Personal Narrative Essay: Growing Up Wrestling

In 2013 I joined the varsity wrestling team. I had never wrestled, and I was not not physically fit, but I wanted to try something new and challenging. I learned the basics of wrestling and competed within two weeks of my first training. I was inexperience and there were many things I did not know, but I worked hard to defeat my opponents and become fit and agile. By the end of the season I wrestled my way into the regional competitions.

For three years our team was able to make it to the semifinals, but always fail to advance to the final championship game. Before the semi-final game coach Jen had said, "go out there and show the other team that you won 't go down without a fight." That 's exactly what we did, we went out and played the hardest we ever played before. For the first time ever our team Advanced to the final championship round. Within just one hour of the single elimination tournament we played in we would be facing against the hardest team in our whole week.

withbasketball;basketball was my identity and connection to others. But during my sophomore year in high school, everything didn’tseem togo the way I wantedto be. And it was because of the injury I had, my life completely change since. This long story begins with a goal that I made for myselfduring my freshman year in high school; I wanted to play high school basketball for four years straight, and this goal seems pretty neat for me.

My soccer team won 6 games my entire high school so obviously we were not very good but i still had so much passion for the sport. The other sport I played in high school was Softball. But for softball we were actually amazing. My junior year in softball everybody was scared to play us because we were scary good.

During the summer before my freshmen year of high school, one of the most significant changes in my life occurred: I moved from the busy, populated city of Arlington, Texas to the rural, “all- white” Jackson County, Tennessee. Believe it or not, the first three words that I heard during my first day attending Jackson County High School were, “Are you Asian?” Shortly after my first appearance, I was given the nickname Chow, which has stuck throughout my entire high school incumbency. At first I was really unsure of how I felt about this name, and many of my teachers worried that I would be offended by it. However, as I ventured from being the new kid in town to getting to know most of the people in this “all- white” county, I’ve come to embrace

I coached the sport for like eighteen years straight until Mr. Daly, our recently retired athletic director, talked me into taking over the girls’ basketball program. For Pete’s sake, I still PLAY the game. The Rebels, my team in the Pioneer Valley Over-Thirty Baseball League, won its second championship in four years a couple weeks ago, and I played shortstop and third base, pitched a little and batted cleanup most games. That might sound pathetic coming from a 43 year-old who’s supposed to be sort of professional and mature and what not, but there it is. That’s who I am, and pretty much who I have been since my dad stuck a glove on my hand and played catch with me for the first time back in

It began in the spring after my freshman year. Because so many people on the team were older and stronger than me, I became very intimidated and even contemplated quitting football. When I told

Have you ever had a passion for something that you love so much that you keep on doing it no matter what time of the season it is? For me that was going to club wrestling at Coe College to practice for two months. My Dad, and my wrestling coach Jeff Voss suggested that it would be a good idea to go to these practices. I didn 't want to at first, but then I thought that if I do the practices I will get better. Also I didn’t want to do track.

Ever since freshman year, I joined the sport of powerlifting but it wasn 't until junior year that it got intense for me. My powerlifting season had been nearing its end, but there was a slight chance to keep on going. Regionals had been coming up and it was a goal of mine throughout the year. The day came to where I was going to be able to lift.

Thats makes you feel like you went far enough to please other people. You can’t be complacent in the sport of wrestling because that 's where things go wrong. What i’m saying is that the week leading up to semi-state has to be very focused. Freshman of any sport is very hard because it 's your first year of “high school athletics.” You have to learn how to go hard in practice.

“Crack”, “click” was what I heard before the most excruciating pain I have ever felt filled my right knee. It was on October 7th, it was just weeks before my junior season was going to start. I was at Massillon Washington high school at wrestling practice like I was almost every day. I was drilling with the assistant coach Percy McGee hitting single legs which was my favorite move. About 40 seconds into the drill I hit another single and all of a sudden my knee locked at about 90 degrees.

As the season went on, the starting heavyweight at the time hurt his shoulder then I got bumped up from JV to varsity. Right before Christmas break

He stood at the height of 5’6 in the 10th grade which made it hard for him to follow his dream. The summer of his sophomore year he decided to change his shot for the better. He averaged 20 points a game but it wasn’t enough for colleges to notice him. He ended up going to Davidson college where he later lead them to the be the NCAA final 8 but lost in the semi-finals, and during his time in college

Iowa State Cyclones Big 12 Conference (2014 record: 2-10) Head Coach: Paul Rhoads Offense: In recent years, the Iowa Cyclones have turned into a bit of a punching bad for the Big 12 Conference. After two seasons with a total of one with within the conference, one has to believe Coach Rhoads is coaching on a short leash. In 2014, the offense was lethargic. They gained a total of 372.5 YPG of total offense while only scoring 23.2 PPG.

I had spent months training for those 20 minutes. I prepared for every possible thing that could have gone sour during those fleeting moments that would determine how my freshman season would end. If the start was too slow I would gradually speed up after mile one. If my hip injury worsened mid-race I would alter my stride to avoid pain. What about if I completely fell apart one mile in?