Personal Narrative: My Wrestling Mats

“OUR HORSES ARE OUR TEAMMATES, OUR SOUL MATES. IT’S A TEAM EFFORT. YOU CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT SO MANY PEOPLE BEHIND YOU.” -Lisa Lockhart. This saying is so true in the sport of rodeo, you can not do it without your family behind you or the horses that you love and care about with you.

All things in life can be enjoyable but also unexpected. Everyone has their own natural high. My natural high is riding my dirt bike. Even though riding my dirt bike is fun, it can also be very dangerous. It is very important to always wear safety gear while operating an off-road vehicle. Remember to always pay attention to the surroundings.

For some people it's just fun. But for me It's a lifestyle. People ask what is it? It's the sport rodeo. For those who don't known what rodeo is, rodeo is an exhibition or contest in which cowboys show their skill at riding broncs, roping calves and other activities. Rodeo arose out from the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico and later in Central America. People think rodeo is just fun with no work involved. Some even say you're not an athlete, that you can't make a living doing it for the rest of your life. For those who believe that rodeo is not a sport, let's examine these facts.

I grew up in a rodeo family, my parents did it, my grandparents did it, even my great grandparents did it. I have been on a horse, well, since before I was born. I have had a rope in my hand since I knew how to walk. I even won my first buckle when I was three, my first saddle when I was five, and won a trailer when I was eight. I was the best around. Key word there... Was.

Monday October 3rd I was texting my cousin Teagan Snyder and was talking about rodeo season again and she said that she was going to a Leon rodeo and I asked her to ask her mom if I could go with her. Her mom said yes so I hadn’t practiced at all during the week before the rodeo. The Friday night that I got down there I had to get everything ready for the rodeo in one night and it was really hard.

It came down to the final two minutes in the game we were tied with them. Our coach had said that we need a stop, somebody needs to make a play. Little did I know at the time it would be me to make it. They ran the ball to my side of the field, and I made a tackle that resulted in a fumble that led to us scoring. The crowd in the stadium were ecstatic, I had people calling my name from the stands. I was happy at the time, but knew it was to be short lived, because the game wasn’t over. Their was still enough time on the clock for them to tie the game back up. I was almost proven

Danny Mack “Dan” Gable was one of if not the best wrestler and coach in the history of U.S.A wrestling. His lifestyle was so simple, if you want something you need to work for it. “Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy”, (dan gable). What made Dan the most successful wrestling coaches and all around human being? During Dans prime coaching years he motivated his wrestlers to strive for more. How was motivation a big part in Hawkeye wrestling? How successful was Dan Gable?

Walking down through the tunnel of the Hershey Arena has been one of my most decorated moments in my high school career. Last March I had the amazing opportunity of reaching the State Tournament for wrestling. Not only was it the first time I have reached the state tournament, but also Scranton Prep’s first wrestler.

Would you want to do a sport where sweaty guys grab each other? Who doesn’t? This is the general idea of wrestling. I have heard this several times from my peers and I laugh every time that someone comments like that. Wrestling is more than just a sport, it is a lifestyle. Wrestling has taught me more than just hard work and dedication.

As soon as I laid my eyes upon my new team I knew that they were going to need a tremendous amount of work. Most of the team was in seventh grade, I was one of the three eighth graders. That year not many girls tried out. Most girls at my school thought that if you played girls basketball you were lesbian, this was incorrect. New season, new team, and new coaches, who seemed very unexperienced, they were a couple, and they were engaged. I knew that they were going to need assistance with this group of girls. This year was the first time that I was playing basketball again after my yearlong ankle injury and I was eager to have an amazing season, but our team had to work together.

“I wrestled boys. I wrestled girls. I wrestled anything, and everything, remotely within my weight class. I failed every time.” This quote is from Megan Koester in the article, “My Short-Lived Career as a Female Wrestler.” Megan was in high school when she started wrestling; she was horrible at physical education which made her want to join a sport to please her dad, who was a Teen Olympian. In the article it claims she wrestled boys and girls, but towards the end of the article it explains she only wrestled her weight class which was 2 other girls. In “My Short-Lived Career as a Female Wrestler,” Megan Koester asserts that undeserved recognition, dedication, and achievement can happen even to the weakest of participants.

Try new things, but when is comes to handstands, practice with someone with experience. When I was three I signed up for gymnastics, I never listened to the teacher and ran off to the bars. I ended up getting kicked out and gave up on gymnastics because it was “to hard” to listen to the teacher. When i was nine i signed up for the second time and when i walked through those big glass doors, it smelled like all the kids in the building had the stomach flu.

Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is an option. At some points in my life I’ve hated the sport of wrestling. At other I’ve never loved anything more. All in all, wrestling has taught me a lot about myself. When i placed at the state tournament, I learned that no matter where someone comes from they can do big things, if they have the right mindset and the determination.

Striped Shirt Magician. ‘Twas the night of the first fight of Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz. Noah, Robbie, Jameson,James, and I were all skateboarding at the YMCA all day. Then around 9:00 P.M. two cars pulled up both of the cars were sedans. One was red and the other was gray 2 girls got out of the cars and ran down the road 5 minutes later a blacked out coach bus pulls into the Y we were confused me and James ran behind the bricks thinking it was going to be like the purge or like taken or something like that. Jameson,Noah, and Robbie all stood on the sidewalk turned out it was a party bus going to Foxborough. At about 9:30 P.M. James 's Mom picked him up. Then 15min later we decided to go to watch the fight since I ordered it on Comcast. So

Dodgeball; the greatest elimination game on Earth. What would you think if you could never play it again? I, for one, would be crushed that could never play it again. Many principals in Elkton, Maryland banned dodgeball because they believed it was inappropriate. They removed it from the P.E. curriculum just recently. I believe that dodgeball shouldn’t be taken out of the curriculum because it helps them be more aware, teaches them about life, and it leads to more games being taken away.