Short Story

When I have my workout gear on, I am no longer Adam the senior from HHS. I am between two worlds. The doorway to the wrestling room is the passage to one of these worlds: the world of wrestling.

Dan Gable is titled by many as the most legendary amateur American wrestler and coach in the history of amateur American wrestling. To put into retrospect of Dan’s popularity in the wresting world, Gable is the Michael Jordan of Basketball, the Pele of Soccer, and the Muhammad Ali of boxing, everyone has heard of Dan Gable. That is how legendary Dan Gable is. But what single attribute made Mr. Gable so special and unique? To pinpoint one certain accolade that made Gable a legend is almost too hard. Dan Gable had an almost normal life growing up as a boy; he began his fame by his wrestling accolades as an athlete at Iowa State University

I also thought this story had good imagery. When Duke tried out for the wrestling team he was still described as small for his age but it says that “in his sophomore year he started on the junior varsity, and between his sophomore and junior season he suddenly blossomed into a powerhouse” and says “ each time Duke worked out, new muscles seemed to sprout on his

Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Wentworth, North Carolina, John Brown a freshman at Rockingham Community College is a panther in disguise lying in wait for his next opponent. Brown, who comes from a long line of wrestlers, is far more powerful than most observers would expect from his wiry frame. Although he weighs only 145 pounds, Brown can bench press 200 pounds making him formidable on the mat. Since he began competing in the sport at a local recreation center while in middle school, Brown has won several awards, often pinning opponents within the first ten seconds of a match. Extremely intelligent, Brown does not let his love for wrestling interfere with his ability to maintain

Rulon grew up in Star Valley, Wyoming on his parent’s dairy farm. At a young age he was diagnosed with learning disabilities that many adults thought would define the rest of his life. Little did they know, Rulon had a different plan for his life. Rulon applied the same work ethic that he did working on his family’s farm to studying for school. It took him a lot longer to learn the material, but he knew that to get where he wanted to be in life he had to go to college one day. His hard work paid off in both wrestling and schooling when he was able to make it into college. He first went to a community college and then, after

Wrestling. It’s Abe’s passion. Everything he does, in some form, will resort to wrestling. If he happened to get into an argument with his friend, best believe he’d take it out on whichever unfortunate kid has to wrestle him in practice the next day. If he couldn’t understand his math homework, he thinks of wrestling such as when he figured out the angles of a triangle, ‘If I tackle this kid at a blah blah blah angle, he’ll collapse and I’ll get four points’, he had actually figured out math in a way he would definitely remember. Abe grinds every day, long practices, sore arms, and having to wash his uniform twice to get all of the sweat out. Nevertheless, his hard work is what got him to GRECO State.

sometimes, if I see an especially sensitive-looking fighter, I’ll bet against him ‘cus I can’t stand the idea of missing the chance to spot a crier before he’s cried. I don’t know how much sense that makes, by when I explained my reasoning to Ed, he said that it was ten-times better to bet with your heart and lose, than to bet with your mind and win. Even though Ed pretends to be this grumpy, grisly guy, sometimes he can be cheesy like that.

“We got to get him tested?” She smiled. “Is your blood still itching for Reno to scratch it?”

Wrestling requires two things: those who fear and those who are fearless. Two men face off in a glorified street fight to determine whose hand will be raised and who will receive the pitiful remark-- “good match kid”. As the fearless stare down their opponent from across the mat, the fearful stare down their shoes feeling the icy, petrifying stare of a man who wishes nothing more than to embarrass his opponent in front of everyone he loves plus one hundred others filling the bleachers. From my seven years of wrestling, I am not ashamed to say that I have been in both of these situations. From the sixth grade to senior year, my wrestling experience evolved me into who I am today, and I stand proud of who I am and what I have accomplished.

The film The Wrestler takes advantage of society’s deep-rooted beliefs of domesticity. It teases and plays with one’s heart until the very end when the master narrative is surprisingly overthrown. Through its cinematic realism and clever marriage of typical plot structure and unconventional resolution, The Wrestler creatively rejects this master narrative of domesticity.

LOL! This last line cracked me up, Aurora. I'm in total agreement. That ship has sailed. It looked for a time –– like, 4 or 5 years ago now –– that Hammoudi might be the next homegrown tall male principal, but I'm tired of waiting for him to step it up. I don't know if he's just not working hard enough to make it happen or what, but by now I think it's time to cut him off and give those opportunities to someone else.

The warm flow of water ran in rivulets down his body, the steam and soothing words reliving the pain that I had witnessed today: Seeing Paledon dead as a rock. The pain still yanked at my heart, making me feel like I was dying. It was the fear caving in me. I sat beside Paledon in my en suite’s spacious shower, gently sponging the dried blood from Paledon’s skin; I had wanted to try and clean myself up since I stunk to high heavens, but after everything Paledon had gone through (I still don’t know what exactly happened) I wouldn’t hear of it. The thoughts swirling in my head as I got back to the Tower were sinister and worrying.

Dull brown bleachers running along the two sides of the gym seemed to sag under the pressure of the forms sitting upon them as if one more would make them collapse upon themselves. Disgust and pity for the school rose within me as I surveyed the tightly packed gym. Along the walls, banners stood out amongst the slightly yellowing paint job, declaring records of wins for all the opposing teams to see. A mismatched red wrestling mat spread itself over the wooden floors, waiting in anticipation for the match to begin. Hunched, broad shouldered wrestlers swaggered around the gym, some with a hungry, undernourished look--all except for the heavy weights. Their parents mingled together, moms loudly gossiping amongst themselves while the men talked strategy. Younger children scurried between the their parents and spectators legs, disrupting the conversations floating above them. Aloof teenagers hung around the outskirts, chatting with other older kids who all seemed very intimidating yet strangely compelling to me. Quickly taking my seat, I forgot about the disappointing school around me and focused on the match. Wrestlers grappled together on the mat while parents on both sides screamed completely unintelligible and ineffective advice. Hope and disappointment hung in the air like a hazy fog which mixed in with the smell of sweat and

While at practice just a week before he left for camp, it had seemed that jerry had improved. He noticed it as well as his parents, brother, teammates, and most important of all his karate instructor. While Jerry was packing for camp he was just playing out every scenario of what could happen in his mind. There was a long car ride and all he could do was watch karate videos of professionals to see what they do, and apply it to him. The long car ride they arrived at the karate camp. Jerry was gathering his things and saying goodbye to his family, and they were giving him words of encouragement. Jackson turned to Jerry and said “good luck chump”. Jerry laughed and walked off to head to the building.

Rami sat at the edge of the lunch table, with the thought of what he wanted to do with his life. He didn’t know exactly what to do, yet with his minority of talents that he possessed. He shook his head and continued to eat his favored chicken sandwich with no sauce, just the way he liked it. After lunch, Rami walked back to chemistry class where he vigorously tried to listen in class, but ultimately failed. When Rami got home, he went onto his neglected laptop of which he hasn’t touched in a while and filled his mind with pro wrestling videos. Rami had a dream to become a pro wrestler at one time, but an argument with his dogmatic father led to his father refusing to let him ever pro wrestle. It was a saturday, and Rami got out of bed