Wrestling in the Summer of 2013

My JROTC Marine instructor invited me to join the wrestling team, or at least check it out, since the school was going to have an official team for it the upcoming year. I thought about it, and I said, why not? I understood the process for every sport. There was conditioning, there was learning, there was drilling, there was practice, and there was game-day. I did the three first things, and I didn't do the last thing. That summer I spent a huge amount of time training and a lot of time developing leadership skills because I was also JROTC Senior Leadership Course, so I could become a cadet officer the upcoming year. After each time I met with the SLC, I also had wrestling practice right after each time. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, I didn't get a single day off. Now, I was actually enjoying wrestling. When conditioning day came, it was hell. There were workouts that I have never done before. We had to yell at the top of our lungs over and over again as we worked out. There was barely any rest in between. He made us destroy our bodies, but for good purpose. I knew that the thing about wrestling was to last long in a wrestling match with another person, and typically, a person gets extremly tired in a 1v1 against another person. They must, at all times, be focused on their opponent and what they had to do. The first day of sparring, I got my ass handed to me. Everyone laughed at me, and I felt embarassed, and I thought about just leaving right then and there, and my instructor stopped me. He knew that I am better than them, and I just had to keep believing myself if I wanted to learn how to wrestle better.

I stayed, and I went to the week long wrestling camp where we learned even more workouts as well as new moves to try on our opponents. We practiced the moves on each other, and it was still enjoyable even if I found myself sweating with muscle pains all over my body from all the throwing and the soreness of my muscles being worn out. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I got much better towards the end of the summer, and I started taking down the other bigger students. They were all impressed at my progress. The instructor also taught us self-defense moves at random times just for the hell of it. I didn't mind since I just wanted to learn more.

I noticed that because of this, I started getting a bit more popularity. I'd get comments like "Yo Johnny, I heard you took down ____" and others like "you should totally wrestle me" and then "I heard you're in wrestling" blah blah blah. It was fine, and I didn't mind it. When Junior year came, and the official wrestling team was about to be set...

I didn't join.

The reason why is because I actually got extremely busy that year. I had to worry about cadet officer duties. I also had to worry about my first ever AP classes. I didn't have the time to have another extra curricular on the side because it would have ended up making my grades worse. Junior year was one of my best years, and I don't know what difference would it have made if I didn't join wrestling. My instructor was still happy that I was a part of it in that summer, and I sure as hell won't forget everything he taught me, as well as the camp instructors at the wrestling camp. It was a great thing for me to do that summer, and I did enjoy it a lot. A lot of my friends ended up joining after that summer I did it, and although I would have loved to have been a part of it again, I had to think correctly.

Either way, my choices depended on the circumstance I was in, and I was still happy of the friends I made and things I learned. Oh, wrestling in the summer of 2013, was one of the things I won't forget.