I hear the whistle blow and I instantly rush forward, hoping to catch my opponent off guard.

Bad idea… I thought.

As I’m going in for the shot, my knee comes up near my head and he sinks in the nearside cradle. His arms are locked tight around my head and leg, so now it’s just a matter of staying off my back for the next two minutes. He is driving forward with all his might, and I am staying low to the ground, holding on to his leg and not letting go in fear that I would lose the match if I did so. As I’m down on my stomach, my body keeps fighting, but my mind is wandering off. I drown out the crowd, the coaches, and all of the other matches going on around me. I just think. Think about the match, what it would be like to win, to be the first wrestler ever in the state wrestling finals. But of course that probably wouldn’t happen. This was Colt, the kid that beat me by 8 points earlier in the season, the number-one ranked kid in the state. I was not even ranked at all that season.

Then again, think of what it would be like if I did win. How proud my team, coaches and especially my family would be. My mom, the one that has been right by my side encouraging me ever since I was four years old and just joined wrestling. I wanted to make her proud most of all and show her that all of these years of hard work haven’t been for nothing.

Finally, I hear the whistle blow again, signaling the end of the period. The ref flips his coin and Colt wins the decision.

“Defer,” he says as he crosses his arms, signaling it. I can see that he is slightly winded.

So now it’s my choice. Top, bottom or neutral? I think about it and my reversals have been good all season, so I choose down. I get down in my base, I’m ready to start and I hear Colt.

“Let’s go both up,” he said.

So the ref came over and told me to get up. I didn’t mind because that gave me a free point, but then I had to come up with another plan. He already knew that I was willing to shoot on him, so I played that to my advantage. But if I rode this thing out until the end of the period I would probably lose because I was already down by four points and he had the decision next period. I needed something big, and I was going to have to do it quick too.

The head and arm. I thought.

If it’s successful, I could almost guarantee he won’t be able to get up from it. But the move is frowned upon by most because everyone knows how to defend it, and if he reacted quick enough I was going to lose for sure because it would put me on my back. I guess that’s a chance that I was willing to take.

Immediately when I heard the whistle, I lunged forward and get into a tie. I kept my arms around his head and arm and I faked a shot so he would sprawl. It worked and that was exactly what I wanted. I held on tight, forced my hip into him and threw down as fast as I could. I’ve got it! Now I just have to press and try to get him flat on his back and it would be all over. I don’t have a good grip on it, so I just squeezed as hard as I could and he suddenly just laid flat. Everyone was going crazy in the stands. I could hear all of the parents and fans screaming. But I didn’t understand, it couldn’t have been that easy, there had to be a reason.

Sure enough, there was. While I was squeezing the head and arm, he was forcing his body the other way and both of those combined was enough to make him pass out. My celebration was cut short because I had to see if he was alright. I wanted to win, but I didn’t want to hurt him so he couldn’t wrestle the rest of the tournament either. After a few seconds he came to and everything was alright. We shook hands, congratulating each other on the good match before walking off the mat. I looked up in the crowd and saw my mom and sister jumping up and down and hugging each other. This was probably the proudest moment in my life, seeing how happy I had made them. I couldn’t help but have a big smile on my face as I ran up into the stands and hugged my family.

“You beat him!!” Mom said.

Everyone in the section of the stands was shaking my hand and congratulating me. This was also one of the most influential moments in my life. It actually made me believe that if I could do this, then anything else in life is possible if I put my mind to it, think I can, and work for it. I now believe in the things that I try, I have more confidence in myself. This match was very important because what seemed impossible was achieved and now I never doubt myself or anybody else because anything can happen. I will never forget this moment because it has made such a big impact on my life and how I go about every obstacle that’s in front of me.