Photo by Loyd McIntosh.
Davis Reiff, a 2023 graduate and former wrestling state champion at Vestavia Hills High School; Christiana Belcher, a senior at Vestavia Hills High and current member of the Rebels wrestling team; and her older brother, Michael, a 2022 graduate and former wrestling state champion at Vestavia Hills High. Reiff and Michael Belcher are cadets at the United State Military Academy at West Point in New York.
For the third consecutive year, a member of the Vestavia Hills High School wrestling team has been accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Michael Belcher, a 2022 Vestavia graduate and sophomore at West Point, and Davis Reiff, a 2023 Vestavia graduate and West Point freshman, will be joined by Michael’s sister, Christiana, following her high school graduation in the spring of 2024.
The trio of cadets credit their experience competing on the Rebels wrestling team under coach Tee Adams for preparing them for the challenges of life in the military academy.
Each of them gravitated to wrestling for different reasons. For instance, Reiff turned to wrestling after experiencing some bullying at a young age.
“I was a real tiny kid and got bullied in elementary school. I wanted to beat up the bullies, so my dad told me to get into wrestling,” he said.
Reiff was a standout on the Rebels wrestling program and in tournaments around the country, ranking fourth in the state at 126 pounds during his senior year. He said wrestling instilled a sense of discipline and work ethic that has served him well during his freshman year at West Point.
“I’d say the hardest aspect is not necessarily the physical stuff. It was the mental aspect, because like you’ve got to want to do the sport and show up at 5 a.m.,” he said. “It’s at least 100 degrees because the heat is on, and you’re putting sweatshirts and sweatpants on to either make weight or to build up your conditioning, so I think it helped my mental aspect because we’re doing hard stuff at the academy.”
Michael Belcher said he was more academically focused during his time at Vestavia Hills High School but was also a key part of the Rebels wrestling team.
“I just wanted to do something physical that would challenge me, and wrestling was one of the best ways to do it,” he said. “Vestavia has a really good wrestling program.”
Christiana Belcher is a multi-sport athlete and a trailblazer of sorts, as one of four members of the newly formed Vestavia Hills High School girls wrestling team. She finished third in the Alabama competition as a junior and has her eye on a state title in the 2023-24 season.
“Both of my brothers wrestled, and Coach Adams approached me and said, ‘You have an opportunity to do something great in this program,” she said. “I fell in love with wrestling because it is so physically and mentally demanding. It’s tough and it pushes you every single day.”
While wrestling is the common denominator for this trio, they all chose to attend West Point for different reasons and are now exploring new sports. Reiff is training to represent West Point as an amateur boxer, while Michael Belcher is currently on the academy’s powerlifting team and Christiana Belcher has expressed interest in playing rugby.
Christiana first experienced West Point through a summer program, where she immediately knew the academy was calling her name.
“At West Point, I just fell in love with the atmosphere. Everybody really cared about the academy and wanted to be there and cared about the country,” she said. “Being able to serve while being able to better my leadership skills, there’s no greater honor than being able to do that.”
Reiff said he believes West Point offered a different, more meaningful path than a typical college experience. With eight years of mandatory military service required after graduation, he welcomes the responsibilities that can be literally a matter of life and death.
“I wanted to make this world a better place, and I wanted to serve this country,” he said. “You’re going to have a real impact on at least 40 people’s lives because you’re going to be leading them into battle one day.”
Like Reiff, Michael Belcher chose to attend West Point to serve his country and become a leader.
“I wanted something that would set me up and then, on top of that, you get the added bonus of giving back to the country,” he said. “Also, I want to be a leader in the future, whether that’s for the soldiers in my platoon or a company in the future, and this is the premier leadership institute in the world.”
