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GoDuke.com Q&A With Daniel Shvartsman
2/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
DURHAM, N.C. - GoDuke.com sat down with Daniel Shvartsman for a question and answer session. Shvartsman is a senior from Burlington, Mass., is a captain on the 2007 squad and is 10-6 overall, 7-2 in dual meets, including a 2-1 mark in the ACC, while wrestling at 149 pounds. He has won six straight matches.
GoDuke.com: How do you feel about the team's performance so far this season?
Daniel Shvartsman: The team has been wrestling a lot better recently, and that's encouraging, it's one of the best stretches I've seen in my 5 years here. Hopefully we can keep building on this through the rest of the year.
GD: How do you feel about your performance so far this season?
DS: I've been frustrated with my performance. I think I've had glimpses of the type of wrestler I can be, but I expect more and need to be a lot better to achieve my goals. That's the whole struggle though, isn't it?
GD: Describe your most memorable college wrestling experience.
DS: My redshirt freshman year we wrestled N.C. State at home for the ACC regular season title, and I gave away a lead that cost me my match, the team the match on the whole, and my shot at the #2 or #3 seed for the ACC tournament and subsequently the NCAAs (since I was in the same weight as #1 nationally ranked Scott Moore of UVA). I was pretty crushed by it, and we had a match the next day. I couldn't wrestle because I already had filled my competition allowance for the year, but Coach Anderson wanted me to make weight anyway. So, both to lose weight and as sort of a sadistic form of penance, I went in my sweats and warm-ups to the wrestling room, left the lights off and just kept running and doing pushups and exercising, etc., listening to a song ? by the group 112, I believe, that our captain always put on and that I hated ? on repeat to try to break myself further. And after going at it for a while, I forget how long, I think I was close to wrapping up, and Coach Anderson opened the door to check on me. I just remember him walking in, and it wasn't like he was easy on me or anything, but he just told me to go home, and I broke down again, and then he sort of absolved me of the night. That was probably the most memorable experience of my career.
GD: Besides Duke, where is the best place to wrestle in the ACC?
DS: I guess UNC is the only other ACC place I've really had any success, so I'd have to say that's the place for me. It's always fun to go against your rival and to not have to drive very far, silly as it sounds.
GD: What do you normally go through to make weight for a meet?
DS: The usual: more working out, less eating, nothing drastic. 149 has been more comfortable for me the last couple years, and that helps a lot.
GD: Who is the team or opponent you enjoy beating the most?
DS: Again, I suppose UNC, but really, I don't look at it like that in my wrestling. I'm just trying to show my best wrestling out there every match, and if I've done that, results are of secondary importance. And as a team, I want us to beat everybody.
GD: Do you have any pre-match superstitions or routines?
DS: No.
GD: What are your plans after you graduate?
DS: Too many to number, none very firm. I'm looking or trying to look at various jobs; I'd like to earn enough money to provide for myself, live in a cool city, have free time to pursue my writing and musical interests, and have at least a friend or two around. I'm not so certain after that, and happy to hear suggestions.
GD: What do you like to do in your free time, in terms of hobbies?
DS: I work with my roommates and a good friend of ours on dissecting the apocalyptic nature of personal relationships through artistic means (excited dialogues, songs, cleaning or not cleaning our shared rooms). We also bake brownies, trade political capital, and move pianos.
GD: What are some of your favorite musical artists/bands?
DS: (Deep Breath): Bob Dylan, Prince, The Kinks, Bombadil, Patti Smith, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Neutral Milk Hotel, Jonathan Richman/The Modern Lovers, Of Montreal, The Beatles, Van Morrison, and Animal Collective. That's for starters.
GD: Name three people in history you would want to sit down to dinner with.
DS: Cleopatra, Deborah (of the Bible), Patti Smith (punk Goddess). Attractive, strong women.
GD: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
DS: I guess I've covered Europe for the most part, and I'm tentatively planning something silly like Egypt soon, but South America, like Argentina or Brazil, would probably top my list. And I want to spend more time in Italy to practice my Italian too.
GD: Who is your favorite athlete and why?
DS: I have to say that the Brands brothers, wrestlers and coaches from Iowa, are fantastic, I couldn't dream them up if I tried. But my favorite active athlete is Duke wrestler Ben Wales, because I know he's going to give his all in everything, and I like seeing how much he's improved over the last year or two.
GD: Who is your role model and why?
DS: I have different role models for different facets of my life. Bob Dylan is my musical/hipster role model, Saul Bellow is my authorial/Russian-Jewish writer role model, Tara Zepel is my crossword puzzle solver role model, etc.
GD: If you could compete in any sport other than wrestling, what would it be?
DS: I think if my older brother didn't keep telling me soccer was a “girl's sport” and hence convince me of it, I would have been a pretty decent little f?tboler. Being 5'3” limits your options at being good at a lot of sports too, even if I was the best basketball player in my town in the third grade.
GD: What is your favorite movie?
DS: I don't care what people ? like my teammates ? say: Vision Quest, a wrestling movie from the 1980's starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino, Forest Whitaker, and Madonna (that's right) is a great movie, one that works on about 20 different levels. It's hilarious and entertaining.
GD: What is your favorite professional sports team?
DS: I guess I'd say the Boston Celtics, but I don't really follow sports with a true invested interest anymore.
GD: What is your favorite TV show?
DS: If I actually watch TV, it's probably to watch 24, but I feel quite fortunate to live in a house where TV is a four-letter word/object.
GD: What is your favorite food?
DS: Peanut Butter, most preferably Jif (sponsorship dollars? Please?). I've always loved plain peanut butter sandwiches, and combined with a glass of chocolate milk, it feels as close to heaven as I'll get.
GD: What is your favorite memory of Duke University?
DS: I'd say it was recently, when a group of my friends met me at the airport when I came back from Russia this past November. They serenaded me with one of my songs, then one of their songs, and hugged me a lot, and we piled into a big VW Eurobus and went home-- it was super.
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