Getting seeded third at sections felt good because I was only an 8th grader. But I already viewed myself as placing high before the tournament started. Then all of a sudden I was wrestling for fifth place, I was thinking to myself, “What happened, I thought I was supposed to take third, but I am going for fifth?” I was all caught up because I was supposed to be going for third, but now I was not there. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, TIME, and in a flash I took sixth not knowing what had just happened. I was devastated. “I was supposed to take third,” I thought, walking off the mat. That day was not good, and I knew something had to change. 

Going into the offseason I knew something needed to change, so I reflected and could not come up with anything. So, I went to my parents and coaches, and we talked about it. We all came up with not focusing on the outcome but on where we are and taking it one match at a time. So when the new season came around my coaches kept reminding me to stay in the present, and all season they said that which helped me a lot with staying relaxed. It showed by having one of the best seasons of my life; it was just win after win, but then I started to get close to our school's single-season pin record. I was starting to focus on the record instead of just wrestling one match at a time. I started going downhill but still barely winning. I was once again focusing on something I had not achieved yet. So my coaches asked me what was wrong, “I couldn't focus on wrestling if I was so close to that record” I told them. 

With sections right around the corner and that record within reach, I felt a lot of pressure. So, I had to try to take it one step at a time, not focusing on anything but my match and then the next. I was the one seed, but many people said I should not be the one seed and I was not capable of winning it. The first day was easy; I only had one match and pinned my opponent in 45 seconds, with that pin, I tied the school record and was one step closer to breaking it as a freshman. The next day came around and I was in the semi-finals against a kid I had beaten twice. As we started the match I started to feel some pressure a couple of seconds in; I was starting to tense up and he shot in on my leg, luckily I fought it off and took him down, and finished the period. The whistle blows and I talk to my coaches and they tell me to calm down and wrestle. I won the coin flip so I could choose if I wanted to go top, bottom, or neutral. I chose the top because I knew I could pin this kid. The whistle blows, he stands up, and I pin him back to the mat with my move. With that pin, I broke our school's single-season pin record with 31 pins. But I still had my first-place match to wrestle, I told myself.

 Then my finals match came around, the arena was pandemonious and felt like it was getting bigger minute by minute; with it looking like it was almost being sold out. I had not wrestled this kid in years, but it would be a fun match. They announce my name, the match starts, and I take him down. But then I do some stupid moves and he reverses me, and then I reverse him again and get a quick couple of points with a turn. With that turn the first period was over. The coin flipped in the air and he got to pick his position; he chose the bottom immediately. He stood up and got away; then, I took him down and held him there for what felt like forever but it was only one minute and 45 seconds. The third period came around; I chose top and I was up 11-3. The match was almost over but a lot can happen in one period. We start and I hold him down, but then he reverses me and gets on top with one minute left. He was holding me down; I stood up but could not get away. Then, finally, the whistle blew and the match was over “I am going to state,” I thought to myself as the excitement ran through my body as I ran off the mat to talk to my coaches.

I came into the section tournament last year expecting to do well even though I was not there yet, but I should have just focused on where I was at and moved on from there. Talking to my parents and coaches with a little trial and error, I found out that I should take wrestling one match at a time. With that, I have also been trying to take life one day at a time and not focusing on something that is not here yet. So, once I learned to take wrestling one match at a time, I discovered that I could do a lot more.