In life we all have goals, hopes, and even dreams. We begin dreaming the day we are born and stop the day that we die. If we work hard, then we are capable of accomplishing these goals. I had an opportunity to accomplish one of my personal goals that I had worked hard for since I could read. My fantastic achievement was wrestling varsity for the Lewis Cass Kings.

On December 10, 2013, I woke up at 7:00 A.M. to go to school. This day was going to be special for one reason- I was going to wrestle at the varsity level if I could make weight. When I arrived to school the routine was the same but I had not eaten since yesterday. Therefore, I was hungry, irritated, frustrated, and thirsty. Despite all of these factors which could have made my day miserable, I just kept on counting down the minutes until we would leave for Taylor High School. At lunch, I received the news that I was below weight.  I was thrilled and celebrated by eating an orange! One might have thought that this was not enough food, but for me it was plenty.

There was ten minutes left in 7^th period, and  I could almost taste those 30 year old bleach soaked mats. I could barely stand the wait and the anticipation. I thought I was going to explode with anxiety and before I knew it the bell rang and I ran out of the room faster than you could say “take down”. Sprinting to my locker, I got my stuff and headed down to the locker room. As I weighed myself, a grin slowly crawled up my face and I began to feel like I was lighter than air as I stepped off the scale a pound under what I had to weigh. The feeling seemed unreal as I threw on my clothes to get ready for the bus ride.

When I stepped on the bus, I sat next to my friend Hunter Carden, who was also wrestling his first varsity match. We sat there as a couple of freshmen about to experience varsity. This thought lingered in my head as I could only think about arriving at the destination and wrestling.

When we arrived at the school,  it was colder than normal, but I felt warm because I was prepared. Ten years of my life had led up to this, from the wrestling camps, to the weekday wrestling clinics as a child, to the Jr. high wrestling team, and now finally to the present as I stepped off that bus. I was overcome with joy as my teammates and I entered the school. We weighed in and I was confident that the scale would read what I needed it to read. Now was the time, my time. It was about to happen and boy, was I happy. I took off my pants and pulled up my singlet, strapped on my headgear, and pulled up my knee pad. I walked up to the mat as an angry monster since I had not eaten or drank anything.  My opponent stood in front of me and I realized what had to be done. I then shook the hand of my opponent and waited for the referee to blow his whistle.

My pulse was steady as the piercing whistle rang out through the small gymnasium. The sound hit me like a bullet from point blank range. I was now a varsity wrestler. The joy quickly leaped back into my body as I knew there would be time to celebrate later. I had to focus and take care of business. I quickly tied up with my opponent as we  started the six minute long battle that felt like a lifetime. He tried to shoot for my legs but was quickly met with a ferocious cross face that I had come to love. I quickly went up two to zero and  wrestled carefully, because many times before I have seen a good wrestler get pinned because he got over confident. However,  I chopped down his slippery wrist and maintained my joy as I continued the match.  As I had one wrist, I grabbed his other wrist and turned  him on his back. I could feel his desperation as he fought me off his wrist. My breath became shorter and heavier as the 2^nd period approached. The referee asked my opponent where he wanted to be and he chose the bottom. In my opinion he made the wrong choice because I was not going to let him up. After two minutes I would think he would have agreed, because he went nowhere. It was then  my turn and I could not catch my breath. My energy was low and he knew. All he had to do was pin me. However, as I got down in the referee’s position I saw the one thing that made me want to win. I saw my mom, the person who pushed me harder than ever for this night. Then  the referee blew the whistle and I did not move,  nor could I be moved I was a rock. I had 1 minute left until victory and then my plan started to fall apart. The referee was about to call me for stalling, which would not affect the match in the long run but I wanted to win knowing that I gave it my all. At this moment  I fired up and he pushed me out of bounce. Thirty seconds were left and I wanted to prove to everybody that I would give it my all. Five seconds were left as I closed my eyes and opened them to the sound of the buzzer and my opponent with his head down on the mat. I walked back to the line, shook my enemies hand, and looked for the referee. I felt my hand rise up and I was the winner.