Personal Narrative: The Wyoming Wrestling Match

There I was with 2 wins and on my way to the semi-finals. Only 2 of my teammates had made it that far. My first opponent the next day would be Bryce. As our team left the Pepsi Center and started heading for our hotel, there were some people disappointed and some proud of how we had wrestled. We got to our hotel and got settled in with

It all began in the Lone Star State where my wrestling team and I were confronted with one of our greatest challenges and duly mine, but I’ll get to that soon enough. We entered into one of the most prestigious tournaments that Texas has to offer. It was the first time my team,the Brother Martin Crusaders, had returned to the Lone Star Duals in nearly a decade, and damn were we due for a warm welcome. We competed well and practically breezed through the tournament, while watching our soon to be opponents struggle to make the finals.. Little did we know that was their scheme all along. This team that “struggled” throughout the tournament was not any average ole team.

One of my biggest mistakes was quitting wrestling to play only football. That previous year, I won The Little Devil’s Wrestling Championship. I also was playing my 4th year of football for The Little Knights. I quit because as a 3rd grader, I wasn’t committed to daily practices for both sports. I 100 percent enjoyed football more. Therefore, at the time, I chose football over wrestling.

Competing on my wrestling club’s team at the annual National Dual Team Wrestling Tournament in 2015 was a very successful tournament for myself and also for North Carolina Wrestling history. The team and I put in very hard work over the summer, training and persevering towards our goal of placing top 10 at Dual Team Nationals. The results that were achieved this tournament we’re tremendous, we placed the highest any North Carolina club wrestling team has ever placed at Dual Team Nationals. It was a learning experience first hand for each us of how the tough obstacles we have to face to achieve success, are not so difficult after we train and work hard to achieve success.

I arrived at practice with my shoes laced, hair pulled back, and the mindset that I was unstoppable. I could play against every member of my team and come out the victor on any given day. It was the first day of practice that week, and challenge matches were scheduled to begin. The team went through our daily shuffle of drills, conditioning, and running to prepare for what was lying ahead. While warming up with my friends, I felt great, talking about homecoming, boys, and a variety of irrelevant events. I felt ready. The odds were in my favor and nobody could stop me.

The sun was shining brightly and the snow was melting outside on a beautiful March afternoon. Inside the Marian High School Wrestling room was an entirely different picture. Inside the room there was an intense off-season workout going on. Afterwards, the wrestlers and coaches all sat down, dripping in sweat, and began joking about the wrestlers who chose not to show up to the off-season workouts. My teammates, coaches, and I began making a list of the laziest wrestlers on our team. Jokingly, I asked my coach, “Where am I on that list?” he looked at me with a straight face and said, “Trust me Justin; you are nowhere close to being on that list.”

My first varsity college wrestling match was short but a success. Prior to the match we had to drive five hours to Olivet Michigan to wrestle in the tournament we were competing in. We left after class on Friday around 3:30, so we can get to the hotel and have time to relax. I was super enthusiastic all the way there. It was my first match on varsity in college! I knew I had to get the win to start off my college career.

Have you ever thought “There’s no way I can do this”, but managed to be able to succeed and reach your goal? I am going to tell you the story of the hardships I endured at my first wrestling camp. Last summer, in late July, I attended a wrestling camp called “Camp of Champions” in the high foothills of Sonora. The camp was labeled an intensive camp, and that’s exactly what it was. The camp consisted of four practices a day- each lasting about two and a half hours.

In a shootout of the TIER I National Championship game, I was called upon as the final shooter. If I score, we win. If I miss, we lose the National Championship. With sweat beating down as I watch the goalie prepare for my shot I think to myself, what move will I make? With that last thought, the referee blows the whistle and I am off. I picked up the puck and gaining speed. As I proceed down the right side boards, I pick my head up to see where the goalie is positioned. He was giving me the whole right side of the net. This next split second decision has changed my life forever. Instead of doing my “go-to” move, I decided to take a wrist shot. The shot rockets towards the top right hand corner of the net. Split seconds later, I hear a loud “ring” that emerges from the crossbar. The puck had ricocheted off the post and into the corner. I had missed.

On that day, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach aching for what was about to happen in the next six minutes. This was going to be the biggest wrestling match of my career, and as the referee blew his whistle I knew that this was the start of reality. Within the first two periods, my points were starting to rack up, which put me in the lead until my opponent started to come up with some of her own points. The referee yelled out, “15 seconds left!”, and I was up by one point. As soon as I thought it was over, the girl had got two points off of a takedown, and in that moment, I knew this was the end of a dream to become a 2017 State Champion.

I walk into the Humid, Uncomfortable gymnasium for the first day of the most stressful thing anyone has to go through tryouts, Basketball tryouts. It was a dreadful three days being the smallest guy on the court and hoping to get a spot, but the only thing i could do was my best. But things didn't go as planned and that is sometimes a good thing, It's the third day of tryouts and the last as we are waiting to see if we made or not i hear my name and a few others get called into the coach's office my heart drops and my palms start to sweat and I walk in and he says with a soft voice “ you guys have potential and are good but didn't quite make the cut” and I was upset but who knew it was for the better. That night wrestling was already the word being tossed around in my house and it was definitely on

My Sectionals record was 4:2 I could go in depth with each and every match but I’ll only talk about the most important match, the consolation semifinals match. The reason why this match is so important is that only top four placers at sectionals get to go to Districts and the winner of this match gets to compete for 3rd and 4th, so no matter what I would get to go to Districts. So now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the details of the match. The match was a guy from Lebanon he wasn’t the best wrestler but wasn’t a pushover the by any means. The first period went well in my favor I was able to get a takedown and 3 back points, he was saved by the buzzer. Round 2 score was 5:0 me, this time, he got a reversal and a takedown, I was only able to get an escape, making the new score 6:4. In the final round I got a reversal and then he did too, then he unexpectedly turned me to my back making the score 8:8 with 30 seconds left in the match, and here at a last ditch effort I pulled out a move called “Whatever the hell it takes!!” and somehow I arched my back like the girl from the exorcist, I flipped the guy over and pinned the guy with 7 seconds to go, this meant I was going to

Toward the end of the season his Freshman year, my son came home to inform his father and I that he was going to join the wrestling team at South because the football coach wanted them to stay in shape. It would start directly after football season ended. I was in shock. What did my son know about wrestling? And with his size, was he going to be any good at it? His Freshman year was his learning year. He started out on JV, but with the Varsity heavyweight getting injured, he was quickly thrown into the Varsity position. He was able to letter his Freshman year and he had become a pretty good wrestler. With each year, my son became a very good wrestler. He suffered a significate set back his Junior year. At the first match of the season, during warm ups, he twisted his knee and another wrestler fell on it. It tore his meniscus and he had to have surgery. Even with the injury, he was able to finish out the season with a good record of wins and his second year to qualify for state. His senior year was his best and most memorable season. He had only 2 losses, and they were questionable losses. He had brought home 1st place medals in every individual tournament except one and he received 2nd in that tournament. He had once again qualified for state by taking 1st at

What I choose to put for my home topic/picture was a picture of a wrestling mat. I put this because since I started wrestling I knew I would love it, also because this takes up some of each day of the week. Another reason is because that it's extremely physically and mentally demanding. When you step on that mat dozens of emotions are rapidly going through your body: Nausea, Excitement, Worry, Fear, Strength, Regret, Fear, Adrenaline. Some people think that wrestling is just an individual sport, but it builds camaraderie like no other. Whenever you need help with something or falling behind, someone is right there next to you to pick you up. In wrestling whenever you get a collar tie or do a move I usually get an immense scent that smells like

The cold air rushes around my upward thrust hand, down my still quivering and drenched arm, and into my crimson-colored face. The sea of red before me cheers and hollers at the victory I barely managed to wring out of my equally exhausted competition. The referee releases my hand and it clunks back into its place by my heaving side. Fiddling with my disheveled singlet, I stumble over to the judges table and snatch up the small piece of paper that solidifies my place in the next round of the Holy Angels Wrestling Tournament.