In the sixth grade my father dragged to a wrestling practice at Milwaukie High School for the youths league. I was ecstatic about the whole thing even though I didn’t know a single person at the practice. I met the coaches who were great at understanding that I didn’t know much about wrestling perse but knew a lot about grappling because I had done jujitsu before I had gone to any wrestling practices. Something no one knows is that after the first practice to see if you really wanted to wrestle the coaches came up to me and said “Your name is Ricky right? Man you really have a natural talent for this sport and I really hope you wrestle for us this year.” I will never forget what he said to me because that is what really influenced …show more content…
I was right up there to be able to go to State and I knew I could win my weight class if I got the chance to go but I never did. I got sick and I wasn’t able to compete for at least a few weeks, I was struggling to keep my weight where it was I felt like I was dying, the doctors told me don’t wrestle or it will make you worse, so that’s exactly what I did. When I got better the first thing I did was go to wrestling practice, the next wrestling meet which was the last meet to be able to qualify for state I lost my first two matches it came down to the last match. I walk on the mat already exhausted because I wrestled back to back matches, sweat pouring down my face, hands at my hips, breathing heavy, the other kid’s coach saw that and said to him “He’s tired it’ll be an easy match for you” me and the kid shook hands and the referee said wrestle and it was on. I took the kid down with a double leg takedown, I picked him up and he was in the air then slammed down on the mat, I heard and felt all the air come out of him, and within a few seconds I heard the referee slam his hand onto the mat. At that point I knew I had won, I jumped up screaming with my fist clenched in the air then dropped down to my knees with my hands on my head I was so lighthearted in that moment it didn’t matter what happened next. That following Monday at practice they were talking about State they pulled everyone into the staff room, I was told I wouldn’t make the cut to go to State because I was just one win