There’s often a common bond that can be found between father and son when it comes to hobbies and talents. However, while his dad, Calum, wrestled for Great Britain in the 1992 Olympics, Lachlan McNeil didn’t gravitate immediately to wrestling, at least at first.

“I think [wrestling] was always something my dad wanted me to do, but he never pressured it,” said the younger McNeil. “We played a lot of sports – soccer, football, did gymnastics, played rugby – the problem was, growing up in the Middle East and in Abu Dhabi, there
was no wrestling club.”

Connecting with a former collegiate teammate shortly after moving to Abu Dhabi in 2009, Calum helped start the first wrestling club in the Middle East, in order to teach children the basics of wrestling in a low-key, fun environment.

“In wrestling, there’s a fantastic message that usually comes across to the kids as it relates to discipline,” Calum said. “They work hard and develop a work ethic, and it goes above and beyond the sport.”

The McNeils moved from Abu Dhabi to Toronto, Canada in 2011. Equipped with the basics, Lachlan began competing in wrestling, and almost immediately found success. However, eventually, the opponents became a bit repetitive, due to a relative lack of participation in the sport in Canada.

“Wrestling in Canada, at the middle school level just isn’t the same as wrestling in the United States,” said Lachlan. “In America, there’s a high number of wrestlers who compete at a certain level, but in Canada, there are not nearly as many.

“We’d wrestle in six or seven tournaments a year, and it’d always be the same kids,” he continued. “You’d wrestle the same guy four or five times a year. In America, you might wrestle a guy one time and never see him again because of how many people are competing.”

While Lachlan was seeing continued victories and was developing his skills on the mat, Calum wanted to keep his son humble. It was time to find new competition.

“If I kept beating the same kids in Canada, it was basically a ‘big fish in a little pond’ situation,” Lachlan said. “My dad wanted me to go to the ‘big pond.’ If I got really good, I’d get really good, but at least I know where I stack up against the rest of the world, or at least against the Americans.”

Thus began multiple drives across the Canadian border into the United States to compete and get better.

Starting with 4-6 hour roundtrips to compete at tournaments in upstate New York, it wasn’t uncommon for the McNeils to take multiple trips a month to the United States, especially during the winter season.

“It wasn’t 100 percent by design that the trips got more frequent and longer, but Lachlan and his brother needed to understand that maybe they weren’t as good as they thought they were,” Calum laughed.

“My dad just wanted us to continue to improve. That was the biggest thing,” Lachlan said. “It was never about being the best or us winning, but as a dad, he just wanted the best for me.”

Those drives meant a lot to both father and son, and the hard work was reciprocated between the two.

“He would drive us to tournaments and drive us to camps. My dad would literally do anything for us. The only reason I’m in college wrestling right now is because of my dad and the commitment he made,” said Lachlan. “There are a lot of other Canadians who had the talent to wrestle over in America, but if you don’t get the exposure, and you don’t get the tournaments, you’ll never get that chance. My dad was the one willing to make a lot of sacrifices for me to get down here.”

“Reflecting on it, it was hard work to make those drives, but it was a great way to connect with the kids,” Calum said. “Back then, they weren’t old enough to have phones, and we were in the car for six hours. We just had way more communication and that helped a ton with our overall connection.”

“I remember saying if you’re going to be all in as it relates to learning the sport and getting better, then I’m going to be all in as well.