In Klein high school, unlike football players, wrestlers don’t get recognized for what they do, and perhaps all of Texas for that matter. After all, football is Texas's favorite sport and has been long before the spread of wrestling. I was the new kid on the team for a while. The coaches decided to place me and JV for my lack of experience. Though I managed to learn quickly, I hated JV. Most juniors and seniors trained in varsity while I was stuck with the wimpy sophomores (plenty of seniors and juniors as well). I knew wrestling was not for everyone, but that did not stop me from experiencing the lessons of hard work, confidence, and sacrifice.
At first no one encouraged me to succeed as a wrestler, but I ought myself to climb the ladder of
…show more content…
The tournament started half an hour early. All the schools in our district arrived, stripped down to their boxers, and waited in line to be weighed inside our small locker room. I managed to be exactly 0.62 lbs. just below my weight class, 152. It's always the first times that are the most memorable and meaningful. This was my first District tournament and only I could determine how far I would make it. From the first doubts I had to overcome, to overcoming my opponents, I fought hard, with vigor and confidence to accomplish this. It was time to use the countless drills of takedowns, shots, and sprawls to the test. As I shook my opponents hand the moves became instinct. After winning four matches, my body was ready to give up. The last match was the toughest, only the person willing to break a bone, before giving points away would be victorious. I looked at my teammates that had made it to the finals, saw the focus and fire in their eyes as they hopped and warmed up. I went in with the same mindset and at the end, I looked up at the crowd with joy as the ref raised my right hand in the
I have many things that I love in this life, one of those things is wrestling. I have been wrestling for seven years and I have developed quite the passion and love for it. Wrestling has always been an interesting sport for me. Growing up in Oregon I watched my uncles wrestle in high school. I watched both of them win their state tournament in their respective weight classes, this is one of my fondest memories of my childhood. One of them went on to wrestle division one, I thought this was the coolest thing in the world. I looked up to my uncles and wanted to be just like them. I did not always wrestle though. The process of pursing my dream as of becoming a wrestler started of with basketball, then went to a rocky start, then being on Worland High School wrestling team.
As a kid, I was born and raised to love the great game of baseball. Many young kids have had dreams to become professional athletes, and achieve prestigious awards/ titles. Like many kids I’ve always dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. As a younger kid with my head in the clouds, I never really knew what it was like to put my actual blood, sweat, and tears into something I loved, until my worst season I had ever played. This whole story starts in the beginning of my ninth grade baseball season. It started out different from every other year because, of course I was a freshman. This was the first year I had ever practiced with the varsity squad, it was much more difficult, but I still figured I was going to do great. After weeks
This and things such as lifting weights on extra time, and not eating that cookie at lunch. Finally, the wrestlers make weight and they have competition. To do well in the competition, the wrestler needs to warm up and get his mind right. These are all things a college wrestler must do to be successful.
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.
and this feeling only is why I wrestle. This hard to explain feeling is like a
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.
Starting the season as the second ranked wrestler in the state, I was just where I wanted to be, noticed, but not the "top dog". I did well during the season; not losing to anybody in the 3A classification. I didn't do quite what I wanted, but I wasn't going to complain. A broken hand after the second weekend of competition didn't help any, but I fought through it and kept my eyes set on one opponent, one goal, one match, six minutes.
Wrestling has grown to extensive amounts since it’s infancy. It has become one of the most organized and planned out sports in our Olympics, with some of the worlds most committed and die-hard fans to enter a stadium. Wrestling is still practiced almost everywhere in the world, whether it be in one of it’s more traditional forms, or the more modern one.
Professional wrestling is not “fake”, but it is scripted. Me personally, I liked wrestling back before they talked so openly about how the magic happened and before there was Internet. We don’t need to be told something most of us know and ruin it for people who get into the product. The key to carrying a match at a quality capacity is a (wrestler) performer’s ability to get into the role and really become the character. This is why John Cena is the number one performer in the industry.
As the season progressed, competition started getting fiercer. I was up against girls running at a 5A level, yet, I was able to hold my own. Finally there came a tiny light at the end of the tunnel; it seemed as though I was getting closer and closer to accomplishing my goal. Along with my undefeated title came a huge target painted on my back. I religiously checked "Rocky Preps" every day to see if the competition was gaining on me. It seemed that every time I had improved, there was someone right behind me, running their personal best too. I trained during the weeks before regionals like I had never trained before. Each day my stomach became more twisted with knots that looped around every part of my stomach. I don't think I had ever been that nervous in my whole life.
My heart was racing so fast, and I could see my mother with the corner of my eye saying to relax and smile. As twenty minutes passed by the judge announced on the microphone, “Good afternoon folks, in this heavy weight class it is kind of hard to place since they all look good. I want to congratulate every single of these twenty-two individuals for their hard work and dedication. At this time, I will place the top ten. Thank you.”
I was the kid who never knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. I sat quietly when the question was paraded in front of us in classes, as early as kindergarten. Everyone else seemed to know what they wanted to be- doctors, firefighters, police, and teachers. I had no such illusions. Even watching wrestling as a kid, I never bothered thinking I could do that some day.
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.
My opponent’s name was John Doe. There were other competitors at the tournament, but they had never posed any threat to my title. For as long as I had competed in this tournament, I had easily taken the black belt championship in my division. John, however, was the most phenomenal martial artist I had ever had the honor of witnessing at my young age of thirteen. And he was in my division. Although he was the same rank, age, size, and weight as I, he surpassed me in almost every aspect of our training. His feet were lightning, and his hands were virtually invisible in their agile swiftness. He wielded the power of a bear while appearing no larger than I. His form and techniques were executed with near perfection. Although I had never defeated his flawlessness before, victory did not seem unattainable. For even though he was extraordinary, he was not much more talented than I. I am not saying that he was not skilled or even that he was not more skilled than I, for he most certainly was, but just not much more than I. I still had one hope, however little, of vanquishing this incredible adversary, for John had one weakness: he was lazy. He didn’t enjoy practicing long hours or working hard. He didn’t have to. Nevertheless, I had found my passage to triumph.