Almost the Wrestling State Champion :: Memoir Essays

Almost the Wrestling State Champion      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There he was, standing one step above me on the platform. He was wearing his maroon colored warm-ups and holding the bracket that the champion always wins. Over the school's announcement system I could hear the announcer saying, "In second place from Hotchkiss, Derek Blitz, and your champion at 103 pounds, from SoRoCo, Josh Deaver." I just stood there hanging my head wondering why he was getting the first place medal and I wasn't. After all, I had worked hard in practice, but in the end I couldn't pull off the win. Now I could only mope around knowing that I had almost won and continue replaying the match over and over again in my head.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On Monday of the week before the tournament, I lost my varsity position in a close challange match. Once that happened, I started to go through the practices without any intensity. All week I was acting like I was practicing as hard as I could, but I was really only putting in enough effort to make sure we didn't have a harder conditioning than normal. Since I had lost my varsity position, I had it stuck in my head that there was no reason to practice very hard. After all, I was going to be wrestling on JV.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On Friday, the coaches told us to be at the high school by 6:15 the next morning, so that we could make it to Paonia for weigh-ins at 7:00. The next morning I arrived at the high school by 6:00, and then I went into the locker room to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. By the time we arrived at Paonia, it was almost time for weigh-ins. A referee walked out into the gym and called all 103 pounders to the wrestling room. I walked up to the scale where two other refs were waiting to make sure no one had long nails or ring worm. Next, I proceeded to step on the scale to see if I would make weight. The ref, who was at the scale, then said, "102 pounds, step off." A huge feeling of relief swept over me, and I soon realized that I was going to give 110% to wrestling that day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At about 9:00, the tournament began and I was on the first open mat against the 103 pounder from Middle Park. I looked over my opponent and said to myself, "I am going to win this match.