Frank DiBella recently announced his commitment to Virginia Tech as a junior in high school. DiBella recently stated he’d be continuing his academic and athletic career at Virginia Tech in a recently published Instagram post.
DiBella’s main factors in his commitment primarily consisted of the high-level education offered by Virginia Tech along with the beautiful campus, sports events, and of course, the wrestling team. According to DiBella, he felt at home and believes this is his place to grow as a person and wrestler as he will be living far from home and will be learning to be his own person.
It is essential to mention DiBella’s struggles which led to him being in the position he is in. DiBella had placed 4th at the 2021-22 New Jersey State tournament as a sophomore which gave his coaches and himself higher expectations for his junior year. However, this all came crashing down when an unexpected injury occurred two months before the 2022-23 season began.
DiBella kept trying to wrestle with this injury until it finally caught up to him and his knee finally gave out. The injury resulted in a torn meniscus which needed surgery. After all physical therapy and time off the mat were done, DiBella was not able to take shots due to fear of risking another injury.
This took a big mental toll on him with everyone else being ahead of him due to his injury. It took him the majority of the season for him to feel like himself again and as the state tournament approached, he was still struggling to fully trust himself.
According to DiBella, “I was mentally not confident in myself. Though there was nothing to do but let it fly. I wrestled my hardest one match at a time”. DiBella ended up placing 4th at the 2022-23 state tournament.
As DiBella enters his senior year in high school it is exciting to see what he will accomplish in his last year of high school wrestling as he looks forward to his colligative career at Virginia Tech.