The Beginning - 11/10/03 01:27 AM
My seventh grade son was recently given an assignment at school to do an essay about a personal life changing event. I thought you might enjoy what he wrote. I know I did. I edited it just a little bit for spelling and punctuation.
The Beginning
I was just a little boy, only seven; I was in the first grade. I had no idea what I was getting into at the time. My teacher passed out a notice, one of those little booklets with sports and stuff in it. I was excited to get home so I didn’t pay any mind to it. I just put it in my backpack and left. As I got in the car I had no idea I in my mind that the little notice was going to change my life forever.
I got into the car and my mother asked for the notes like she always did. She saw the notice and didn’t pay it much mind. We got home and I went off to play. My mom laid the note on the counter. I was playing tag outside with my sister when my dad got home. We went and gave him hugs, and he sat down and looked at the notice. He spent about ten minutes looking at the notice, and then he asked me if I wanted to wrestle for a wrestling club. I thought about this for a moment and decided to wrestle. I had no idea what was going to happen later on in my life, I was just a tiny boy. So I said with a smile, “Sure dad.”
The next week I didn’t think about wrestling at all. It kind of surprised me when my dad told me he was taking me to practice. On the car ride there I looked out the window at the sunset, wondering what wrestling would be like. When we got there I had to put on my shoes. I got out on the mat with about sixteen other boys. I was ready to wrestle.
It was a boring first practice. I just learned the rules to the sport and ran a few drills. I had no idea what practice would be like later on and I didn’t care, I was very tired because it was past my bedtime. As I went to bed I dreamed I was the wrestling champion.
Practice got harder and I was ready to wrestle when the first meet came around. When I entered the area I heard the crowd roaring and my ears hurt. When my first tournament was done I had a third place medal in my hand. The tournament lasted all day. We stopped and got dinner on the way home.
Five years later I was standing there with the crowd roaring at the state finals, I was never so happy in my life. This had been my dream for forever. The other wrestler came up shook my hand and the ref raised my hand. I had won the state title. I was so thrilled. I couldn’t believe it. My parents were proud of me too.
So how did I go from third place in a little meet to being the number one wrestler in the state of Kansas, I have to say it was all the hard work I went through to get there. It was all worth it. I can tell you that. I can’t wait until next season. Practice will be starting in a month. It is a lot harder now that I am older, but still I think it is worth it to wrestle. I am never happier than when I am on the mat.
If someone told me I would be state champion some day, I would have told him or her they were crazy. I can’t tell what is in the future for wrestling and me, heck no one can. All I know is I will never stop working hard, and that this is only the beginning, only the beginning.
The Beginning
I was just a little boy, only seven; I was in the first grade. I had no idea what I was getting into at the time. My teacher passed out a notice, one of those little booklets with sports and stuff in it. I was excited to get home so I didn’t pay any mind to it. I just put it in my backpack and left. As I got in the car I had no idea I in my mind that the little notice was going to change my life forever.
I got into the car and my mother asked for the notes like she always did. She saw the notice and didn’t pay it much mind. We got home and I went off to play. My mom laid the note on the counter. I was playing tag outside with my sister when my dad got home. We went and gave him hugs, and he sat down and looked at the notice. He spent about ten minutes looking at the notice, and then he asked me if I wanted to wrestle for a wrestling club. I thought about this for a moment and decided to wrestle. I had no idea what was going to happen later on in my life, I was just a tiny boy. So I said with a smile, “Sure dad.”
The next week I didn’t think about wrestling at all. It kind of surprised me when my dad told me he was taking me to practice. On the car ride there I looked out the window at the sunset, wondering what wrestling would be like. When we got there I had to put on my shoes. I got out on the mat with about sixteen other boys. I was ready to wrestle.
It was a boring first practice. I just learned the rules to the sport and ran a few drills. I had no idea what practice would be like later on and I didn’t care, I was very tired because it was past my bedtime. As I went to bed I dreamed I was the wrestling champion.
Practice got harder and I was ready to wrestle when the first meet came around. When I entered the area I heard the crowd roaring and my ears hurt. When my first tournament was done I had a third place medal in my hand. The tournament lasted all day. We stopped and got dinner on the way home.
Five years later I was standing there with the crowd roaring at the state finals, I was never so happy in my life. This had been my dream for forever. The other wrestler came up shook my hand and the ref raised my hand. I had won the state title. I was so thrilled. I couldn’t believe it. My parents were proud of me too.
So how did I go from third place in a little meet to being the number one wrestler in the state of Kansas, I have to say it was all the hard work I went through to get there. It was all worth it. I can tell you that. I can’t wait until next season. Practice will be starting in a month. It is a lot harder now that I am older, but still I think it is worth it to wrestle. I am never happier than when I am on the mat.
If someone told me I would be state champion some day, I would have told him or her they were crazy. I can’t tell what is in the future for wrestling and me, heck no one can. All I know is I will never stop working hard, and that this is only the beginning, only the beginning.