Overcoming an Obstacle… by: Davieion Mason Wrestling is the activity of using technique, rules and skills to grapple with an opponent and ultimately throw or pin them to the ground. It is not an easy sport. A lot of mental and physical preparation is required. As I expressed my intent to try out, I consistently attended conditioning practices to become acclimated with other teammates and make friends. The coaches saw our potential and trained hard but one coach stuck out the most. Coach K.O always pushed us to our limits. His reasoning was not to just make us good wrestlers but to give us a good mindset in the real world. It is a sport of strong mindsets and consistency. We had to prepare our mental because the possibility and reality of losing a match can be both mentally and physically exhausting. Wrestling is helping build my character. Oftentimes I believed wrestling was just too intense and I wanted to quit. “Was I cut out for this sport?” That is a question I contemplated quite frequently. I can recall a time Coach K.O having us run endless suicides across the mat. At the time, I was not eating the right things. I was not focused or motivated to put forth my best effort. I attempted to take shortcuts by not training well, lifting weights, studying the craft with efforts to improve my skills. While we were running those suicides, I threw up and was so worn out, I just laid in my vomit. Coach K.O helped me get myself together. That was so encouraging. He didn’t yell or put me out of practice. At that moment I knew this was not going to be easy. A Lot of commitment was needed and I was ready to put in the required work. In all honesty, I wanted a win and I was going to get it! The weight training, running, skill building practices were paying off. It was finally time for my first match. I applied everything I thought I knew and I lost. It was my first match so I didn’t sweat it too much.More and more duels went by and I kept losing. My arm was never raised at the end, signifying the champion. Afterwhile, discouragement began to set in and confidence declined. I remember having a two-day-tournament in a small town named Lafayette. Of course I lost again the first day and basically counted myself out. Mentally I had checked out. My coach didn’t allow me to though. There were exhibition matches we could sign up for. I had nothing to lose so I attended the second day, and finally won! An indescribable feeling of accomplishment consumed me. I understood giving up is never a positive thing. My hard work will eventually always pay off. After winning, I felt like I finally made a breakthrough, I worked so hard to know what it feels like to win. This moment sticks with me because it wasn't something I had to do but continued to do for myself. I learned to persevere through hard ships even when the outcome may seem uncertain. I apply the lesson now with dual enrollment courses, when I am unmotivated and want to give up. I think about how low I felt in the beginning of my wrestling journey and how I overcame the hardship. I will always push myself to do what I know I am capable of, even if it is tough.