Huntington Beach Wrestler Trevor Cooper Fighting Back From Injuries and Adversity

Trevor Cooper was uncomfortable sitting in the bleachers at the Westminster High School gym.

He leaned back and rubbed his right shoulder as he explained how he had pinned his hopes on winning instead of watching a wrestling match on this particular night.

His words came slowly as he watched his Huntington Beach teammates compete in a dual meet against Westminster.

“When you’re injured . . . you feel like you’ve done something bad,” said Cooper, who reinjured his shoulder in early December in the Magnolia tournament. “People keep asking me, ‘What’s wrong, Trevor?’ and I have to tell them about my shoulder. It’s a weakness.”

Weaknesses are few for Cooper, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior whose arms and shoulders look as if they were chiseled from a block of marble. Hours in the weight room have made him one of the top wrestlers in Orange County in the 191-pound class.

“I don’t like to have weaknesses,” Cooper said.

Although his time on the sidelines is only temporary, Cooper still is frustrated.

“It’s really hard taking all the criticism from everyone,” he said. “People keep telling you you’re a wimp and stuff. But I understand it too. They don’t always realize what you’re going through.”

Here’s what Cooper has gone through in recent months:

--In August, he separated his right shoulder during the last day of summer football practice. He missed two days of workouts, but returned by the end of the week to play nose guard in the Oilers’ first game.

--In November, he and the Oiler football team sat through hours of litigation as their playoff hopes bounced through the courtrooms. They finished first in the Sunset League but were not allowed in the playoffs because of an ineligible player.

As a result, their 8-2 record suddenly became 0-10.

“I didn’t let it get to me,” Cooper said of missing the playoffs. “It was a hard way to end the season, but it was still a fun one. We know what games we won and we had a good time doing it. No one can take that away from us.”

--On Dec. 9, Cooper had a 15-0 record with eight pins when his shoulder stiffened in a match at the Magnolia tournament. He won the match, but he and Coach Bob Rice decided he should sit out the next few weeks to give the shoulder a rest.

“He wants to compete really bad,” Rice said. “He doesn’t want to let the rest of the team down because he knows how other guys on the team have wrestled hurt when we’ve needed them.”

Rice said Cooper practiced on Friday for the first time since being injured again, but still hasn’t regained his full strength. Rice expects Cooper to be ready in time for the Oilers’ next meet Jan. 11.

Cooper will need to be in condition for his much-awaited rematch with Canyon’s Zach Cooper in the Canyon tournament Jan. 27.

Zach Cooper, the defending Southern Section champion at 191 pounds, won the battle of the Coopers at last year’s Canyon tournament finals.

Trevor Cooper remembers every detail of the 11-2 loss, although he would just as soon forget them.

“A lot of that match was psychological,” Trevor Cooper said. “I knew he was going to be good. He is strong and has good skills. I kept going for his legs and I made some stupid moves. He got me in a cradle and held there for a while.

“I was behind and I was trying to fight back. I tried some risky moves and he got me again.”

Trevor Cooper, who was 49-6 overall, went on to finish third at the Southern Section championships. An earlier loss kept him from reaching the finals and a rematch with Zach Cooper.

“My goal this year is to beat him,” Trevor Cooper said.

Rice said Trevor Cooper is focusing on more than just the rematch. Rice describes Cooper as one of the team’s leaders on and off the mat.

“There’s not as much pressure on him to get pins this year,” Rice said. “Last (season) we were inexperienced at the lower weights and we were behind (in team scoring) when he wrestled. We relied on the heavier weights to carry us and get us points.”

Cooper also is carrying on a family tradition in wrestling.

He drew his interest in the sport from his stepfather, Terry Cooper, and older brother, Tim Wuerfel, who both wrestled in high school and are now Los Angeles firemen. His younger brother, Jared, 13, also is an aspiring wrestler.

Trevor Cooper competed in a variety of sports growing up in Huntington Beach, including basketball, volleyball, cross-country and softball. He also ran the 100 and 200 meters with the Blue Angels’ track club.

“I used to be all right in the sprints,” Cooper said. “Then I gained a lot of weight in the eighth grade. I lost some of my speed.”

What he lost in speed he gained in strength and bulk. By his freshman year, Cooper weighed 154 pounds. He increased to 183 as a sophomore, 188 as a junior and 190 as a senior.

His conditioning during the last three years has made his comeback easier, but he won’t know how much until the Southern Section championships, his first step to the state tournament.

“I want to get to the state meet and place,” Cooper said. “I think I’m still on course to do that. I’ll get better over the holidays and I’ll get back into it.”