Personal History
The pounding of my heart seems to get louder with each beat. My slow deep breaths did nothing to calm my stomach. I could hear the crowd getting louder and names being cheered. It’s all I can do to filter out those distractions. I need to focus! My eyes follow the official’s every movement. TWEET! My heart leaps and I am grappling. I can honestly tell you that wrestling is what defines me; leadership, talent, comfort, and family. Wrestling was introduced to me at the age of eight with club wrestling, arising in me a growing desire and ache for competition and the will to win. My love of wrestling developed over the following year and throughout the years, many titles were added to my repertoire. The diversity of wrestling events further increased my exhilaration for the sport. Over the years, there were few wrestlers who I considered my mentors. I believed that these wrestlers led by example demonstrating determination, dedication, and leadership. When I look back, they were the ones that impacted my young soul as an athlete. My obvious love of the sport and true dedication to improving was acknowledged when I was chosen to represent our team in both my junior and senior year as the captain. This honorable position has strengthened my self-confidence by building strong, candid, and respectful relationships with both my coaches and teammates. Holding the title of captain has forced me to develop better communication skills while employing my gregarious personality, and experiencing the complexities of both assertiveness and humility. This leadership role has bettered me in a multitude of ways.
Since my junior year, I have worked my way through a diversity of matches, each providing their unique lessons and moments of joy. The summer between my junior and senior, I was on the wrestling team that competed against an international wrestling team from Germany. Wow, what an experience. The German wrestlers spent three weeks visiting many communities throughout Montana. The night of the dual, we exchanged gifts with our opponent. For me, that was an incredibly different way to start a match. However, it was my senior year that I will classify as an epic way to end a high school wrestling career. Throughout the high school session, I was second or third in the standings. All year, I worked so hard at trying to get around the number one guy. My work ethic and self-drive paid off big. In February, I end my high school wrestling career earning the Montana State “AA” title at 205lbs, the MHSA (Montana High School Association) all-class wrestling tournament is the most competitive tournament of the season. I remember wrestling that match as if it just occurred. My legs were burning, but stopping wasn’t an option. I could hear the echo of my name in the distance which was somewhat subdued by the panting of my opponent. My body had become numb and was virtually moving independently of me. I could see the clock ticking down. The feeling of hard work and ambition had paid off in a once in a lifetime accomplishment, being declared the 205ibs high school state wrestling champion. The highs and lows of competition have constructed for me, a better person and athlete. One of my favorite sayings is by Dan Gable “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”
This last August, I moved to Minot, North Dakota, taking on a new life-defining adventure. Yes, I was scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time. I had agreed to move over seven hundred miles away from home to a place where I didn’t know anyone.
I not only had to get myself situated as far as becoming a new student but also making new friends. This was hindered by all the meetings that I had to attend to learn the NCAA regulations and to sign papers dealing with all the rules of being an athlete. I found that I had very little extra time. Finding classes the first day was a challenge in itself, but I eventually found all of them. It seemed like there was a lot more weight on my shoulders than there ever had been before. Learning to balance all the new tasks in my life as well as start new friendships.
The amount of freedom that I had presented itself as my biggest change and challenge. If I wanted to stay up until the crack of dawn, there was nobody here who was going to tell me otherwise. Some might not be able to see any problems with that, right, well we had conditioning most mornings six AM. The amount of sleep I was getting was less and less than the night before. Dorm life not only meant that I would most likely not find a decent time to go to bed, but my use of the social media was also keeping me up till the wee hours of the morning. It’s funny how you meet people that live in the dorm. As you walk down the hall, you will see that often time people leave their door open. Well, you literally can’t walk by without looking in someone’s room. It’s a natural instinct to look for the rooms that have the door open. What you will probably see is someone playing Call of Duty on the PlayStation 4. There isn’t a dull moment living in the dorm. And you won’t hear me complain that I’m bored, there are always things to do. Unfortunately, as weeks went on, I was finding that it was becoming difficult for me to function. I knew that I needed to make some changes.
Now, my first semester is behind me, and I have gotten a better taste of the true "college experience" I've realized that the expectations that I held in August have changed. I've met plenty of people that I wouldn’t have had a chance to become friends with if I had not come to college. And although the classes are difficult, and the food was worse than I expected and I dealt with two different roommates and their messes, I've grown to like the college environment.
I still miss the security of living at home and the home cooked meals that are nonexistent here and the friends that I grew up with, but I know that we've all changed, and those memories are just that - memories. And when times get too tough my parents are just a phone call away. But I'm not too quick to call them and have all my problems solved. I've learned that I can usually work things out by myself. I'm glad that I've had these experiences as it makes me realize that challenges are just a part of life that everyone has to go through from time to time.
Being a student-athlete, whether in high school or college, can be very stressful. Often, I felt pressure from my peers to do well. I feel extremely lucky that I have always had encouragement from my parents. Regardless of their point of views, I know that their support for me doesn’t change whether I’m on a wrestling mat or several hundreds of miles away. For me, I’m successful because I know that my determination to work hard and ambition for success will never change.