Frederick J. Salone Memorial Wrestling Scholarship

My name is Ben, and I am a high school wrestler. I have wrestled for 13 years, and to me, it has become a part of life, like going to school or hanging out with friends. Wrestling has helped me improve not only physically, but mentally as well. I have learned the value of discipline and a good work ethic. I have learned to push myself beyond what most athletes go through in their sports. As Dan Gable said, "Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy". There have been many practices that have pushed me to total exhaustion and at the same time left me feeling extremely accomplished. Even outside of practice, the relationships and connections that I have made have helped me through difficult times, like transferring to a new school. The same qualities that I have learned in wrestling have made me a better student as well. Being able to balance the workload of maintaining a 104 GPA while completing 12 AP classes and the additional wrestling that I do on top of our normal practices is not easy. However, I always find a way to do it, and it has really improved my time management skills and discipline. This has not only shaped my present, but has also helped shape my future career goals. I am going to college with the goal of completing my masters in mechanical engineering in four years, which is no easy task. It will take a lot of extra classes, extra hours, and a very careful balance between wrestling and school to attain this goal. However, as I go through college and life beyond college, I know that the lessons I have learned from wrestling will serve me well in my job search and work life. I know how to work with a team and as an individual. I have good time management, a great work ethic, and resilience. I want a career that will push me the same way wrestling has, and not let me settle for a life that just gets me by. As a wrestler, I have won an individual state medal, a team state medal, and been named Scholar Athlete for wrestling for our school and for our league. While these awards are great, and it is nice to see all of my hard work come to fruition, I know that the lessons that I have learned from wrestling and connections that I have made through wrestling are worth more than any medal or award that I could win.

Right now to be a female wrestler is special, especially in Pennsylvania, which just recently sanctioned female wrestling as a high school sport. And it is even more exciting to represent McCaskey as the first female high school team in Pennsylvania. Along with being a state medalist and a regional medalist in three different styles of wrestling, I am also an advocate. Invited to participate in the Wrestle Like A Girl Congressional Caucus, I represented Pennsylvania by speaking with legislators on Capitol Hill about sanctioning the sport and providing equitable opportunities to female athletes. This past February I was invited to Harrisburg Capitol to attend a press conference where Senator Scott Martin congratulated Pennsylvania high schools for meeting PIAA’s sanctioning requirements of 100 teams. Getting to meet and talk to Senator Martin and Bob Lombardi, the executive director of PIAA, about the opportunities this sport provides to women was unforgettable. This past summer, I was given an incredible opportunity by being selected to compete on two national wrestling teams. My first tournament was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My last match of the first day was a battle that ended in a completely torn UCL, LUCL, and fracture. After the trainer relocated my elbow, I stood up and expected to finish my match. Instead, I was escorted to the trainer’s booth as I watched my opponent's hand go up in the air for injury default. I ended up having to get a complicated, seven-hour surgery that threatened my wrestling career. Even though this is a large setback--this injury has revealed to me how much I value wrestling. I remained active on McCaskey’s wrestling team as team captain, assisting in exercises and drills. I helped Coach and stuck with my teammates the entire season. Even after the uncertainty of possibly losing motion in my arm and understanding the timeline of the recovery, giving up on my goal of wrestling collegiately never crossed my mind. My goal of attending the Coast Guard Academy became threatened too. I was also the only person who could decide whether this injury was going to be life-altering and change my future goals and plans. I worked so hard at being competitive physically and academically for so long, and despite this setback, I decided I was not going to compromise on my goals now. I had a team of people who helped me through this process in different ways; however, I primarily turned to myself, for I was the only person truly accountable for my progress. It was up to me to properly care for my elbow after surgery. It was up to me to work harder in the classes I missed for physical therapy. I created an ‘Independent Fitness Class’ with my guidance counselor to grant me access to the fitness center during school day to continue to train. I devoted myself to my recovery. By religiously attending appointments and prioritizing my exercises, I have been able to gain full strength and motion back. This was proof to me that consistency and dedication can go a long way. This injury proved that I can face and triumph over adversity. This spring, I earned an appointment at the United States Coast Guard Academy. I would be planning to use this scholarship towards items such as my uniform deposit and athletics activities fund. Wrestling has instilled grit and perseverance in me. Wrestling has made me confident and ready to face the challenges I will encounter during boot camp and during my years of service. Wrestling has prepared me to serve my country.