My Wrestling Experience

Growing up in a large family and a busy lifestyle as an athlete has shaped me into who I have become today. My life has been about being the best student, athlete, teammate, brother, son, employee and husband I can possibly be. Being involved in various sports with several different teams, going away to school, getting married have all been big parts of life for me some newer than others but all big in their own way. My life has always been about fighting through adversity to achieve a common goal at no matter what the cost getting to the finish line is something that must be achieved no matter the circumstances. Growing up I was always taught to work hard to achieve your goals no matter what it takes quitting is not an option. If you get yourself in to something and commit it’s up to you to finish what you started. Growing up in a big household with four brothers and sisters there was never a dull moment as something was always happening. It was enjoyable to grow up with so many personalities in my house it taught me how to deal with different issues that others face each day, and to always take others into consideration when making decisions. Being the second youngest in the family I saw my older siblings move out and took it upon myself to be the role-model for my youngest sister and show her that if you make smart and rational decisions good things come from doing so.

I started wrestling in sixth grade. Even though I didn’t win one of my first seven matches, I developed into a successful wrestler. In high school I won tournaments and beat high-quality wrestlers. During my junior year I was determined to become a great wrestler. I worked harder than ever and didn’t let anyone stop me. That year I lost the Illinois state wrestling tournament championship match by one point. Over the next six months between my junior and senior season I was runner up at AAU national tournament and wrestled at Disney Land in Florida at the Disney Duals with over 50 other teams and only lost 1 of 8 matches. These are a few of my achievements in high school. Now that I am in college there are many

When I was 9 years old, I started this thing called competitive or all-star cheerleading. My goal at the time was to make it on a level 5 team and compete at the World Championship. Within my first 5 seasons I had a lot of trouble with my tumbling, which prevented me from moving past level 4. Before my sixth season I switched cheer gyms. My parents believed in my goals so much that they drove me an hour and half to and from practice two to three times a week. Within my first year at Tribe which was my new gym, my tumbling issues never got resolved. That left me on a level 3 team where I never believed I was good enough. The next year I was again put on a level 3 team. Now in my eighth season I was put on a level 3 team yet again. I wanted to quit, but my coach showed me that tumbling did not define me and allowed me to fall in love with the sport all over again.

If you aren’t humble in wrestling then you will get cocky and mess up during a match, because you will think that you are better than everyone else in your weight class. This lesson taught me to not be a sore loser or a sore winner, but to be grateful to have the opportunity to go out and do what I love; this will help because later in life if I don’t get a job, I won't go home and cry myself to sleep, I will get back up and start again and again.

Wrestlers know what hard work in practice is. Because of wrestling, I have now been able to outperform many of my friends who were in better shape than me before. I think i have accomplished my sports career and have reached past my point of boundaries. Anyone can become a wrestling, that’s if you have the willingness to always complete and never fall and quit. It's like this; You can never complete a move if you don't finish.

Because my sophomore year of wrestling was over too i decided to do a lot of offseason wrestling. I really was able to fall in love with the sport and continue to get better and better. At the beginning of my junior year i was super

My time on the mat was not always that of heart break. Going through elementary I never had a losing season, let alone a season where I lost more than five matches. In fifth and sixth grade I took place in NYWA and Gopher State. Gopher State is a tournament for the top wrestlers in Minnesota and all the states surrounding it. That was some of the hardest wrestling I have ever encountered. I placed in the top six at NYWA and not placing at Gopher state unfortunately. The summer before my junior year I went to multiple wrestling camps costing thousands of dollars and lasting weeks in time. And when it came time to vote for captains I just knew I was going to get it. The night before the coach told us who was going to be awarded captain

Wrestling has been something that has gone through our family for a long time except for me. I have been that one kid who has stopped wrestling from an injury and I will not go back to it for some reason. I get out of Jr. High and head to high school and I want a sport to do during the winter to stay in shape for football. Wrestling or basketball were my choices, I had heard that the basketball coaches split up the teams so wrong and they don’t do very hard work. Wrestling is a hard sport where you got to watch your weight and the coaches will make sure you do your best, So I went with the best choice, Wrestling.

Much of my life has been influenced by the sport of wresting. My father is the head wrestling coach of the high school I attend; my whole life I have watched the sport, and spent time with his past teams. In the fifth grade I told my father that I no longer wanted to continue wrestling; we made a deal that when I reached high school I would join the team and if I still felt that wrestling was not a sport I wanted to pursue, I could quit again and end my career. When I entered high school, my brother had already been attending the same school and wrestling for my dad on the school team, so adapting to high school and high school sports was more simple for me than other students. The winter of my freshman year I was, as I had promised my father, out for the wrestling team.

Wrestling has impact my life in so many ways. From the coaches, teammates, family and friends supporting me all the way. I have learned many life values from wrestling. Wrestling is a very challenging sport it is extremely physical as well as mentally challenging. I feel wrestling has prepared me for the rest of my life because all that comes with wrestling can be applied to life.

Admittedly I’m not the best wrestler, but my hard work ethic and determination is what makes me exceptional. At the 2015 regionals I lost my first match of the tournament which really brought my spirits down quite a lot. Going into my second match I knew if I lost my season would be done, and sectionals would be out of question for me. I ran out onto the mat, my heart is pounding through my chest. I didn’t want to let my parents and coaches down again. The match started and instinctively I grabbed my opponent’s leg and pinned him in 23 seconds. Winning this match put me into the finals for third place. When I ran onto the match for the finals match my heart dropped when I saw the guy who beat me come out to wrestle me. This meant I had to wrestle the guy that beat me to get into sectionals. The match started and he took me down, so I

The first time competing against him was in the finals of the team regional qualifiers for the state tournament, and I had lost in three minutes and thirty seconds. The second time I faced him was for the team state invitational championship. When the match began I could feel the pressure and had one of the worst wrestling matches ever. After I lost that match in forty seconds, I knew I had let my teammates and coaches down. When this humiliating defeat was over, I told myself that I would not let my teammates or coaches down ever again and that I would reach my full potential as a wrestler. The week leading up to the third match I communicated with my coaches about what

I began wrestling since my freshman year of high school, as I have always wanted to wrestle. I did not necessarily at the sport, but I enjoyed it. I earned medals and won tournaments, and for a time I even saw myself wrestling in college. I thought that I had my future planned until I dislocated my knee. I first viewed the incident as a freak accident, but it soon happened frequently. It reached to the point where I required invasive surgery. Mulling over my surgery and repeated injuries, I concluded that wrestling became too dangerous. But I committed myself to wrestling; I had no idea what else to do. Desperate to find an activity to fill the void that athletics left behind, I decided to try something outside of my comfort zone. As a result,

The Truth about wrestling is that it's tougher than it looks for sure. I’ve been doing to for about three years now and well it's been the best thing to happen to me. When you're a freshman in high school coming out of a failed football season. And your friends talking you into doing wrestling. Well I was hooked by the awesome time and funny atmosphere back in freshman the team was fun and the seniors were even better. Out of the three captains Jamie, Mike, Brody. Jamie and Brody were the best and they knew just about every move their was. I will always look back to my freshman year in wrestling because there hasn't been a year like it since. Though it was tough always going out there and wrestling a senior or Junior, I never really care about

With the removal of wrestling from the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also taking away many dreams for young wrestlers all over the world. Wrestling is a very mentally and physically challenging sport. “More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill, none have wrestled without pride”(Dan Gable).To become successful at it, one must practice regularly and put in a large amount of work. In the United States alone there are over 260,000 wrestlers who have put in this work and dedication. Yet, this is only a small portion of the wrestlers in the world. With this being a small example of the world, it is hard to not think of the multitudes of young Olympic hopefuls whose dreams are being crushed with the removal of wrestling from the Olympics.