I had passed through almost all three years of my middle school life and had done absolutely nothing to remember my last year there. The 7th-period bell had rung and I was on my way to my p.e class just keeping to myself as I speed walked all the way across campus to the boys' locker room. After rushing to get my uniform on I once again speed walked over to my roll call spot and stood there patiently waiting for the teacher to arrive. As I was waiting I noticed that something was different in fact, because there were two large wrestling mats laid out across the floors of the gymnasium. The coaches said, “ for the next three weeks we will be doing an intro into wrestling.” I leaned over to my friend and whispered, “ is he actually serious …show more content…
Towards the end of the period, the coaches cut the class five minutes early and had us all gather for an announcement. My coach announced, “wrestling season is starting in two weeks and anyone who is interested can take a sign up sheet and turn it in by Friday.” I turned over and looked at friends and exclaimed, “do you guys want to join wrestling with me?” They looked at me with a curious look and said, “why would we wanna do that?” I tried to convince them by saying that it would be fun and we could get to meet new people. They refused to join me so I decided to stop trying to convince them and go pick up a sign up sheet …show more content…
I was dreading practice for the first few days. Every bone in my body was aching that even the most simple task would take a great effort. After the first few painful days of practice, my body slowly began to adjust to the workouts we had to perform. I began to improve my skills and slowly started to progress day by day. We weighed ourselves to see what class we would get stationed to and I got sent to the middleweights. I greeted all the other fellow wrestlers who were also in my class and seated myself around them. We received headgear to prevent any of the wrestlers from getting cauliflower ear and also to give our head a layer of protection from when we take hard slams. Slowly I got more comfortable and social with my teammates and began to interact with most of the people. My sparring partner was a really friendly guy and always was there to tell me what I had to adjust to improve on my form. My skills now at a level to where I was able to spar and know how to counter and strike
Then, high school came along and I received a rude awakening that I was no longer top dog on the wrestling team. I lost more matches that first year of highschool wrestling then I had my whole junior high career combined. I was devastated that year I thought that I would never want to wrestle again. However, when wrestling rolled around that next year I was the first in line to show
To say that practice was physically demanding is an understatement. We had to run around, jump over people, and carry people while we ran around and jumped over people. The fluorescent lights circled around me like a disco ball (sight), and I tasted metal as I pushed myself ...
Once I joined the wrestling team, I sense of pride and respect for myself returned. This sense was short lived for only a month, when the football players who wrestled came to practice. It became apparent that I was the smallest on the wrestling team and became the practice dummy. The biggest wrestler on the team was called the heavyweight since he stood six feet and weighed about two hundred and ninety pounds. He became my wo...
Waking up at five in the morning isn't easy, especially when it's summertime. But that was my reality every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My dad would take me to Ballaban Field and just before practice I would lay down on that field and talk with my teammates for a few minutes. Then practice would start and the next three hours were the most challenging physical times of my life. First we stretched, this was the time to get our mind and body ready for the gauntlet that the coaches would throw down in front of us. Then coach would send offense or defense into the weight room first. If you didn't lift first then you immediately took your shirt off because you didn't want to throw up on your shirt. We'd run and run, surpassing our own expectations of toughness and grit. After running my body ached all over, but I knew we still had an hour of intense lifting ahead. After practice, I would be totally exhausted but satisfied knowing I
I had little to no motivation for a while and thought that maybe wrestling wasn’t the sport for me. I had shown promise in practice but as soon as I got on the mat for a tournament or duel I just drew a blank. I wasn’t executing any of the techniques I had learned after so many repetitive drills. I wasn’t the only one that had faced such miserable losses but it felt like it. My teammates helped me through my rut by giving me additional advice during practice and being in my corner while I wrestled matches. It was a great feeling knowing that I had people who had my back whenever I needed help. The wrestling team was a close knit group that dealt with all our problems together. We worked hard and played hard together till none of us could go any further. We were each other’s motivation, rivals, and family on and off the mat. If I had any doubts about a match my team thought the exact opposite and made sure that I understood why they believed so. But what made us a strong unit was the fact that we had similar goals and values. None of us wanted to lose and planned to make it past districts. We all wanted to take home hardware not only for our own self recognition but also to bring back a trophy to put on our principal’s desk who just so happened to love the wrestling program about as much as our team. All of us valued the effort that was put into every early morning practice so no one looked down on each other. The connection we had as a team made my experience wrestling all the more worth
Head up, chest up, back straight.” I get under the bar and pick it up. As I picked it up all I could think about was how heavy it was and wondering if I could even do this because it felt so heavy. I took a step back, got in my stance, and waited for the judge to give me the signal to start. The judge usually waits a good while before he gives you the command, but this time he gave me the command right away. I was nervous so once he gave me the signal I took 3 big deep breathes and went down. My coach always tells me not to go forward as I go down because that’s usually one of my problems, but this time he wasn’t there to give me a pep talk and remind me of the things I need to
I started wrestling in the seventh grade, and continued to wrestle in high school. I found wrestling to be a great sport to help me stay in shape, but also make great friends. Many of my friends in high school I made from the wrestling team. Everyone is very supportive of one another, through the many ups and downs wrestling has to offer. There are many injuries that one can suffer from such a rough sport. Many wrestlers end up getting injured during sometime of their wrestling career. My wrestling injury came when I was just a freshman on the wrestling team at Bishop Guertin. It was a time of much pain and recovery that I had to endure in order to make it back out on the wrestling mats. I was afraid and in a lot of pain when I got injured for the first time.
There is only one thing that is worse than wrestling practice, and that is having to sit out at wrestling practice. When I hurt my shoulder and couldn't wrestle, I wanted nothing more than to be on the mat with my teammates. No matter how hard, painful, or stressful wrestling may be, it means more to me than just being comfortable for those two hours. A sheer feeling of accomplishment surrounds a wrestler after removing completely soaked work out gear after practice. The discipline that it takes to be a member on the mat is something I will always have the utmost respect. Although I may always hate humidity because of it for the rest of my life, I will forever carry the discipline that the Hotchkiss High School wrestling room has given me.
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.
All my hopes and dreams had come true. I have been wrestling since I was twelve years old. Ever since then I've been trying to accomplish my dream of going to the Colorado State Wrestling Tournament. I decided that I wanted to be a good wrestler, and I wanted to be one of the top wrestlers in the state. I knew that the only way to accomplish my goal was to start wrestling as soon as possible and never give up.
I was the 8th person out of probably 20. The benefits of being the recluse I was that I knew everyone but they did not know me. Right next to me was John Grady. Now he was the buff-ist kid in Junior High school, built like a linebacker, all pure muscles. among kids that looked like Steve Urkle. That had not hit puberty yet. He weighed about 50 more than I did and I was dead petrified to get in that ring with him. But I knew at that moment that it was no or never and I wasn’t going to let my anxiety get the best of me. I had to believe in myself. When John stepped in the ring he was confident he was going to win, I was confident he wasn’t. As soon as Enrico blew that whistle. my arms wrapped his neck, slanting my hips I flipped him over. I don’t know how I did it but in seconds John was on his back and legs out of the circle. There was dead silent in the room, for a minute then the guys started Whispering , some of them yelling “did you guys see that”, “Does this kids even go to out school”, “Who is that, I haven’t seen him before” one kid way in the back hollered “we might win state this year”. I was just excited I was able to beat someone. I lasted 5 people before Ian Culley bounced me out the circle; he’d been one of those people who’d been wrestling his whole life so I really didn’t care. At the end of practice Enrico sat us all down “This team is your family for the next 3 months. You have to help each other out in order for everyone to compete. Not we were going to do this at the beginning but I forgot. I want you all you introduce you’re self to your team”. One by one they took their head-gear and stated their names, “I’m Ian Culley, no introduction needed” he said arrogantly. “I’m Mack”, I’m Sunga and this is my brother Muganza“. ”I’m Tyler Peter“. this went on until me, I slowly peeled back my confidence along with my head-gear, ”I’m Patience“. for the
My names Chase Tate i'm 14 years old, 6 feet 3 inches and go to grey hawk middle school. I get in trouble a lot at school Teachers want to send me to an alternative school were the worst of them all go to There was kids all ages there up to 18.I Don't think I should go to this school but my parents agree with them so I have to go.My mom and dad drive me it's was a long drive it took 6 hours. We finally made it and I don't want to get out of the car. The place was terrifying it had gated fences like a prison.
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.
It was another morning commute to Highland Park elementary school on the poorly funded school bus that could have been from the 80’s. I had just boarded the bus as was sitting towards the back waiting for my group of friends to get picked up. I looked to my right to see the girl I had the biggest crush on at the moment. I was a shy kid, and never did I have the guts to talk to the girls I thought were really pretty, however, I was a big show off. I preferred to amuse the ladies with my reckless actions and ability to make people laugh with repetitive jokes. The bus soon stopped to pick up my friends. We instantly started talking about WWE and how one wrestler is better than another. It soon got very intense and the arguments started to become real. Some of the guys got up and started to demonstrate wrestling moves on each other. In order to secure my argument about how the jumping finisher is better than the chokeslam, I got up on my seat and ordered one of my friends to hold down my other friend. They were seated across from my seat, but they were one seat ahead of the cute girl I was in love with. As I climbed my seat I was
So one day after school my older brother took me to the gym. After I changed into my gym clothes in the locker room, I sat nervous on the patted mat by the rock climbing tower/boulder waiting for the instructor to walk in and other students to show up. After a few minutes the instructor walked in. She smiled really big, so big that I saw t...