There wasn’t a wrestling fan in the entire country who wasn’t aware that Chance Marsteller came out of York County’s Kennard-Dale High School in 2014 as a four-time Pennsylvania wrestling champion, at the time just the 11th wrestler to do so, and with 166 straight wins as well.

As expectations for his future performance soared, so did the pressure. And with a difficult home life that few people were aware of, there was more pressure on the 18-year-old than just being a star wrestler.

Decisions he made went from bad to worse and a once promising career in Oklahoma State orange eventually turned into an orange jumpsuit, one worn in a jail cell. Drug use became addictive and the problems continued to increase for far too many years.

But while a majority of these types of stories don’t end well, fortunately Marsteller’s did. His state, national and international fans can now see a life that went from good to bad to ugly and, after a rough, emotional journey, back to very good beginnings on November 25th when FloWrestling releases a two-hour film/documentary titled ” Chance” .”

Flo (flowrestling.org) has produced a number of documentaries in recent years and they have been of high quality and packed with interesting background. This one, which debuted Friday afternoon at the State Theater in State College and will be free on Flo, is that and more … much more. Moviegoers will admit that when a 120-minute movie feels like a 60-minute movie, it means it’s good.

For wrestling fans and, more importantly, fans of the storytelling of a human life, this one is, well, great.

To recap, Marsteller chose Oklahoma State over Penn State in 2014. He won his fourth PIAA title at 170 pounds but was asked by Okie State coach John Smith to cut to 157 in college. Thirteen pounds of a wrestler’s chiseled body is no easy haul and Marsteller was never quite the same. He made a series of bad decisions and left the show, citing at the time that he was done with the sport. But he reconsidered that proclamation and instead moved to Lock Haven.

Again, as fans of the sport will most likely remember, he wasn’t done with the bad decisions, turning to serious drug use and ending up with multiple legal charges and seven years of probation. All the while, his girlfriend, Jenna, who is now his wife and mother of two boys (with a daughter due in about three weeks) stuck with him.

She understandably questioned the relationship more than once but followed Marsteller to Stillwater, Oklahoma, Lock Haven and the Lehigh Valley and was eventually able to direct him to the help he needed.

As the film portrays in a sometimes disturbing way, it was not easy. Marsteller paid tribute to Jenna afterward as she laughed, cried and joked that she hoped this wouldn’t put her into early labor.

The film featured a lot of wrestling from youth to scholastics to his ongoing international competition, clips from inside Marsteller’s home, emotional narration from his wife and his brother John Stefanowicz – himself an international Greco-Roman wrestler – Lehigh University coach Pat Santoro and many others. In addition, there were gory details about Marsteller’s amazement that his body actually survived what he deliberately did to it and what fentanyl addiction and other addictions can do to a body and mind.

Those watching the film included Lock Haven University’s wrestling coaching staff, who agreed with him when they wouldn’t have been blamed for doing the opposite, athletes he coaches at Steller Trained, his wrestling facility at Alvernia College in Reading, various mentors who have helped to. guide him over the past decade and wrestling fans in general.

“For me to be able to share how I got here today and my sobriety, I hope I do for someone what that clip in rehab did for me,” Marsteller said after the screening. “I thought I’d been misunderstood all my life and knowing that if there’s anyone out there who was like me, I hope that when this hits Flo on the 25th and the world gets to see it, I hope that someone discovers that they don’t is it. alone and can really see that it is possible.

“Obviously there’s a little bit about how I ended up in the middle of my addiction, but I don’t think anyone really knows how I got there. As a young person, I would have told you it would never happen, and it did. Whoever it happens there out today, I hope it helps achieve some hope that they can get back,” he said.

Citing a loving and forgiving God, Marsteller said that all the people sitting in the theater on Friday would not be there if they were not loving and forgiving towards him.

Marsteller will continue to compete internationally and has 2025 trips planned to Albania, France and Bulgaria. “My goals on the other end of wrestling are with my Steller (coached) team; we’re trying to be the best club in the country,” he said. “I’ve always felt more of a calling to coaching than wrestling in general.”

The two-time LHU All-America could only praise his wife. “I don’t have the words for what Jenna means to me,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have given up on someone like me at the time. You cannot match her level of forgiveness and willingness and she is the driving force in our family that strives for more and strives for better.”

Understandably, Marsteller said the film was difficult to watch at times. For wrestling fans coming November 25th on Flo, the film should be a must see.