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As a 1st grader, I joined my first sport ever. I never liked the normal sports like football or basketball though and my parents didn't know what sport they should have me in. I always watched films like bruce lee and all of the martial arts kinds of movies, and that gave them the idea to put me into a taekwondo dojo that they saw near a family members house. I immediately found a passion for it and practiced moves on my own that were way above my level and my higher ups were impressed with me
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I was very curious of the things I could learn from martial arts and was very excited to hear that I could have the opportunity to give it a try. Even when I wasn't practicing, I would look at movies or videos that contained cool looking or new techniques and learned them from just looking at it. I was obsessed and always thought of what I could learn next.
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My dad was also very passionate about me learning taekwondo. I was a small kid and my dad knows a lot about the need of being able to defend yourself. The one concern he had is that I wasnt using my techniques in a real time match. He talked to the masters about it and they did not want to compete. They did not trust that the kids would do well and it would not reflect well on the dojo. He and my master eventually convinced them and I went to nationals in indiana, I placed 3rd and almost 2nd
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I was not sure whether or not I was good enough to take on competition, much less perform well, but I gave it the thought because I wanted to prove to myself that I was a not only a competitor, but a challenger to anyone who would try to stop me from being the best I could be.
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At the time I played baseball, but I didn't enjoy it and taekwondo became too expensive, so I had to leave. I wanted to keep learning martial arts buut there was now way we were going back, so instead I asked to join the local park boxing club. We hada family friend whose son was very good at boxing and thats where he trained. When I got there my hopes were met with negative people. I got yelled around a lot during practices, but I did my best to not pay attention and learn as much as possible.
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Although I had a lot of trouble with the environment I trained in, I did not let the negativity of others get in the way of what I wanted to achieve. So I worked as hard as I could at what I was allowed.I think of it a lot and I came to the conclusion that I never have cared nor will I care about conditions, people, dilemmas, etc. When it gets in the way of my goals, even if it means letting go of almost everything I have to realize those goals
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I joined wrestling because we received a paper from the school that had all of these sports clubs on it. I had seen the german suplex before and though it was cool, so I joined when asked by my parents. My first year was as one would expect, troublesome, lazy in practice, hard to win a match. Most tournaments had four man brackets, I usually took third or fourth.
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I had become a solid martial artist and an average boxer, me and my dad always thought about getting better at the ground game though. My uncle and cousins were all jiu jitsu fighters and wrestler, and I didn't feel like getting my arm snapped at the time, so we decided to join IKWF which is illinois' big grade school group for wrestling. Today, I still have this thirst for learning something new whether that be in the category of jiu jitsu or learning new artistic techniques like painting,
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Although I was not the best wrestler ever, I still really enjoyed it. I always love the idea of two people one on one. No reliance on others, your work against theirs. But I was not working enough and wanted to get better. So I told my parents I'm quitting baseball. They enjoyed watching me but thy knew I was not the biggest fan, my mom was okay with it though because I had gotten hit in the face with a baseball bat the season before and had to go to the hospital to get a couple of stitches.
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I often have to decide between a couple of options whether its small things, or between sports, and often times, it takes a little bit longer than I would like to decide of something
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In my first year of high school, wanted to do a sport each season, and I ran a little bit of cross country as a kid, so I decided to run cross country. I also felt that it would get me in shape for wrestling. I had pretty consistent times and got to meet new people.
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I feel I can be open minded in multiple situations especially when it comes to coming up with ideas, and even more specifically, training methods. I always think of how one thing can help another, even if it may not seem that way.
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I had always been excited to wrestle with a highschool team. Initially I was going to start jv, but when the coaches learned about my experience with wrestling, I was put in between jv and varsity> I would go to jv tournaments, but I would also wrestle with the good competition if I had the opportunity to. The end of this season is where I decided to start getting serious about sports.
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When I get focused on something, it is hard to get me off of what I am focusing on. In the case of wrestling, I never stop thinking about it. New moves, scenarios, goals, everything. When I get focused on school, sometimes I will study for 5-7 hours straight.
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My personal best for 3 miles in freshman year was 18:20's, I started over 23 minutes. I ran with the varsity guys and extra on my own but nothing helped. I thought about quitting. Instead, I decided to go even harder in training, do strength work at home, weekend runs, anything to get me where I needed to be. My last meet would have been city, and I knew i needed to bring my best. That day I ran 17:49. My team freaked out ad i ended up being the 6th fastest on the team.
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Just as being a risk taker and going into things you are uncomfortable with, it is hard to break me mentally and get me to quit, it does not matter whether I hate something or an aspect of something, if I want to see it through, I will.
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Wrestling was just as hard, if not harder than my Cross Country season. I practiced with the team captain to make things harder for me, because if I wrestle the hard to beat guys now, I will be able to learn more and beat more of my competition. Each practice was blood sweat and tears. I cut until my body physically couldn't, almost if I had been purging myself. But I love wrestling so much and I have a goal so I stuck with it and qualified for IWCOA State, best ranking (covid cancellaton)
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I am always training or practicing something. The only way to succeed is to keep working with your craft, finding what you need to work on and fixing it. On top of that, sometimes the process includes blood, sweat and tears. I ended up in tears most of every practice, because my goal was to break my own mentality everyday, so I can heal and come back better than the last time. After practices, I didn't care how hard they were, I just went and did another workout at home.
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XC season was a lot like the last, I am now the 4th fastest on the team now with a 17:22, I am now travelling to Wisconsin to continue training while my competition rests. I have nearly nobody about what I am doing right now, but I know that what I am doing now will help me achieve my inner visions for myself, and I will do anything to see them through. I try my best to keep with grades and then go on 10 mile runs, practice with champions, and work until I become the first Taft State Champion
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This trait means the most to me. I would not be have pretty much any of the other traits listed if I were not determined. I will go to great lengths to succeed, because my determination to succeed and do well in what I love always burns. I always cant wait for another opportunity to train or whatever because any moment can be the moment where I break through and become better than I was before. I want to be and I will be the best me I can be, and I will always be looking for the next best thing.
