Gary "G" Goldstein Scholarship

I started wrestling when I was in 8th grade. It was hard at first due to me being a typical chubby kid who would rather play video games than actually exercise. I began to fall in love with the connection and personal achievement you get from putting your heart into it. Unfortunately, after a pretty good freshman year, I damaged my shoulder and had to have surgery. I had lost an entire year of high school due to this injury. It was hard to come back after something devastating and right when you think you are on the right path to succeed. At first it was scary thinking, "Am I going to hurt it again?", "Can I actually do what I used to be able to?". The next few months of wrestling was difficult because I lost the confidence that I had before the injury. I struggled with a higher weight class and with the mental confidence that I could perform as skillfully as I used to. During my junior year, I was thinking that maybe it was time to stop wrestling and look into doing something different. I went to a camp during that time and a coach saw something in me that I didn't see. He asked if wrestling was something I could see myself doing in college. I wasn't sure, I was shocked to the fact that he was asking me about something I had hoped for but had doubted I had the ability to. It caused me to have the drive and to get out and improve my strength and conditioning to hopefully make a senior year successful and show coaches that I have the talent. My senior season started out difficult. I lost one of my first matches of the season to a wrestler who was already committed wrestle in college and I knew I had to work harder to show I belonged. The next few weeks of the season went by in a flash. During the December we wrestled in a tournament that at first looking at the bracket I thought I had no chance. Two state ranked wrestlers were in my side of the bracket alone, not counting the other side as well. After the first match I would win to have to face the first ranked wrestler. Shockingly, I won over him in the second period. For the first time I thought I had a chance. Next match, another win. This now had me thinking I might have a shot, but standing in the way was the #2 ranked wrestler in the State. To an amazing feat I was able to hold out and beat him in a close decision. My first ever win in a tournament and much more in my Senior year. It's been a dream to think I could get here even though I never thought it was possible. I guess the total saying Hard work pays off is definitely the best motivation and lesson out there.

Going into my freshman year if you had told me I would have spent my high school career on the wrestling team, I would have laughed in your face. Then again if you had told me my first two years would be impacted by a pandemic, I would’ve had the same reaction. Starting high school in the middle of Covid-19 had its own issues even without attempting to participate in a sport. To backtrack a little, during my freshman year I really struggled to interact socially and make friends due to the lack of communication the summer beforehand. I was shy and timid and kept to myself when I was at school. This created a lot of anxiety and worry for little freshman me and I thought that I would never be able to “fit in”. with the other people and student at my school. I was always nervous that I would do something wrong and be seen as "weird" or "different". The constant change between online and in person definitely did not help with these issues. When I started wrestling, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But, within the first week I was a completely different person. My teammates(and still very good friends) were able to help me find my place and become more confident in my social skills whether it was Facetiming after practice or hanging out at tournaments, I had become a part of a team. Even though I only completed the year with fourteen matches, the aspect of being on a team changed me for the better. I have learned that is more than okay to be myself and do what's best for me. Now, even with the setback of Covid, I am so much more confident and social than ever before and I have wrestling to thank for it.

For the majority of my life, I had never suffered a major injury such as broken bone, torn muscle, or similar injuries. The thought of getting such injuries always nestled itself in my mind anytime I was doing physical activities. This caused a great sense of fear of the pain that could realistically happen at any time. However, this all changed at the beginning of my high school wrestling career. These injuries and their recovery are the biggest challenges I have faced. Small bumps or bruises and even pulled muscles were nothing to worry about. The pure physicality of the sport guaranteed that something was always hurting. If someone was hurt, they would be taken to the athletic trainer and typically be back the next day. It became quickly apparent that it was not acceptable to complain about non-serious injuries since many of us were “toughing it out” anyway. It is important to clarify this is only the case for minor injuries, not ones that put the wrestler in danger. This environment made me take in the perspectives of those around me, which in turn allowed me to continue and become used to the grit required. After adjusting to the toughness that was required of me, I became somewhat prone to injuries on the more serious side of the spectrum. These included torn intercostals, torn MCL, a double sprained ankle, and a broken rib. These injuries were spread out in my last 3 years of high school with at least one per season. The pain itself was not unbearable, especially after a few days. The challenging part was coping with the fact that you are not allowed certain physical activities, and watching those around you progress while you cannot. These injuries often put me out of the sport for months at a time, meaning that I would be falling behind while also losing my physical progress. Unfortunately, all of the mentioned injuries have little to no rehab available that will improve recovery. This means that the only option I had to recover was to sit back and wait. When it was finally time to return to the mat, I was always both scared and excited. The fear was from knowing that I would be terribly out of shape and extremely out of practice; however, with each injury, it became easier to face head-on. The lesson these injuries have taught me is that sometimes one has no choice but to push forward. Despite the lost progress, the torment of waiting, and dread, I had to work even harder to come back and seek the results I wanted. To finish my wrestling career, I was able to become a state qualifier and exerted every ounce of effort I had left. I learned to accept that some things are completely out of my control, and it is my own decision of whether or not to continue. While the pain and torment from my injuries are not ideal, they taught me these valuable lessons.

If someone were to tell me my freshman year wrestling would change my life I would have blatantly laughed in their face, but fortunately enough that was the case, wrestling did change my life. I struggled a lot with my first two years of high school with my appearance and being someone I am not. My constant thought my freshman and sophomore year was “I’ll never be like those other girls, athletic, smart and pretty”. To backtrack a little bit I struggled so much at the beginning of high school with anxiety and not having many friends and then on top of that my confidence and self esteem was way down low. I experienced panic attacks to the point where I couldn’t go to school for three days and nonstop for a whole semester. To get back to the point, the biggest challenge I’ve overcome is self esteem and confidence. To be honest when I started wrestling I didn’t know what it was about or what I was getting myself into. But what helped me overcome my internal challenge was my Coach, he never accepted a small shy response from me but to raise my voice, would never accept anything half-done, as well as not accept the word “try” to him that wasn’t “done”. He would say you can’t get anywhere in life if you don’t speak up and go obtain what you want. The first year I joined wrestling my family noticed a change in me, I wasn’t this shy, sensitive, naive girl anymore that anyone could push around. After the first year I didn’t care if I wasn’t like the other popular girls or wasn’t as pretty as they were because I was happy with myself. If it wasn’t for my Coach and a friend who encouraged me to join I wouldn’t be who I am today. Overall, I’ve learned that change is possible, it just might take a little time and motivation from others to achieve what you want. At the end of the day it is what you get out of life and accept the challenges life throws at you.

The biggest challenge I have overcome was during the 2022-23 school year when I was trying to make a name for other colleges to grab. I haven't done much in my two previous school years except for one AP class, a couple of honor classes, and JROTC. Nothing significant enough was going to get me into the ivy league schools I wanted so I knew that I needed more to add to my resume. I was already trying out for drill commander in JROTC and hope to rise through the ranks but that wasn't going to be enough so I decided to choose a sport and that's when my career in wrestling started. I wanted a sport that would be useful outside of school and something I could do in college. I already had practice in martial arts with my black belt in Taekwondo and thought wrestling would be the easiest sport to pick up. I signed up and was ready to begin... That's when I got the letter that I was chosen to become drill commander in JROTC. My plate was full as it was but I also got accepted into another AP class and I couldn't afford to fail it or I would lose my chance at graduating with the highest honors. My plate was stacked and I had a lot of people relying on me. I worked hard to keep my staff position, and the wrestling team, and keep all my grades up. I was swamped with all the responsibilities but throughout it all, I had to learn to not work on my own and lean on others to help me. I have learned to not keep my stress all to myself and take time for myself because I will only go through high school once. I finished out the wrestling season by being on varsity for a short time, and my team went to state championships. My Let 1 color guard got placed and broke a losing streak for the drill team. I have gotten all A's these last 9 weeks and I am proud of what I have accomplished this year.

During middle school, I was ashamed of myself. I was shy and weak. I could attribute some of those traits to my lack of public schooling when I was younger--I was homeschooled til the sixth grade--but I still wasn't satisfied with being that type of person. However, that all changed when my closest friend introduced me to wrestling during my freshman year of high school. I didn't want to join the team. Sure, I wasn't satisfied with being so shy or weak, but there was a calming familiarity to doing what I've always done. Nevertheless, after a small amount of prodding by my friend, I reluctantly agreed to go to the first week of practice. I ended up having a relatively enjoyable time at practice, despite the joint, muscle, head, and foot pain! Our coach wasn't a terrifying monster like everyone online described their wrestling coach as. It seemed as though he cared about the well-being of his team, which continued to motivate me to show up to practices. As the season went on, my body became stronger and had more endurance, but the practices got much harder. Shortly after the first half of the season ended, I had to sit down and have a talk with myself. I wasn't quite sure if I could handle the mental or physical strain of the sport anymore, despite my persistence through the first half of the season. After a very heated debate between the two factions in my head, I decided on staying on the team for the rest of the year. If I couldn't handle the strain after the season, I'd simply quit then. Luckily for me, the season came and went much faster than I anticipated it to. I had survived! All it took was simply going with the flow for two more months. I learned that all you need to continue going through a hard task is to build up a tolerance to that hard task. If I was plunged into the middle of the season without any training, I would've instantly quit. However, once you get the ball rolling, it's really hard to get it to stop. I now apply this principle to my own life--when lifting after a break, I don't instantly throw 500 pounds on my back; rather, I work up to my working weight over a few weeks. When attempting to become more social, I didn't instantly thrust myself into social situations; rather, I did increasingly difficult social interactions until regular conversations with a stranger were a breeze. Just like Rome, you weren't built in a day.