Playing sports in high school is one of the biggest challenges and achievements a student can have. The amount of time and effort it takes to go to class, then participate every day in practices and games teaches you how to tackle challenges on a regular basis. During my career in college, sports allowed me to broaden my horizons. It wasn't always easy. Starting early in high school I had a terrible injury that set me back an entire year. I had to learn to face the fears that maybe when all this was over, I couldn't play sports anymore. The rigorous task of therapy as well as the everyday grind in school, taught me that I can accomplish anything even with the fears in the back of my mind. I learned that listening to those around you explain how the process of continuing to work hard and focus on my other responsibilities will help me to overcome the second guessing in my head. Slowly but surely the world around me started to open back up to what it was before. My injury, even though severe, was a back burner to all the other positives in my life. It allowed me to focus on my schoolwork and showed me that this was my driving point to success. After returning to sports, the daily work and stresses of class and test were an afterthought and a daily routine. This made the strain of getting back in the grove of sports to be an easy transition. Once you get injured, you learn that being able to play a sport is a luxury to those who don't always have the opportunity. You tend to forget that playing a sport is something we get to do for fun, even though it may see like this is the hard work while doing it. My mindset towards academic's vs athletics was an entirely different outlook after all the pain and discomfort of the accident that happened. Once all was complete, I found myself graduating with honors. That is the steppingstone of striving to where I wanted to end begin my professional basis. Being able to take all the stresses and all the setbacks from an unfortunate situation and turn them into a successful story is that entire reason athletics should be a situation that every student is guided towards. It makes you learn the responsibilities and the disciplines you need to be able to look ahead and life and succeed into the future.

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.

I started wrestling when I was in 8th grade. I knew my father was good in wrestling in high school but never thought of it until some friends and I talked about doing it. 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. After much therapy and gaining a lot more weight than I should have, I was able to come back and continue. 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 the end of that season I was thinking that maybe it was time to stop wrestling and look into doing something different. I went to a camp and while there 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 but during the last year had doubted I had the ability anymore to do. It caused me to have the drive to get out and exercise and improve my strength to hopefully make a senior year successful and show coaches that I have the talent to help improve their team. My senior season started out difficult. I lost one of my first matches of the season to a wrestler who was already committed to a college to wrestle and I knew I had to work harder to show I belonged. The next few weeks of the season went by in a flash, but in that time I had shown that this could be the year I dreamed. 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 out there. Now I'm here with a few months left of school knowing I will get the dream of wrestling at the next level and going to college and do something I love.

I started wrestling when I was in 8th grade. I knew my father was good in wrestling in high school but never thought of it until some friends and I talked about doing it. 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. After much therapy and gaining a lot more weight than I should have, I was able to come back and continue. 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. My junior year wasn't going as well as I had hoped after getting back into it. I struggled with a higher weight class and with the mental confidence that I could perform as skillfully as I used to. During the end of that season 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. During the conversation 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 but during the last year had doubted I had the ability anymore to do. This caused me to have a different outlook. It caused me to have the drive and desire to get out and exercise and improve my strength to hopefully make a senior year successful and show coaches that I have the talent to help improve their team. My senior season started out difficult. I lost one of my first matches of the season to a wrestler who was already committed to a college to wrestle and I knew I had to work harder to show I belonged. The next few weeks of the season went by in a flash, but in that time I had shown that this could be the year I dreamed. 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 out there.