As soon as it happened, he knew.
Andrew C. was training over Winter Recess last year and had just shot for a low, single leg takedown against his brother, Ryan.
It was the type of technique a wrestler might attempt a dozen times in a single training session but that time, as Andrew shot low, his brother’s knee came swooping up to meet him.
“The spot where my eye was open on my headgear, I drilled his knee right on my eyebrow and that’s where all my concussions really were, in my eyebrow area, on the front of my head,” recalled Andrew, a senior at Avon High School.
The pain came then, nearly as fast as Andrew’s realization that he’d just suffered another concussion - his sixth in four years.
“That was it,” Andrew recalled. “Within 15 seconds, I burst out in tears. I knew my career was over.”
Andrew remembers that day as the worst of his life. Up to that point, wrestling was the center of his world, the point around which everything else revolved. It was what his dad and big brother did, what occupied his waking thoughts, what he devoted his time to.
Apart from taking away his ability to compete in the sport he loved, Andrew’s injuries also forced him to take a hard look at what defined him and who he wanted to be. He had no way of knowing that, when his door to a future in wrestling closed that day back in the winter of 2022, a window would open at the same time, one that would lead to a path he intends to walk the rest of his life.
Wrestling roots
Before his career was derailed by injury, Andrew had made a mark for himself in the wrestling world. He grew up in a wrestling home and, as a young child, it’s just what he did.
“Before Avon, I went to the Gilead School in Perry and a lot of people in our school were wrestlers and we were a super athletic team, super tough,” he said. “Of the 10 kids we’d bring to a tournament, eight would take first and the other two would take second and third. We were just winning everything in youth and we grew up like that, like a family. It was so tight and we all just got better at it every single day.”
As a seventh grader, he took second place at 106 lbs in the 2019 Section V Class B Championships. The following year, Andrew’s last season to go uninterrupted by injury, he again took second at sectionals at 120 lbs.
Avon Athletic Director Andy Englert, Andrew’s coach at Avon, recalled his former wrestler as measured and highly technical, a competitor who was tough on top and not averse to slowing things down, controlling the chaos and turning a match into a positional battle.
“He was good with tilts and movement and good on his feet - really quick,” said Englert. “A lot of times you’ve got wrestlers looking to get pins and stuff like that but a lot of Andrew’s stuff, he was looking to get the back points and get a lead and then taking care of business when the opportunity came up. He was really able to strike a nice balance between patience and aggressiveness on the mat.”
While Andrew competed for Avon during his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, he couldn’t seem to steer clear of concussions.
He suffered one during a dual meet against Perry during his freshman year, another while training the summer between his freshman and sophomore years, another a couple months later during an off-season tournament and another in the fall of his sophomore year when he bashed his head against a stationary bike while attempting a double leg takedown.
“That one his freshman year at Perry - he won the match really quickly, there was nothing big in the match, took a little hit and next thing we knew he had a concussion,” recalled Englert. “It wasn't a big hit, but he ended up missing a majority of the season on that one.”
Andrew took a year off of wrestling during his sophomore and junior years to get healthy and set himself up for success in the back half of his high school career.
“People don't quite understand how difficult that was to get through that journey,” Andrew said. “Not just physically having constant headaches and dizziness and nausea and not sleeping well and your body temperature can’t be regulated and all these crazy things, but the mood issues, just all these things.”
Going into his junior season, Andrew was feeling good and got off to a strong start.
“I was wrestling well, I was 7-0, 8-0 at the time, pinning everyone in 15, 20 seconds - it was crazy,” he said. “But then, right before Christmas that year, was when I hurt myself training with my brother. That changed everything.”
Closed doors
For weeks after his career-ending concussion, Andrew was directionless. One particularly hopeless night as he was crying in bed, doubting himself, doubting his future, doubting even his faith, Andrew called out and asked God for help.
“I said ‘God, show me that you're here for me, show me that I’m not a failure in life,’” he recalled.
At that moment, a voice rang in his ears, telling Andrew to turn his Bible to chapter 29 of the Book of Jeremiah, named for the Old Testament prophet whose life was marked by obstacles, opposition and personal hardship.
“So I get my Bible off the ledge and I go to Jeremiah and the first couple verses were like ‘OK, I’m not getting spoken to,’’ said Andrew, “but I get to Jeremiah 29:11 and I’m like ‘My mind is blown. I’m done.’ It was crazy.”
Andrew took the verse - “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” - as a sign that God had not forsaken him when He took wrestling away.
“When that happened, I felt like God was shutting a door and he was like putting something bad in my life,” he said. “But that’s never true. It’s actually the opposite.”
Open windows
Determined to find something to pour his energy into, something he could use to make a positive impact on the world, Andrew again relied on his faith.
“I was praying and praying and praying to God and He showed me a clothing brand,” Andrew recalled. “He said ‘You’re going to start this brand and you're going to portray your thoughts on t-shirts so everybody can see your story.’ I really feel the clothing industry - He led me to that.”
As soon as he decided to make the clothing brand a reality, Andrew started spreading the word.
“After I got my sixth concussion, I told basically everybody in school that I was starting a clothing brand and in the beginning, people laughed at me. They were like ‘OK, this is never going to work out, what is this, this is crazy,’” he recalled. “I kind of get it. If I was in their shoes, I’d probably do the same thing. A 16-year-old starting a clothing brand? This is kind of crazy, but I was like ‘You know what? You never know what God can bring you to.’”
Far from dissuaded, Andrew got down to work, bringing his boundless energy and relentless positivity to bear on his burgeoning business.
Chris Cole, an Avon teacher who’s taught Andrew in physical education and health classes, has seen those traits firsthand.
“He’s always the first person to greet you with a smile and say ‘Hi’ every day,” said Cole. “I feel like, since COVID, that’s a kind of lost art and he is consistent. Doesn't matter what kind of day he’s having, he’ll always say hi to you, always come up and give you a handshake or whatever.”
Even in the aftermath of his injury, Cole said Andrew’s positivity and natural inclination to kindness shined through in school.
“I remember last semester one time Andrew came into class and I saw this kid playing by himself and I was like ‘Andrew, you should go play with that kid,’ he goes ‘I got you’ and he went over there, spent the entire class period with this kid and made his day,” Cole recalled. “And he was totally genuine about it too. He just did it because I asked and because it would be a nice thing to do. He didn’t need another reason or need any convincing and I think that speaks to the kind of person he is.”
For Andrew, the months following his decision to launch his clothing brand was a crash course in entrepreneurship. There were vendors to secure, products to test, websites and social media accounts to create, legal documents to draw up and sign. At every turn was a seemingly endless parade of decisions - some big, some small - that would determine whether the brand was a success or a flop.
“It took me about nine, 10 months until I could launch and start accepting orders on my site,” Andrew said. “And that 10 months was super tough. Looking back, it’s kind of incredible the brand is where it is today.”
Andrew counts himself especially lucky he could turn to his father, Eric, president of Addison Precision Manufacturing in Rochester, for business advice.
“I thank him for that guidance every day. Without my family, I truly wouldn't be here. I would be nothing,” he said. “My mom helps me with shipping and packaging, my brother’s always there for me, always helping me, ‘Hey, if you need me to pick up something, I’ll do that.’ My sister, she’s always marketing to the middle schoolers, she wears my products everywhere and has gotten me a ton of sales. I truly thank God for my family every single day.”
For his brand name, Andrew turned to the precepts he’d strived to adhere to when he was competing in wrestling.
“It’s ARCE1, which stands for attack, recover, compete and eat and the ‘1’ is strive to be number 1, try to be number 1, push to be number 1,” he explained. “The ‘1’ represents what you should think of yourself. Not that you're better than everybody else, but just to have that confidence and push to be the best you can be.”
Finally, in September 2023, Andrew fulfilled his first orders, delivering 15 hoodies, five t-shirts and three tank tops and collecting revenues of about $1,500.
He hasn’t looked back since. Since that first order, Andrew estimates he’s sold about 350 items for somewhere around $15,000 in total revenue.
He’s constantly tweaking his product line by introducing new items, removing old ones, creating new slogans and offering limited edition, 1-of-1 product runs.
“In the beginning, starting out, obviously you have zero knowledge about anything but now, I feel like I’ve got everything down to a science,” he said. “I’ve put so much effort into this and to be able to fulfill those first orders and with every sale I’ve made since, it’s just been super exciting.”
Looking ahead
While things are going well with ARCE1, the clothing brand doesn’t mark the limits of Andrew’s aspirations. Far from it.
He wants to start a software company focused on developing software to help lay people develop software. He wants to learn more about Chrome extensions -”It’s absurd how much money you can make with that,” he said - and is interested in creating and selling digital courses which offer substantial profit margins.
“You make it once and then keep selling it over and over and over and over,” Andrew explained. “Think about it: If you sell a $10 course to 100,000 people, you've made $1 million. How many kids spend $10 every single day at McDonalds? There’s definitely a market there”
Just 18 years old, Andrew’s planning to begin a 2+2 program in computer information systems at Monroe Community College this fall before transferring to Rochester Institute of Technology in a couple of years to finish his degree.
“I want to start more companies but right now, that's where my mind is,” he said. “Keep building the brand, keep making connections, keep learning every single day, keep learning software, coding, fixing things.”
Blessed as he is with enthusiasm, dedication and strong ideas about what he wants his life to look like, Andrew still occasionally finds himself missing wrestling.
“Losing the sport - it made me mentally crazy, almost. Watching seasons play out, watching kids that I've completely dominated win this, win that, it really gets to you. It’s almost like a death, like losing a family member,” he said. “But it’s also way more than just not being able to compete. The community, the friends, the people, the coaches, it was super tough to lose all that… I don’t wish something like that on anybody.”
Every once in a while, Andrew finds himself wondering where wrestling could have taken him. What he could have achieved. And he’s not the only one.
“He’d be one of the top kids in the area, in the section at his weight class,” said Englert, Andrew’s former coach. “Definitely a sectional champion, possibly a state champion or a contender for a state title. He was that caliber. Definitely had the ability to be able to achieve that.”
And even though a return to wrestling isn’t on Andew’s horizon, Cole, his physical education teacher, is confident Andrew will find success - regardless of what he does.
“With Andrew, it just seems like he’s 24/7, going every second,” said Cole. “I’ve stumbled onto some of his ARCE1 social media posts and he’ll be vlogging and be like ‘OK, it’s 12 at night, time for 100 pushups.’ He’s just so driven, which is pretty cool. You don’t run into too many kids like that.”
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
Andrew C. is pictured following a win during his junior wrestling season. He’s pictured wearing the protective facemask he started using after suffering multiple concussions in an attempt to stave off further head injuries.
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
Andrew C. is pictured on the podium in 2020 after taking second place at 120 lbs in the Section V Class B3 Championships as an eighth grader.
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
Andrew C. is pictured above in the top position during a dual meet when he attended and competed for the Gilead School of Discipleship in Perry.
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
Andrew C., right, is pictured with his brother, Ryan, left, and father, Eric, center, shortly after the 2019 Section V Class B Championships.
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
Andrew C., left, and Avon Physical Education Teacher Chris Cole pose for a photo earlier this year, both decked out in ARCE1 apparel.
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
Andrew C. is pictured preparing a batch of ARCE1 orders in his bedroom.
Photo courtesy of Andrew C.
The ARCE1 Fitness Co. logo.