(From left) Brooke, Blake, Dylan and Hunter Freschi are all current or former athletes for Hasbrouck Heights High School. (Photo: Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com)
Story by Darren Coper / Record Sports ……….HASBROUCK HEIGHTS — Doctors saw the MRI and told the Freschi family Blake would never sit up, feed himself, crawl or walk.
Today, he can’t decide whether or not to practice football, wrestle or go take a few swings with his golf clubs.
Blake Freschi, 16, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and has limited use of his right side. He also won 12 varsity wrestling matches this year as a sophomore for Hasbrouck Heights, is a linebacker/fullback and long snapper on the football team and is an avid golfer.
Doctors looked at the MRI, but they couldn’t measure his heart.
“He’s an inspiration in the wrestling room for the other kids,” Aviators wrestling coach Craig Messery said. “He teaches us the lesson that no matter your struggles you have to fight through and deal with what you have to deal with and come out on the other side positive. That’s why I made him a captain.”
Blake is one of four Freschi athletes who play or played for Hasbrouck Heights. His twin brother, Hunter, is the Aviators 152-poundercompeting at Wednesday’s Region 2 meet.
The first sign Blake was different came real early when he kept slumping to one side in his baby bouncy seat.
“Everyone was like, you can’t compare kids,” Blake’s mother, Kelly, said. “But it was just the way he only slumped on one side. I brought it up to the pediatrician and they gave us some exercises to do, but there was no difference.”
An MRI showed Blake had a stroke. When? No one is sure. And that was when doctors gave the Freschi family the news that he had sustained brain damage. They didn’t even recommend physical therapy because they felt Blake’s condition was untreatable.
Tell that to the three kids Blake pinned this year in a span of 24 hours.
Blake began undergoing botox injections right after his first birthday to help his muscles become flexible and stretch. Pretty soon he was walking and running – hey, he had a twin brother to keep up with.
He discovered wrestling in first grade. There was another kid with CP in Wood-Ridge and the two began working out together.
“Wrestling was basically my therapy,” Blake said.
Then came football, and lately golf, although he’s still not sure whether he swings better with his right hand or left, so he usually plays with both.
On the football field, he played for the Aviators junior varsity team in every game. He tackles leading with his stronger side. When he catches a pass, he cradles it with his left hand and puts his right hand on top of it.
When it’s time to wrestle, the only clue that there might be something different about Blake is when the referee has to fasteb the color ribbon around his ankle. He doesn’t tell opponents, and Messery doesn’t usually tell the other coach.
“I forget he has limitations,” Messery said. “When we are coaching sometimes I have to catch myself because I might expect him to do something he might not be able to do, but we expect him to work hard as any other wrestler and we expect him to win.”
Blake says his favorite part about football is making friends on the team. With wrestling, he appreciates how Aviators assistant coaches Kurt Freund and Evan Dolan work with him after practice and give him tips on utilizing his strengths. He hates when opponents come at his weaker side, but he understands.
“Don’t treat me any differently than anybody else,” Blake said. “Treat me the same. That’s all I think people should do. Don’t treat me like I have a disability, treat me like I am the same person. That’s all I wish.”
