Getting
a Hold on Pro Wrestling
Doug Molin’s
personal passion for wrestling is as entwined with his work ethic as two
talented athletes facing off on the mat.
Molin, the manager for tactical operations in the Southeastern United
States, is an internationally recognized wrestling official who has officiated
at numerous Olympic contents, international and national championships.
He was selected as official of the year in 2004 and has the highest international
ranking from FILA, the international body that governs wrestling.
Molin now is officiating matches in the inaugural year of RealProWrestling,
the first professional wrestling league. This is not the wrestling of
eye gouges or flying body slams. These matches pit ex-Olympic and collegiate
athletes against each other for victory purses. ESPN is telecasting the
contests on Wednesdays and Sundays into May. Molin can be seen officiating
many of the contests.
What makes a good wrestling official? “It’s about the purity
of calling them as you see them and making decisions rapidly and putting
yourself in the position to have the best angle and view to make the call.”
That happens to be pretty good description of his FAA job. Molin has to
take in the big picture of how air traffic is moving in his section of
the country, while balancing the needs of en route and terminal facilities,
airlines, FAA management and other customers. “I’m connecting
multiple facilities with en route, terminal, customers, the Command Center,
getting everybody on the same page”. He tries to ascertain the best
view of the situation and then make his decisions quickly because time
is of the essence.
While Molin takes a team approach to his job, it’s the individuality
of wrestling that attracted him to the sport. “The unique thing
about wrestling is that it’s not a sport in which you can be lost
in a team. It happens on the mat there in front of everybody.”
Molin’s officiating probably comes in handy at home. The household
environment can get “pretty crazy, pretty crazy” with a family
of eight that that includes four boys who wrestle. (The Molins adopted
three of their children who’d been abandoned.)
“[Officiating] made me a better father. When you’re faced
with issues beyond your control, you can’t continue to dwell on
it. Learn from it and move on.”
That sounds like the ethic of a champion wrestler. |
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