My name is Caleb Rivas I am 17 years old from California,1 State 1 Champion and I am a wrestler. Started at age 5, this sport has taught me a lot of things about life. What it means to stay true to yourself and do the extra work to make you succeed in this demanding sport. In wrestling you only have yourself to count on, no breaks, no teammates to help you, no timeouts, it's only you and your opponent in a mutual combat with the other trying to impose their will on you, the training you have to endure will show on the mat and in all other sports if you're a multi-athlete. The sport is unforgiving with many injuries and setbacks with highs and lows which makes you grow from those situations, Wrestling is full time unlike any other sport, just stepping on the mat shows a great deal of confidence when you step in the circle with your opponent
and his training, your body is screaming in pain your mind is telling you to stop but you must always find a way to push through, your body covered in sweat,hard to see was sweat in your eyes, body screaming for water, 6 minutes of pain and sometimes the clock can't come soon enough and when you get your hand raised you have the crowd and your teammates behind you but no one sees the countless hours spent behind the scene, the tears shed, questioning yourself while running endless miles when you can just compete in an easier sport and be ok with that,countless doctor visits,this sport is one of the less road traveled because if it was easy everyone would do it. This means getting up early to get your run in, lift before school, eating healthy and more training after class and more training till late nights. You have to also balance your classroom work in and out daily. This can't be done by yourself unless you have the right people who care about you around in order to be successful. This is a 7 day a week sport for the top 1% of your state, what wrestling has given me is a Family Structure ,Guidance, Leadership Skills,Perseverance, Confidence,Respect,Direction& Compassion for others. Athletics and School will hold you accountable for poor choices, I know my time is limited in the sport but I've made lots of good friends and teammates and have met lots of good adult mentors who want to see our youth Excel and in the end you become friends with your competition from the past, I'm one of the fortunate ones to have gotten 4xCAUSA State Titles,USA Triple Crown,5X National Team Member,2xCaState Placer, as my senior high school draws near I will be graduating with honors and will be following my academic and wrestling career had a D1 College, hard work does pay off and the right people will come into your life to help you succeed