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Student of the Month, June 2003 Kjel Hansen |
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by
Les Honig Some UPW rookies are
blessed with great genetics and through their hard work and
dedication, they become undeniably noticeable to their teachers and
scouts seeking future talent. For others, however, the road to fame is
a longer and harder one; but when their moment of victory does arrive,
the sweet smell of success is even more fragrant. Such is the case of
one six-month Ultimate University diehard who, through his total and
unwavering commitment to personal development, has impressed all who
he has come into contact with, from promoter Rick Bassman down to his
fellow students. Kjel (pronounced
Chell) Hansen, at the tender age of 19, is already paying that
personal price to make it happen for himself, and his resulting
progress is evident to all around him. A native of nearby Orange County, the tall but less and less
lanky mat learner, recalls his earliest days as a “weird and
independent kid” who while active in kid sports found that his
youthful eccentricity was
a turn-off to his middle school classmates until it found eventual
expression and gained him social success in high school as he turned
to acting classes to play out his heretofore suppressed need to
perform. “Still while I
started making friends, I was physically really skinny, probably
weighing under 125 as a freshmen and it was then that I began pursuing
weight training with a passion.” Not only doing this to impress friends but because he really
dug hitting the gym, Kjel found his body becoming less frail and as a
result finding him even greater acceptance with his peers. Such parallel tracks to personal pride, however, were to soon blend into a whole new pattern as a childhood love of pro wrestling was to be rekindled with a fiery vengeance. “When I was 7 or 8
I was a big fan and would never miss the shows on Saturday mornings;
but when Raw and Nitro started running on Monday nights I kind of fell
out of active interest. One
day, however, when I was a sophomore, I went to a friend’s house and
he had Royal Rumble 2000 on and immediately I was hooked.
I thought, ‘This is the greatest sport in the world. People
go in the ring and are gods to these people for three minutes. I must
do this!’” However, due to his
still skinny appearance, he felt the inhibitions that many smaller
aspirants may often feel, but instead of giving up; his desire and
thirst to transform his life became even more unquenchable. “There was a drive
in me that was developing that forced me on. I started working out
each day, taking supplements, buckling down and giving up those Oreos,
chips and sodas. I started becoming really serious.” While he felt
reluctant to tell friends of his dreams, he did let the secret fly a
few times and the smirks and doubts that all expressed fueled the
inward fire to prove them wrong even more intensely. Attending a WWE
event at the Anaheim Pond and coming across the UPW booth there was
indeed the watershed moment for Kjel as he got to speak with Big John
Heydenrich and Keiji Sakoda; the latter signing his poster but more
importantly giving him a flier and encouraging him to come and check
out the training sessions at the Raw Center. “I had my doubts
but when I looked at the website and read L’il Nate’s bio and saw
that a kid even younger than me who weighed only 135 could already
have gone so far, it made me realize I had to give it a try.” Several months after
entering college, Kjel decided to visit a Tuesday night Ballards’
training session and to his total amazement, he saw that other
students were very much like him. “What amazed me was how
normal-sized these guys all were. I also was blown away by just how
much hard work goes into what we see each week on TV.” Now balancing two
jobs, (one at a pet store and the other at 24 Hour Fitness), so he can
pay his tuition, as well as attending his university classes, this
young devotee also regularly attends UU three sessions a week and his
“never say die” attitude and thirst to learn is causing him to
progress at a gratifyingly rapid pace. Totally impressed by
Ultimate U’s roster of teachers from the Ballards to Hardkore Kidd
to Tom Howard to visiting instructors Keiji Sakoda and Frankie
Kazarian, Kjel Hansen reserves some of his kindest words for fellow
classmate Nate Nickerson, who gave him the original inspiration to
make that final commitment step. “He is definitely
number 1 on my list. Everytime I lock up with Nate; everytime I do a
spot with him, I feel honored that I’m actually going up against a
veteran of UPW…a veteran at 17. I have such mondo respect for that man, it drives me nuts.
The stuff he teaches me is awesome and he’ll go through the move and
keep with it till I have learned it correctly.” But such desire on
the part of the school’s now hardcore group of trainees to pass on
what they have learned to the newcomers is not unusual at all,
according to Kjel, who says, that skill-sharing is part of what makes
the UU experience so special to him; that in addition to the special
insights from his teachers who are more than willing to reveal their
own “real world” experiences to those trying to learn the in’s
and out’s of the pro wrestling biz. Most of all,
however, for this fired-up future sports entertainer is the personal
realization that a past impossible dream may finally be starting to
actually take shape. “When we were
setting up a UPW booth recently at the Pond, I got a chance to walk
around the arena and for a moment I stood behind the backstage curtain
and peered through it and saw the giant Titantron.
A chill went through me as I thought to myself, ‘If I really
make it I will prove just about everybody in the world wrong.
People always said I was too small; too thin; not good enough,
couldn’t hack it. But thanks to Ultimate U., my dream to appear here
someday may actually become reality.
Then I can say to all those doubters, ‘See, you were ALL
wrong!. I WAS good enough and I DID get here after all!’” |
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Previous Ultimate University Students of the Month: February 2003 - Nate Nickerson |
