Wrestling has been part of the Hoose family for years. From left are brothers Dontae, Neves and Tavio in their formative years in the sport. Submitted photo

The only way to move forward is focusing on what’s controllable.

My response is a choice.

Consistency is a choice.

Outworking everyone is a choice.

Continuing to believe is a choice.

Five hundred student-athletes are going to compete for New York State Public High School Athletic Association wrestling championships beginning today at MVP Arena in Albany.

Two of them are going to be Southwestern’s Dontae Hoose and his younger brother, Tavio.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find any teenagers with more family support in the state capital this weekend.

By Saturday, Joe and Johneen Hoose, Tavio and Dontae’s parents, as well as Lelly and Gianna Hoose, their sisters, and their four brothers: Tanner, Mason, Giuseppe and Neves, will be cheering on their siblings from somewhere inside the home to New York state wrestling for the past couple of decades.

The Hooses will likely be close to the mats.

And they’ll likely be loud.

Long-distance support is nothing new to the Hoose family of eight.

It’s something the family was built upon.

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Joe Hoose is a graduate of North Babylon High School, a “Section XI guy” as former Southwestern head coach Mark Hetrick puts it, who was a successful wrestler in high school with a best finish of third at his sectional championships during his senior year.

Johneen is a local product, a Southwestern Central School graduate herself, who attended SUNY Geneseo after high school and is now a reading teacher at her alma mater.

Joe attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy and studied to become a consulting engineer while playing football for the Engineers.

The two met on spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while Johneen was a freshman and Joe was a sophomore, dated long distance, and were married six years later.

They began their family on Long Island, where Joe grew up, and had their first child – Tanner – there before relocating to Western New York shortly after he was born.

Next came Mason, then Gabriella “Lelly”, Giuseppe and Gianna. Dontae, Neves and Tavio rounded out the family.

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With such a large family, the kids began to take up many youth sports – but wrestling was what the boys became known for.

Tanner, a 2014 Southwestern graduate, took second at sectionals his senior year and was the sixth wild card to the state tournament. The first four wild cards earned spots in the bracket, and then the fifth wild card was selected when another competitor had to drop out, but Tanner missed out by one spot.

Mason qualified for the state tournament as a sophomore at Southwestern. He took fifth place amongst public school athletes in Albany that year. He then transferred to Canisius High School in Buffalo to play football and intended to wrestle for the Crusaders for two years, but an injury his junior year put that on hold.

“Mason had double-shoulder surgery and didn’t know if he’d ever wrestle again,” Joe said Wednesday evening. “Then, on the final play of football his senior year, he was ruled out with a concussion.”

He returned in time for the end of wrestling season his senior year and won a 220-pound Catholic state championship. At the overall state tournament, Mason took fifth once again.

“He had maybe seven weeks to get ready to wrestle after 18 months,” Joe added, “and made a run at states.”

Giuseppe is the highest-placing Hoose brother at the state tournament – for now – with his third-place showing at the 2018 event.

“He was the favorite his junior and sophomore years, but was injury-riddled,” Joe said. “He had a separated shoulder, then a deep quad contusion his junior year. He tried to recover, but couldn’t get it back together.”

Giuseppe set the Southwestern school record for wins (178) and earned the prestigious Ilio DiPaolo Award. He then wrestled at Hofstra University before transferring to the University at Buffalo, where he currently wrestles.

Lelly and Gianna are successful student-athletes themselves, predominantly in track and field. Lelly, a 2015 Southwestern graduate, took her talents to SUNY Brockport while Gianna, who placed sixth in the discus as a junior at the 2019 state championships, currently throws for Binghamton University.

“The sisters are pretty tough as well,” Johneen said Wednesday. “The boys are tough, but the sisters are even tougher.”

During the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, all eight siblings were back from college at the Hooses’ Lakewood home. The garage was turned into a weight room, and it was common for the kids to wrestle in the living room, the backyard and even in the hallways.

“I patched a hole during COVID and you could see on one side of the hallway was a hip and an upper shoulder,” Johneen said. “On the facing wall was a knee and another upper shoulder.”

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Now the final three Hoose boys are in the spotlight.

Dontae, a senior, took sixth at 195 pounds at the 2020 state tournament as a sophomore before COVID-19 wiped out the state championships last spring. He is currently 38-1 on the season and the No. 2 seed in Division II at 215 pounds this weekend. He has a bye into the second round where he will face the winner of Section VIII Locust Valley’s Sean Roberts and Section VII Northern Adirondack Adirondack’s Trey McGee.

“My family is really big into wrestling. It’s very important to us,” Dontae said following his win at the state qualifier. ” … We go the extra hours, we put in the extra work. We are all really supportive of each other and want to see each other succeed.”

Neves, a sophomore, placed third at the Section VI state qualifier, just missing out on advancing to the state tournament at 160 pounds.

Tavio, the last of the Hoose offspring and just an eighth-grader, beat Randolph’s Luke Pagett in the 172-pound final during the state qualifier at Jamestown Community College and earned a No. 3 seed this weekend.

“That’s what I’ve been going for all season,” Tavio said after practice Tuesday in Randolph. “I still can’t believe I’m going to be down there on the mat where everybody else was, walking around in the Section VI uniform.”

He will also have a bye into the second round where he will face the winner of Section IV Sidney’s Trevor Harrington and Section IX Onteora’s Wyatt Konjas.

“The youngest usually comes through, learns the mistakes and the older brothers help you,” Hetrick said of Tavio. “Usually the youngest is the best, and I have a feeling that’s what’s going to happen here.”

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None of the Hooses will go at it alone.

Southwestern coaches John Vogan and Dylan Lundmark; Hetrick, now the coach at Maple Grove, who will be in senior Luke Tomlinson’s corner this weekend; the Section VI fanbase; and two very invested parents and six siblings will be backing Dontae and Tavio physically, mentally and, most importantly, emotionally this weekend.

Joe drove out with Dontae and Tavio while Johneen was traveling with Tanner and Neves before picking up Mason on Thursday. Gianna also planned to drive up Interstate 81 from college Thursday. Giuseppe has practice at UB today and will make the trip following that while Lelly has to work, but plans to make it by Saturday.

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The passage at the start of the story was sent to the family group chat by one of the Hoose boys after a disappointing loss earlier this season.

He added: “It is painful for me to send this message right now, but this is the process for greatness and you will all bear witness.”

One sibling replied: “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

Another added: “I love you.”

Still another included a passage from a book: “You see, everyone says they want to be great, but very few are willing to pay the price.”

That doesn’t apply to the Hooses. As they have shown, they are all willing to pay the price.