Within These Walls

Within These Walls

Walking into a wrestling room I feel the power within the walls. The things I see, the smells I smell, and the feelings I have are all exposed. Dreams are both destroyed and achieved inside of this room. As a wrestler, I have loved and hated my time within these walls. Every sense a person has, is used while spent preparing for greatness within these walls.

When entering the room my eyes are instantly attracted to the vast size. Each wall tells a different story. From past champions to inspirational quotes the walls allow me to believe in my future. The mats are the stepping stones to greatness. During practice within these walls 30-40 warriors are battling each other for the top spot. Not everyone will win, but life lessons are learned on a daily basis. The room smells like sweat. To the average person it does not smell pleasant, but to us wrestlers that is the smell of hard work. The grunts and moans of wrestlers beating on one another are heard over the blaring music. The constant thud s of bodies smacking the “soft” mats echo within these walls. Throughout the workout whistles screech and coaches yell, for the sole purpose of achieving greatness. On the mat each wrestling is fighting alone to be the best. Every wrestler that has battled within these walls knows the taste success and failure. As a wrestler understand I cannot succeed without failing and that pushes me to strive to be better. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”, said Dan Gable. Bumps and bruises fill the body of a wrestler. Cuts and gashes happen within these walls on a daily basis. The taste of blood is like the taste of success to wrestler. I don’t have time to stop and see what is wrong in the middle of the journey. I simply keep pushing through pain.

At the end of practices I hear voices of encouragement. “Keep going”,