In my freshman year at Lewisville High School I joined the wrestling team. Originally my only reason for joining this discourse community was to lose the weight I gained over the previous summer, but that changed when I got to experience the joy of wrestling firsthand. Being a part of the wrestling team helped me understand the inner workings of the sport, the importance of team chemistry, and what perseverance can accomplish. Joining this discourse community was the best decision I made high school by far.
In this discourse community I made new relationships with teammates and learned various techniques for winning matches, all while losing a little weight in the process. When I joined the team I had no prior experience with the sport, but
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I had little to no motivation for a while and thought that maybe wrestling wasn’t the sport for me. I had shown promise in practice but as soon as I got on the mat for a tournament or duel I just drew a blank. I wasn’t executing any of the techniques I had learned after so many repetitive drills. I wasn’t the only one that had faced such miserable losses but it felt like it. My teammates helped me through my rut by giving me additional advice during practice and being in my corner while I wrestled matches. It was a great feeling knowing that I had people who had my back whenever I needed help. The wrestling team was a close knit group that dealt with all our problems together. We worked hard and played hard together till none of us could go any further. We were each other’s motivation, rivals, and family on and off the mat. If I had any doubts about a match my team thought the exact opposite and made sure that I understood why they believed so. But what made us a strong unit was the fact that we had similar goals and values. None of us wanted to lose and planned to make it past districts. We all wanted to take home hardware not only for our own self recognition but also to bring back a trophy to put on our principal’s desk who just so happened to love the wrestling program about as much as our team. All of us valued the effort that was put into every early morning practice so no one looked down on each other. The connection we had as a team made my experience wrestling all the more worth
It all started freshman year of high school. I really wanted to get involved in some kind of sport or club. I couldn’t decide what to do. Many people said I should join the lacrosse team and my response was “I have never played before, how am I suppose to make the team”. I always had an interest in lacrosse however I was scared to go out and buy all the expensive equipment and not make the team.. I went home that night and asked my parents what I should do. My dad encouraged me to go out and try. He said it doesn’t hurt to try. That next morning of school, I raced to the athletic office and signed up for lacrosse, and when that bell rang after school I went to the lacrosse store nearest to me and bought all of the gear so that I could make the first tryout. The fist tryout was the day after I bought all of the gear.
I started wrestling when I was eight years old and since then it has taken me all over the world. I had the opportunity to compete in Beijing, China. I learned that the Chinese team was only able to continue their education for a brighter future thanks to the sport of wrestling. Thanks to my involvement in wrestling, I was able to attend and graduate from Penn State University.
It then started to get harder and each day was a different workout to help me and my teammates improve. I was at a point where all I could do was attend school, go to practice and go home. Each day I was beyond tired. At a point of time I felt like giving up and going back to my regular life, and regular schedule. As the coach started to notice how I felt, he pulled me to the side and started to question what was going on. I explained, but everything I said was not a good enough reason. My coach told me, “If this is what you really want you won’t give up, no matter how hard it may get you will overcome it.” That day I learned a valuable lesson, to never give up.
Naturally, I faced the competition of other gymnasts, however, meets were not where my most valuable lessons were learned. The impact was greater in times I wanted to quit, and didn’t. For instance, my flyway, a skill I acquired as a child, became impossible for me to execute as a teenager. Each time I attempted to perform it, I froze, fear lingering in my mind. Frustrated, I contemplated abandoning my passion, yet, due to my persistence, I overcame the obstacle. I found quitting would never provide me the satisfaction I hungered for. Gymnastics also challenged my body. I suffered more injuries than the average gymnast with broken feet, fingers, toes, and elbows, a concussion, and two stress fractures in two years. My final injury, a torn labrum, resulted in hip surgery, six months of physical therapy, and the death of my college gymnastics dream. Through disaster emerged strength to cope with every roadblock I encounter. All of my life I had worked towards that goal, and with the lift of a scalpel, it was shattered. Thankfully, the qualities gymnastics has given me has transferred to every aspect of my life including my academic career. I have put in just as much effort in the classroom as I have in the
Joining a high school baseball team was a commitment. It took over every second of my life; it occupied my every thought and motivated everything I did. My high school baseball team was not easy to become a part of. First I needed prove my skills in tryouts. Then I had to prove my credibility and demonstrate those skills in games while under pressure. Finally I needed to become a brother to every player on that team, I had to be there and have the backs of every single person who shared the dugout with me. My experiences of joining the team included needing to demonstrate and master the logos, ethos, and pathos skills required to be a member of that sacred brotherhood.
Each game, my passion grew. Each team, new memories and lifelong friends were made. Sports sometimes make me feel disappointment and at loss; but it taught me to be resilient to a lot of things, like how to thrive under pressure and come out on top. Being the team captain of my high school’s football and lacrosse team showed me how having a big responsibility to bring a group together to work as one is compared to many situations in life. Currently playing varsity football, varsity lacrosse, and track I take great pride in the activities I do. Staying on top of my academics, being duel enrolled at Indian River State College, working three nights a week, and two different sport practices after school each day shaped my character to having a hard work
no words said after 10 minutes I realized she was in a zone preparing for tonight’s game and I did not want to be the one to disrupt that.
Starting the season as the second ranked wrestler in the state, I was just where I wanted to be, noticed, but not the "top dog". I did well during the season; not losing to anybody in the 3A classification. I didn't do quite what I wanted, but I wasn't going to complain. A broken hand after the second weekend of competition didn't help any, but I fought through it and kept my eyes set on one opponent, one goal, one match, six minutes.
There is only one thing that is worse than wrestling practice, and that is having to sit out at wrestling practice. When I hurt my shoulder and couldn't wrestle, I wanted nothing more than to be on the mat with my teammates. No matter how hard, painful, or stressful wrestling may be, it means more to me than just being comfortable for those two hours. A sheer feeling of accomplishment surrounds a wrestler after removing completely soaked work out gear after practice. The discipline that it takes to be a member on the mat is something I will always have the utmost respect. Although I may always hate humidity because of it for the rest of my life, I will forever carry the discipline that the Hotchkiss High School wrestling room has given me.
During sectionals, our county’s championships, we were seeded against the second best doubles team in the area. Due to this essay’s prompt, you already know that this is no Hail Mary match or heartwarming underdog tale, but rather a story of failure. We lost the entire match in less than half an hour. But the whole time, I remember laughing, bonding with my teammate, and just enjoying myself. I learned that I’m not always going to be the best at everything or the winner of the match, but that doesn’t mean that I should stop trying or stop enjoying myself. Losing that match didn’t take away from all of the hours of hard work that we had put in to get there, and it sure didn’t make our efforts any less
As I started my routine on the back bar, an image appeared in my head. I saw myself seven years ago, hands gripping tightly onto the bar with my chin hovering inches above the surface. My tiny arms were shaking and my knuckles turned ghostly white, but the cheers of my team and coaches motivated me to stay up. Just before the pain became too great to bear, I heard the last girl’s feet hit the floor. I stayed on the bar until I was aware of what was happening, I had just won the annual chin up hold contest! I was overwhelmed with joy as I dropped to the floor, girls running to congratulate me. This contest was a huge deal at my gym. My picture hung on the back wall for a whole year, so I was reminded of my accomplishment every day. I snapped back into reality, smiling to myself. The memories were part of what made the gym so special to me. Just because I was leaving the gym, didn’t mean I was leaving behind all the memories as
I started playing volleyball in seventh grade, and I had completely fallen in love with the sport. Growing up in a small town, our school always struggled to find coaches that were not related to players. In middle school, I would always be so angry that the important named kids got to play in the A team, while I was stuck in the corner with the B team. Eventually, eighth grade year I decided to join a club team, and increase my skill for freshman year. I enjoyed club, I had actually made the one team, and I had virtually no problems with anyone or anything that season. But, just as soon as freshman year rolled around my attitude changes a lot. I’ve gained the perfectionist trait from my mother, and with this mindset in a sport, you’re almost guaranteed to struggle. Freshman year I had just come off of club, so I knew so much more about the sport and its movements. Naturally I wanted to be perfect, I personally believe that I had done really well as a freshman, but when I messed up I became silent.
The sports market has gone from something small you might see around the community back in the days; to something that has boomed into a major economical aspect of countries across the world. Tens of thousands of fans line the ticket booths and entrances to get in to see a game of action packed fun. From scoring goals and big hits in hockey, to 3 pointers and highlight reel dunks, there is a lot that the sports market offers from sport to sport. A career in the sports industry is something I have really considered doing. I love to play and watch sports.
The part I loved about wrestling the most was what it taught me about life. Wrestling greatly reflects the adversity and prosperity in life. Wrestling is an individual sport, just you and another opponent. There is no one that you can rely on: it.
Prior to this year, I had never beat my high school’s rival Copley in any athletic event. Every year for the past five years, me and my teammates suffered defeat at their hands. Until this year, the culmination of years of hard work finally paid off with two wins and the return of our rivalry trophy, the Golden Ball, to its rightful home. This made all of skipped winter vacations, after school practices, and summer open gyms worth it to finally taste victory. While high school sports may seem insignificant in the grand scope of life, the lessons it taught will help me throughout life. It taught me that hard work does pay off, even if the results are not evident at first. During my freshman year of high school I struggled mightily. I