My Comeback Season by Tyler

My Comeback Season by Tyler - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

I have enjoyed playing many sports throughout my childhood including soccer, football, and track just to name a few. However, the sport I love the most is wrestling. In the eighth grade, my best friend encouraged me to come to wrestling practice with him and try it out. That day was the ranking day for the varsity spot. He had not informed me of this prior to agreeing to come and, with very little knowledge of the sport, I didn’t expect to get the spot. There were three other wrestlers fighting for the varsity spot at my weight who each had more than a year of experience. My best friend taught me two moves: a double leg to take down my opponent and a stand up to get away from him. With only those two moves, I was able to beat my first opponent, then my second opponent, and finally my last opponent! I had earned the varsity spot on the team on my first day of practice! From that day on I considered myself as a wrestler.
Being thrown into the varsity lineup was a tough task but my team depended on me to be competitive and give my best effort every time I stepped on the mat. My eighth grade season consisted mainly of learning the rules of the sport and learning the basic moves of wrestling. At the conclusion of the season, I wrestled at the junior high state tournament only winning one match. The next season, my freshman season, I was the only kid at my weight on the team, so I was automatically the varsity wrestler at that weight. The transition from junior high wrestling to high school wrestling was a tremendous challenge for a freshman with only one year of experience, like myself. Regardless of the challenge, I picked up on the sport very quickly and competed well. The top four placers at the high school regional tournament qualify for the state tournament the following week. Making the state tournament is the ultimate goal of a high school wrestler but I fell short of that goal my freshman year. My sophomore season was almost a mirror image of my freshman season. I continued to improve my technique and win matches but, again, I fell short of making the state tournament.
However, my junior year of high school was undoubtedly my best season of wrestling thus far. I had established myself as a leader in the wrestling room and as a top contender in the state at my weight. I was not only winning matches and placing at tournaments, but I was wrestling with close to perfect technique and I was in the best physical shape of my life. I was on track to place at regionals and make the state tournament, until I injured my hand mid-season. My team was dueling another team and when it was my turn to wrestle my coach made me wrestle the weight above me to try and win the duel. I was wrestling well the entire match and was winning until the last 5 seconds. The referee made a terrible call and gave the other kid a point. Because of that, I lost the match in overtime. When I walked to my coach after the match he said to me, “I know that was a bad call. You should have won that match but you can’t let the match get that close and allow the referee to dictate the outcome.” I was so upset after the match that I went into the hallway of the gym and began pacing back and forth. All I could think about was that match and how I should’ve won. My anger built up so much that my mind “blacked out” and I punched the cinder block wall as hard as I could. The next day I got a x-ray of my hand and found out that I broke two bones in my hand. That was the end of my season and my chances of making the state tournament that year.
My hand healed completely by summer and I immediately started training again. My senior year of high school was my comeback year. I had to redeem myself and prove to myself and my teammates that I learned from my mistake. It wasn’t easy, but over time I learned to control my emotions better, especially in my wrestling matches. I trained harder than ever before so that I would be prepared for the regional tournament. Once the regional tournament came, I directed my emotions from the past in a positive way and used that energy to my advantage. I placed fourth in my region and finally accomplished my goal of qualifying for the state tournament! Although I did not place at state, I could look back on my wrestling career and be satisfied with all of my accomplishments.