Thursday, September 12, 2013
It's the "holy grail" of high school wrestling, the end your wrestling career rests on: a state championship. There can be only one in each weight class, a mere 14 winners per year forged from hundreds of hopefuls. Its the coveted prize that my father never won in his high school career, so I was brainwashed to believe, beginning in fifth grade, that I had to win one.
From fifth grade to ninth grade I wrestled because my dad bought me things. Wrestling was the currency that got me the newest toy or the latest video game.With this always in the back of my mind, I attended every practice and competed in many matches. I won some and I lost some and, in the beginning, either was alright with me. As it turned out, wrestling came naturally to me and I won more than I lost. By the start of my freshman year, my presence on the wrestling team was anticipated by the coach and my new teammates. During that year I won a lot, but mainly because I knew my team was relying on me . I barely advanced to the state tournament and was eliminated almost immediately.
By my sophomore season, I began to be recognized in the state and was ranked 10th in my weight class. A championship was on the horizon, still a longshot, but not impossible. At the state tournament I was in a must win match with an unranked wrestler, I should have won easily. Instead I found myself in triple overtime fighting not to be eliminated. I lost. A feeling of defeat burned inside me. The season was over for me, and I would have to wait 365 more days until I could try again, and even then nothing was guaranteed. I had a decision to make, use the defeat to inspire me or accept mediocrity.
Whether I win a championship this year or not, I've learned that my failures are as valuable to me as my successes. That loss pushed me to work the hardest I ever have to try to win a championship. It also taught me to be motivated for the right reasons, with the goal of bettering myself. The season is coming up fast, and now we just have to wait and see what happens!
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Keith, sometimes in narrative writing like this, the most engaging element for the reader is the writing style. Everyone has a story, but only the author that can bring that story to life will garner an audience. Fortunately, you write this post very well, and I was engaged the entire time. Great job. There are one or two minor errors, but nothing that really detracts from the quality of your story.
ReplyDeleteI do have one observation that you might want to consider if you ever write about your wrestling again. Although wrestling, and thinking about wrestling, clearly dominates much of your time, I sense a dispassionate tone in your post. I thought for sure, by the end, you were going to reveal to us that you had quit the team. You write that you were "brainwashed" into wrestling, that it meant nothing more than gifts. You also wrote, not that you looked forward to wrestling each year, but that the team merely "anticipated" your "presence." You even admit that early in your high school career, you didn't even really care if you won or lost. This is fine, but it does not really correspond with the "feeling of defeat" that "burns inside" you. I get the sense that you could care less if you wrestled.