“Constructive conflict creates progress,” said Chris Tims, US history teacher and boys wrestling coach at East High School.
Whether it’s educating students about the African American experience, or challenging wrestlers to expand their capabilities on the mat, Tims shows high schoolers how to advocate for what they want and need in their lives.
“It can’t be about the prize, it has to be about the process,” said Tims. “You’ve gotta do the basics extraordinarily well – that’s what creates greatness. When people stay true to the process it unlocks a door to possibilities.”
According to Tims, both coaching and teaching, are built on a foundation of respect and relationships with others. For him, being an authority figure is not about wielding power, but rather an opportunity to provide students with a sense of safety and an engaging education.
“As an educator, I learned that before you can get to a person’s head you got to get to their heart,” said Tims.
Tims discovered his own spark for education as a student-athlete at East High in 2008. After seeing educators such as Krista Platte and Matthew Tracy connect, care for, and inspire their classrooms, Tims felt determined to learn how to do the same. Following his graduation from East High, he dove headfirst into his teaching studies at Wartburg while also wrestling for the Knights and Coach Jim Miller.
For Tims, he says his most inspiring professional moment arrived in 2015, after graduating from Wartburg and working as the assistant wrestling coach at East High.
“We had a student-athlete named Darrell, who has a disability, and had not won a match,” said Tims. “Then, during one JV match, he was going back and forth with his opponent and got the pin! His teammates cheered and lifted him up (the ref allowed it!) I bawled like a baby that day.”
Working each day to connect with students and help them grow is something that propels Tims in his work both in the arena and the classroom. He says that his former East High teachers inspired him to pursue a career in teaching, and his high school wrestling coach motivated him to become a role model for other young athletes today.
“It has been rewarding to be able to help impact and influence a program that helped raise me,” said Tims. “When I wrestled at East High, Willie Gadson was a coach and father figure to me.”
Tims is in his third year as East High’s head boys wrestling coach and his eleventh year as a teacher with Waterloo Schools. In all his experience as a student, athlete, coach, and teacher, he says his best piece of advice is to take ownership of your own education, at every age.
