I remember the first time stepping inside that circle. With those funky singlets, the headgear, and the shoes. For those of you who aren’t wrestlers, don't know what it takes.

The summer of 8th grade, I fell in love with wrestling. There was a wrestling camp called Center Circle. It was fun, hard, and eye-opening. The demonstrators were the top wrestlers in the U.S, I was blown away. This camp solidified my desire to be the best.Going into my freshman year, I had high expectations. I practiced hard throughout the fall. I trained day and night. My goal was to be a state champion; I imagined being on top of that podium 24/7. Going into my first tournament, I started at 144lb weight class. I won my first meet but lost the second. But I knew this was a long game.

In the middle to late part of the season, I was doing well in most of the tournaments. This kid and I had a sort of a rivalry going on. The first time we wrestled, he spladed me; the second time I won by medical forfeit; the third time we met was the district championship. We both had a strong mindset as we came up through that tournament. I was down by 12 points, and 15 points is a techfall. I had an instinct kick in, and I started to wrestle better. I slowly started catching up to him in points. There was 1:15 seconds left in the match, and I hit a lat drop. Which is a do-or-die move; I did it, and I pinned him to become the district champion.

Moving on to State, I was cruising through the people in my weight, I made it to the semifinals as a freshman. I was going against a 2x state champion. He and I had an ok match, but he ended up with the win. Now I was in the consolation semifinals match, and I was in my head after losing the semis because I was so close. So I came into this match unprepared, and then I lost it. I came off the mat crying, told my coaches I wanted to quit this sport, and never wanted to wrestle again. He grabbed my arm and had a conversation I really needed.

Going into the summer, I was training really hard. I went to an Oregon State wrestling camp with my team. I was wrestling ok but I wasn't really in shape. On the second day, we were doing dual matches. Towards the end of the duals, we had one more left. I was up 11-2 in the matches, and this kid shot a blast double on me. My foot got stuck on the mat, and I tore my ACL. I was heartbroken, one of the worst pieces of news I’ve heard in my life. I had to break the news to all of my coaches, and they were devastated. But I didn’t quit. I had surgery about a month before school. I stayed with my Wrestling team through almost every practice and every meet. Even though I couldn’t wrestle I wanted to stay part of the sport. I took photos and helped coach.

From this injury, I've learned a lot of discipline and patience. I was angry and blaming myself for everything, and had lots of grief. Now I realize it's kinda of a gift, I got to know myself more, and how strong I've gotten mentally and physically.

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