I Believe in Wrestling
I believe in wrestling. I believe in what it teaches on and
off the mat. One of my coaches always said “Life is more like wrestling than
dancing.” I started wrestling in 7th grade, I started kind of late
compared to my opponents who started as young as 6. I had to learn to be tough
and take my beating. My dad would help me anyway possible, we would go to
camps, drive to Diamond Missouri once a week on a school night so I could
wrestle with those kids that would beat me up. It wasn’t till high school I
realized he did that because he loved me, it’s all part of the learning process
of wrestling, and you have to take your beating before you can start giving
beatings. Wrestling has taught me how to work towards a goal and to never give
up. The thing I love about wrestling is that it is a personal battle, when you
step on the mat it’s all you. You’re team mates can’t save you your coach can
only yell out moves and no matter winning or losing, in pain or giving the pain
it is all on you. That is what I love about wrestling. In life it’s all you, if
you get in trouble, it’s your fault, if you don’t pay your bills on time, it’s
your fault. Wrestling unlike any team sport you rely on what you do. Wrestling
teaches you to take responsibility for your action, and to be respectful. Some
of the nicest humble people I know are wrestlers. Just because someone steps on
the mat and beats someone up doesn’t mean they are bad people. Up until I started
wrestling in the 7th grade I was always in trouble or in the
principal’s office. I wanted to show off so I could have friends and be “cool.”
Well once middle school hit and wrestling came into my life I all of a sudden
had to straighten up my act. You get bad grades, can’t wrestle. You get in
fights or disrespect your teacher, off the team. There was no room for
misbehavior. I honestly believe the sport of wrestling has made me into the
person I am today. Wrestling isn’t just a sport, it’s a lifestyle. Wrestlers
are unlike any other athlete on the planet. Day in and day out you fight, and
you fight your friends. Iowa’s head coach Tom Brands says “wrestling is a
miniature battle between two people with very strong wills.” This is very true,
wrestling is more of a battle than a sport. My best friend Kerik (who now
serves our country in the US Army) and I wrestled together every day or senior
year. During practice we tried to rip each other’s heads off. We would push
each other all over the mat, throw each other around, get mad at one another
and see who the best was that day. Once we stepped off that mat we became best
friends again. There are no friends on the wrestling mat, you’re there to take
care of business and work towards the initial goal, state champion. I’ll never
forget the battles we had I remember them like the back of my hand, it’s
because those miniature battles helped shaped me into who I am today. Something
else that brings me close to wrestling is what wrestlers do to try to be a
state champion. A state champion wrestler spends hours and hours practicing,
lifting weights, visualizing wrestling and that’s just scratching the surface.
A state champion wrestler has to discipline himself with their diets and
maintain a certain body weight, not do stupid stuff to get in trouble and blow
it, wake up in the morning and workout, maybe even workout three times a day.
They spend hours, months and even years sweating, bleeding, crying, practicing,
just for 30 seconds of glory win they win the state championship, tell me
that’s not crazy. The only way to understand wrestling is to do it, to know
what these guys go though it’s unheard of. I finally made it to the state
tournament my senior year, I was 39-6 and ranked 6th in the state
going into the tournament. To say the least I choked, I lost in my match to
place. It devastated me, to this day it bothers me, it’s because I put so much
into the sport just to have my dreams crushed. I’ll never forget that match, I
was in shock. I laid on the mat after just getting pinned against a kid I had a
5-1 match with earlier in the year, I thought to myself “this is how it ends,
last high school match ever and I gave up.” It haunts me. Now I still help
coach the same team I wrestled for in high school, republic. I help a few kids
who want it as bad as I did, I promised them I would do anything in my power to
help take them to the top and be state champions. I will never give up on them
till they reach their goals. Wrestling is more than a sport, it’s a lifestyle.
No one will understand that until they have wrestled, and no one has the right
to ever judge a wrestler. “Once you have wrestled everything else in life is
easy.”-Dan Gable. This is another quote I live by, Gable was an Olympic
champion. Wrestling has truly shaped me and changed my life, I believe in
wrestling and what it does for boys and girls, women’s wrestling is a growing
sport. I always recommend wrestling to kids starting to get involved in sports,
it’s a hard sport but in the end it is very rewarding. You don’t have to be a
state champion when it’s all said and done, just as long as you never give up
and try your hardest.
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