We arrived at Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks a little early to get some locations in mind for our SportStars Magazine shoot with senior wrestler Shayne Tucker. Immediately we spotted a large painted Broncos mural on a concrete slab that sat on the hillside above the parking lot. Finding out that the only way up to the mural was to scale a seven foot concrete wall made things a little more interesting. I didn't realize that I had pulled a few muscles till later that night. The much younger and agile Tucker, of course had no problem making writer, Jim McCue and I look our age.

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Working on such a steep incline kept us on our guard. I'm always concerned with the safety of the athletes that we work with first and foremost, even though we sometimes put them through crazy poses to try to get great images.

There was two locations that we chose to use for our indoor shots. First in the wrestling room, a small area with a red mat and dirty painted concrete walls. What stood out here was the quotation on the wall. "Wrestle like a champion today!" And for Tucker, who is currently ranked #1 in the State at the 152 lb. weight class, he hopes these words ring true till that last match at the state finals later this year. Tucker finished second at the state meet in 2012.

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With school still out for winter break we had to pull a few strings, and the school janitor was kind enough to get us into the weight room for a few more relaxed shots before we called it a wrap. _DSC7901 _DSC7917