For many kids, finding the right motivation to continue practicing a sport can be a challenge. Such was the case for Uriel “Cookie” Leon.

Last year, he was not sure if he'd continue the wrestling journey that he started at a young age.

"As time went on it wasn’t as fun. But with my team it’s really fun,” he said

With a shy but friendly attitude, the sophomore said that this year he felt a bit similar going into the season but that it was easier for him to overcome that obstacle and power through it.

"My parents really motivate me. Another reason why I’m wrestling this year, for sure, is because of the seniors I wrestled with when I was in sixth grade and they were eighth-graders. Now it’s their senior year, so I just wanted to finish it with them,” Leon said

“We had to talk him to it [continue wrestling], his parents talked him to it,” said FLHS wrestling coach Tom Galicia. “He ended up going to summer camp with us, he enjoyed it and now he’s really working hard towards wrestling.”

At 113 pounds, “Cookie” -- as mostly everybody calls him -- has seen the improvements on the mat from his freshman year.

"He’s been getting better throughout the year little by little. You saw he went 1-1 tonight (Feb. 1 in a triangular meet against Skyview and Elizabeth high schools). But when he’s on fire, he’s good to go,” Galicia said. “‘Cookie’ has improved on his mat awareness, where he’s at on the mat and how to finish when he gets a kid on his back.”

Leon lost a tough match against Elizabeth’s Cooper Dunn,  who is ranked in the top 5 in the state by On the Mat Magazine, but pinned Skyview’s Mario Macias in his second match of the night.

"My first match, it happens,” Leon said. "He [Dunn] is really good, just better than me. My second match, I went in there with a different mindset, not being scared. And it was a better outcome for the second one.”

FLHS heads for Eaton High School and a two-day regional tournament. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state meet. With the end of the regular season around the corner, Leon, as well as the rest of the team, are confident that they can take the next step.

“In regionals, those are the type of guys he’s going to have to battle with, the Elizabeth. It’s those kids so he can qualify for state. So we are going to have to get past those type of guys,” Galicia said.

"I just really need to get my mindset there, start eating right, practicing harder and being on point fully,” Leon said.