the 103-pound class at the Xenia Invitational would be wise to do the same. Though he’s never wrestled before, Grubaugh said Ibrahim has outstanding upper-body strength and equally impressive balance.

“He rolls around and wrestles with the 130-, 140-pounders (in practice),” Grubaugh said. “He was beating up the two kids I have at 125. He gives my 119-pounder, who is a two-time district qualifier, a little bit of a hard time, too.”

Though his first time on the mat officially comes Saturday, Ibrahim has already demonstrated the tiger — and that lion — inside him. After last week’s meet ended (Ibrahim watched to get a feel for how it works), he messed around on the mats with a heavyweight. A coach from another school chased down Ibrahim in the parking lot. He wanted Ibrahim to wrestle for him, not knowing he was already a Bison.

Grubaugh expects to have Ibrahim for only two seasons because he’s already 16.

But he’ll gladly take it.

“I’m really not worried about wins and losses with him, but I think because of his body build and his strength he’s going to win more than he loses,” Grubaugh said.

“I think he’s going to present some problems. They’re going to think they can shoot on his one leg, and they’re not going to realize how agile he is. He has great balance and great hip control. I think they’re going to struggle with him.”

What else would you expect from a tiger?

Contact this writer at gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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