“Hey, do you know where Coach Mathison’s room is?” I say to the lady working at the front desk of the school

“Hmmm, It’s the first door on the left in the attendance building after you walk in and go right on the first hallway,” The lady said with a kind smile.

“How have I been in this school for two years without being graced by her kind smile?” I thought to myself

“Thank you,” ana, and I said collectively.

She was the one that convinced me to come to the meeting in the first place. I was trying to be a supportive friend so that she wouldn’t have to do a demanding sport alone. Going in support wasn’t bad because I didn’t really plan on going through with this. We walked to the attendance building, already forgetting the confusing instructions that the lady had given us. Luckily, however, it didn’t take much searching to find his room. It was a small classroom with three big desks for teachers and about ten or so desks lined up in rows for students. I’d heard of teachers forced into small rooms due to the construction at the school, but this was the first time I saw the effects. We walked in and started toward two desks near the back.

“Hey, come in, take a seat,” said coach Mathison,

A man with medium stature, dressed in khakis and a shirt with our school logo. He talked about wrestling and gave us the paperwork. It was honestly a blur. It was a short to the point meeting. We went home about ten minutes after. I couldn’t wait to tell my brother and friends about this crazy thing I decided to do. They all greeted me with hilarity; they thought I couldn’t do it. Which made me want to do it even more. However, If I were forced to describe myself in one word, it would be lazy. I will find any shortcut for the most minuscule of tasks, and I will put such tasks off till the last possible minute. I am also physically lazy; I have never played a sport or worked out much at all. I would have rather lay in bed all day than go for a run. I have always been this physically and mentally lazy, and I never saw anything wrong with it. If I got my work done and did everything I was supposed to, then what’s wrong with a bit of laziness? This laziness is probably the main reason for the opposition I was met with. However, if they gave me another word, that would be ambitious; although I’m lazy, I shoot for the stars. I simply refuse to do bad. Especially with so many people not believing in me, I felt obligated to prove them wrong.

Preseason conditioning started a couple of weeks after the first meeting. It was a two-week process to get our bodies ready for how physically and mentally taxing this sport truly is. The first day I was exhausted after just 5 minutes. I immediately regretted my decision. I wanted to give up every day and, if I’m being honest, haven’t the slightest clue why I continued to pursue it. About two weeks after that, we began legit practice. I thought conditioning was bad but preseason me had absolutely no idea how bad a forty-minute live session would be, which is non-stop wrestling at 100% for FORTY minutes.

Percentages were a way Coach Rosario would describe how intense our wrestling should be. We would be at 40-50% for regular practice, and for sparing, we would go at about 80-90%. There were three coaches. The aforementioned coach Rosario was the head coach, whose technical knowledge and skill propelled me in the season. Then there’s coach Mathison. He believed in me the entire time when it felt like no one did. He was always so patient with me and took the time to comfort and help me through everything. Then there’s Coach Graves, the “mean one.” At first, I couldn’t stand him; he only spoke to me to yell at me and critique my every move. However, It helped me improve because he said the things the other coaches didn’t. Because of his bluntness, his compliments meant the world to me. The more the season progressed, the more I liked him. Don’t tell the other coaches, but he’s my favorite.

To say I proved them wrong would be a down sight. I placed second in my first ever tournament, which set up a season of wins. At first, people saw me as lazy and bad at the sport, until I began winning. Then I gained many supporters, and many people were rooting for me. It felt amazing to have people on my side who believed in me. On the other side, having supporters made the pressure go up immensely. One wrong move, and I’d lose all this support I worked hard to gain. This fear eventually led to a downfall of sorts. It was the night before I left for the state championship. The brackets had just come out, and I naturally went for a look at my first match-up. My jaw dropped as I saw 26-3. That meant this girl had won 26 matches. That’s more than double the matches I’d done. The more research I did on her, the worse the nerves got. I was overthinking for days leading up to the match. On the faithful day of the match, I shook her hand and immediately took her down. I was doing well, then suddenly my brain told me that she was good, so she’d pull some secret move on me. All the overthinking allowed her to make a simple move on me and pin me. The disappointment on everyone’s face was apparent. Although they all said they were proud of me, I knew they had to say that. I ended up getting 7th place out of 16. I was really disappointed in myself, and I knew I could have done better. I know I should be proud and happy of what I accomplished, but I’m not. Maybe I’ll look back on it later and be proud, just not right now.

In many ways, this sport has been eye-opening and such an excellent way to build a sense of community that I’ve longed to have. Just being on the sidelines yelling and screaming in support of your teammates is such an incredible experience. You feel like you have a second family. It also gave many bruises and scars; however, the wounds will heal, but the memories will never fade. I hate to admit it, but I had fun. There are so many memories of me smiling and laughing with the team. The friends I made, things I learned, and the memories I made will last a lifetime. I don’t know if I’ll ever do this again, but the experience is something I wouldn’t give up for the world.