For about five months out of the year, Peter Walker is a little busier than most students.

Actually, make that a lot busier.

When the College of Business Administration junior is not attending class or tending to his full-time lawn care company, he's at Arrowhead High School as an assistant coach for the Warhawk wrestling team.

Since freshman year, Walker has dedicated around 30 hours a week to coaching at his alma mater — which is about 25 miles west of Milwaukee — during the wrestling season, which runs from November to early March.

"I love the sport and wanted to stay involved," the 21-year-old said, who himself wrestled all four years at Arrowhead. "My high school coach talked to me about coming back and coaching as soon as he knew I was going to Marquette."

Though he only started wrestling as a freshman in high school, Walker was able to work his way up and eventually placed fourth at 125 pounds in the individual state tournament his senior year. According to John Mesenbrink, Arrowhead's head wrestling coach, this progress was a result of Walker's "really strong work ethic."

A lot of parents try to get their children involved in wrestling at a young age, Mesenbrink said, so for Walker to place fourth in the state after only wrestling for a few years "showed how strong of a work ethic (Walker has) and how strong a worker he is."

Walker's father, Pat, was not surprised at how quickly Walker picked up the sport.

"I knew that he had 'wrestler's blood' in his veins," Pat, who also wrestled at Arrowhead along with two of Walker's uncles, said via an e-mail interview. "This is a sport where I believe some people possess a natural, God-given talent to excel, and I saw this ability in Peter early on."

However, Pat did not want to force his son into the sport, which is why Walker focused on other sports until he switched to wrestling. Despite coming in "at a disadvantage," Pat said, Walker was able to excel not only because of his work ethic, but also because he "hates to lose."

Walker's success was also due in part to the grueling workout and schedule inherent to wrestling.

"I have never experienced anything as tough as the grind of the wrestling season," he said. "The beating you put your body through on a daily basis really wears you out."

Walker's high school workout schedule had a reputation for being rigorous, he said. Practice was six days a week for three hours (and occasionally in the morning) unless there was a meet, which could range from two hours to an all-day or multi-day tournament.

Practices and meets are still the same length; the only difference is that Walker is now supervising the mat rather than practicing on it. Nevertheless, Mesenbrink said Walker will still "get in there and wrestle with (the students)" from time to time.

This close connection with the wrestlers is one reason why Mesenbrink is glad Walker returned to coach.

"He's got really good communication skills," Mesenbrink said, and he is also "really good at helping fix mistakes."

Mesenbrink "has told me that Peter is exactly the kind of example that he wants his young wrestlers to see," Pat said.

"The coach uses Peter as an example of how far you can go with dedication and a great work ethic," he said. "He really values having Peter around."

Walker's work ethic is just as evident when he is not coaching at Arrowhead. In the off-season he works full-time at his lawn care company, which he started in high school and has expanded to include two crews and six employees. All of this is in addition to his regular classes, studying and being a part-time firefighter.

The workload is enough to give anyone stress-induced ulcers, but according to Walker's roommate, College of Business Administration junior Brent Baumann, Walker does not seem very stressed.

"It impresses me how he manages it all," Baumann said.

Walker's hectic schedule and dedication paid off at the end of this year's season, when Arrowhead placed second at the team state tournament in Madison March 4 and 5.

The placing was "the best they've ever done so far," he said, but it did not come as a surprise because the team expected to do well.

Walker said the wrestlers "were just flying high" during the tournament and that the experience was "almost as cool as going to state myself."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on March 31 2005.