There is no feeling like it. It churns in your stomach like butter. It’s not necessarily a bad feeling, but it’s a feeling that most people don’t experience. I’m talking about the feeling you get when you step on that wrestling mat and go toe to toe with your adversary.At this moment, the crowd may be chanting and banging on the bleachers like a stampide of animals, but all you hear is scilence. From the outside, everyone sees two men playing a sport, however; it’s more than that. when you step on the mat, everything fades to black in your mind and all of your thoughts swirl through the sink of your mind. But this moment was not spontaneous. Before you even think about stepping on that mat, you first must endure a week of agony and joy. After …show more content…
You walk into the room and feel a warm gust of air greet you at the door. The smell of cleaner fills your nose as your shoes squeak along the freshly mopped mats. The clock strikes 3:30 and the coach blows his whistle that seems to penetrate your ears with a piercing screech. Your body aches and your mind tells you to leave and quit. On the other hand, your heart tells you to go on. Through all the pain, your heart always seems to whisper to you, “This will make you great. This extra day of pain will make the difference.” Even though practice makes your bones ache, your joints grind, your skin bleed, and your body swell; there is a greater hardship to come. This hardship is not physical or predicted. It sneaks up on you like a tiger sneaking up on his prey. This of course is all the mental pain that comes with the fine sport of wrestling. Unlike other sports, your match is not determined by your teammates or coaches, it is determined by you. Whether you win or lose, It’s all on you. This gives the mental demons leverage to put on you. “you’ll never be good enough” and “your opponent is obviously better” are thoughts that commonly fill your mind. All you can do is brush these off and keep grinding. Day and night, you have to grind until that fateful day. Meet
I joined my school’s cross country team in the summer. At the beginning we performed pre-season workouts. The training was tough, but my proud personality and the very thought of what I had to gain kept me motivated and helped me push through the pain. Every time I felt like giving up or quitting, I would say to myself, “This pain is only temporary; remember that the reward will be permanent, and it will be worth the pain that I endure today.” I was able to push through the
I had always had an odd passion for working out, even before I became a weightlifter. I endured years of volleyball conditions, all of which left me sprawled across the floor, drenched in sweat; however, I never complained. My muscles quivered, my heart raced, my lungs pressed against my ribs, and my body collapsed; but my mind was determined. However, I found myself alone in this sentiment.
It then started to get harder and each day was a different workout to help me and my teammates improve. I was at a point where all I could do was attend school, go to practice and go home. Each day I was beyond tired. At a point of time I felt like giving up and going back to my regular life, and regular schedule. As the coach started to notice how I felt, he pulled me to the side and started to question what was going on. I explained, but everything I said was not a good enough reason. My coach told me, “If this is what you really want you won’t give up, no matter how hard it may get you will overcome it.” That day I learned a valuable lesson, to never give up.
Of the 258,000 athletes that wrestle in high school, only 7,408 are able to continue their career as a wrestler in college (NCAA 1). 2.7% of wrestlers are faced with multiple adversities from weight gain, to the long seven minutes of nonstop action on the mat. Although the seven minutes go by quick when spectating, when you’re on the mat it seems never ending. A lot of work goes behind one's success on the mat. To be successful in college wrestling one must cut weight efficiently, lift weights, and warm up effectively before every match.
When we first arrived I’d thought we’d taken a wrong turn and went to a traveling gypsy convention by mistake. The whole field outside the school was filled with tents of various sizes and colors. 200 wrestlers, about thirty of which were girls, filtered about the area. As my soon-to-be teammates and I headed to the first practice, anxiety gnawed at my stomach like a dog with a bone (FL). I wanted to impress everybody, and prove that I could make it in this sport. Before we started, the coach patted me on the shoulder. “I’ve got your back all right.” he told me. I smiled and nodded. At least one person was looking out for me.
In 2014 I was determined to make the high school soccer team. Every day at 8 am at the beginning of a dreadfully hot August morning, I would get to the turf fields for 4 hours and participate in “hell week”. After a long week, I made the JV team. I was never put into the game and felt like my hard work was put to no use. My sophomore year rolled around and I tried extra hard to impress the coaches. Anything and everything was a competition to make it to the top. By the end of the week, we all gathered around the paper that had names of the players who made it. I didn’t make the team. After tears and telling myself to move on, I went to the field hockey tryouts. I knew nothing about the sport and was terrified that soccer wasn’t my go-to
Then, three years ago, I broke through those walls. My conscious urged me against it, ran through all the “what ifs” of the situation, as usual, but this time I couldn’t help it. How can one ever truly test his abilities if one is too afraid to even take any initial risk? So, one cloudy, brisk Saturday morning, and joined the football team. Immediately after the first practice, the option of quitting crept its way into my mind. But how could I ever reach my goals if I couldn’t take on a high school sport? There will be thousands of students in college competing with me, professors looking to make scholars, not dropouts. If I couldn’t face this, I couldn’t face them. So, I endured practice after practice, game after game. Every day, I had to rebuild the courage I had to walk out on the field that first day to step out on the field. I was weaker, smaller, and less apt at the game than man of the guys on that team, but I the constant threat of fear couldn’t hold me back anymore.
Although therapy deemed very challenging, I’m thoroughly engrossed in watching the inner workings of the trainer building me to be strong again. During the rebuilding process I’m able to absorb several factors of how the human body works as well as notice the psychology required to strengthen a patient. Hard to admit, but during the recovery time the onset of struggling to maintain a positive attitude can become prevalent. Being sidelined from sports weighed on my psyche and negatively affected my grades as well as daily demeanor. This is where the mind strengthening from the trainer and having a strong faith truly came into
When completing an exercise a person is expecting results that day, during or post workout. Training is a long-term process that creates noticeable and physical results over a span of weeks, even months and years. Training involves planning with preparation for the training duration and progress towards a goal. The desire to win and be better than the competition is essentially important for professional and collegiate athletes. These athletes take training and preparation for a competition to a new level of determination and commitment. For the last two years, I have been working with the University of Oklahoma’s softball team as their student athletic trainer. I attend every practice, workout, and all of their games. As the student athletic trainer, I help with assessing their injuries, with treatment and rehabilitation of their injuries as well as injury prevention. I have watched these women go through some strenuous workouts and have seen their improvements. Some of the girls have asked about taking CrossFit classes or other workout programs during winter and summer breaks. Our strength coach advised against taking the CrossFit classes that he has not specifically approved. He
Wrestling is more than just a sport; it is a way of life. And for those who enjoy its opportunities, it is something that takes the mind off of all of life’s troubling times, and puts one man against another to get their hand raised. Competition makes everything evolve, and there is no other sport that epitomizes what competition truly is. Wrestling spans the entire globe, and although it incorporates several different styles and many National and World events, remains overlooked by most.
Ever since the previous season I had my standards set high. I had placed fifth, which was all right for the time being, but I knew as time went on I needed to push myself and increase my level of wrestling. I decided that I would do whatever it took, through thick and thin. I traveled to small local tournaments in Colorado, and a couple out-of-state tournaments, I even traveled to Delaware. It didn't really matter how I did at these tournaments because it was just all practice until February. So, I lifted and wrestled just about every chance I got. It was all in preparation for one match, six minutes.
Wrestling, one the world’s oldest sport, is the newest sport to the athletic program. Head Coach Danny Nolan, with the help of his father, Coach Kevin Nolan, and his brother Coach Mike Nolan instruct four seniors, three juniors, five sophomores, and five freshman in the sport of wrestling.
The topic that Interest me and captivates most of my time is wrestling. Whether it is watching Olympic level matches down to competing and practicing; I love letting it consume all my time. I watch daily matches in my free time and if anyone ever wants to wrestle and practice I am there. The reason I love wrestling and spend most of my time involved with some form of it is because I think that wrestling, as a sport, is amazing and very beautiful. I think it is an art form that many people do not recognize. Wrestling has many little aspects that make it entertaining that some may not find interesting but I find it exciting and wondrous. Wrestling has taught me many lessons in life. The sport has helped me learn to be more creative and think
To reach my goals, I’ve faced many challenges and have learned to be mentally tough. It’s one of the fastest and most physically demanding sports with extraordinary fitness and strength requirements. I learned to overcome pain, illness, injury, frustration and fatigue to put the game and the team before myself. I left home at an early age, living with host families, to pursue my goals and play high level hockey. Hamlet said, “We know what we are, but not what we may be”. Leaving home, I knew I could handle it but I never knew then that what challenged me would give me strength. I didn’t know then that living without my family, feeling alone at times and struggling to become self-reliant would help me become who I am
When a person walks into a building to see a live wrestling event they do not know what to expect. They wonder who will be wrestling. They wonder where their seats are. All of the suspense gets them ready for the show. The suspense gets them pumped and ready to for the show to start.