Ever since I was a little boy, I have loved wrestling. I fell in love with it right from the beginning, from watching other people wrestle.  I was very lucky to start before the rest of my grade. I happened to be best friends with the coach's son, Justin D. We had attended day care together and became best friends. Justin and I started wrestling before preschool, because his dad, Coach D, always let us come to practice and wrestle each other. That is when it all started. 

My first official year in wrestling as a Kindergartner, was terrible. I hated to have to go to practice without Justin, because he was a year younger than me and wasn’t able to go to my practices.  My parents supported me and told me not to give up. I continued through  the season and as the year went on, I fell in love with the sport. Practice was only twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was always at five o’clock, right after the older kids had gotten done practicing. We only could wrestle in tournaments, that were normally on Saturdays. I started to get into a routine of things; Show up to the meet, weigh in, and get ready to wrestle. It was the same every time.
 

After having a year under my belt, my first grade year went a lot smoother. I was more comfortable with how everything ran and I had gotten to start wrestling with Justin. We made each other better when we practiced together by pushing each other. The year was going great until one Saturday in a gym.

One cold Saturday in December of 2004, I had planned to wrestle in the Walker High School. My mom woke my sister, Kortne, and me up at 7 a.m. Dad had started the silver Pontiac Bonneville so that it would be warm by the time we were ready to leave. I ate my lucky cereal, Fruity Pebbles, grabbed my bag containing my wrestling clothes and told my parents that I was ready to go, and then we loaded the car.

The drive was boring, as usual. I just listened to the radio and looked out the window the whole way. Once arriving at the school, I changed into my singlet and went to go weigh in. At the tournaments, you were placed into a group of four people who were close to your weight and were in the same grade as you. I weighed in at a hefty forty-five pounds. After weighing in, I entered the gym, to start to warm up. I went down on to the dark, navy blue mats, next to Justin. We were both beginning to tie our shoes.
I looked at Justin and said, “I’m going to get first today.”
He looked right back at me and said, “So am I. Let's get ready to go.”  
I commented back, “You better.”
We warmed up for about ten minutes, almost starting to break a sweat. The announcer of the tournament had called for the mats to be cleared. Each grade was called out to the hallway and placed into groups. I was placed into a group with two guys and a girl. I had never wrestled a girl before, but I was not too worried because she did not look too good warming up. Of the two boys, I only had wrestled one of them. He was an Indian boy from Bemidji, who I had wrestled several times before. He wore a white singlet with a blue letter B right in the middle of his chest. The four of us were led to the far right corner of the gym.
My first match was against the boy I did not know. He was built just like me, tall and skinny. He wore a dark green singlet. The match did not last long at all. I ended up pinning him in the first period, which made me very excited.
My next match was against the girl. He hair was tied up in a ponytail and she wore a plain, dull red singlet. She was much tougher than I had expected. I beat her by a few points, winning five to two. She was really upset after the match, which made me think to myself, I’m glad I don’t have to wrestle her next.
The final match, was definitely the toughest. Every time that I wrestled this kid, it was always close. In the first period, I had taken him down right away, scoring myself two points. I tried to turn him on his back , but I was unsuccessful. With little time left in the period, he got a reversal, tying the match up two to two. In the second period he had the option to either be down, up or neutral, which is how the first periods starts.  He chose the down position. I had been able to keep him from escaping until he had tired me out, and was able to escape and take the lead three to two. I could hear Justin cheering me on from the side of the mat, like usual. In the last period, I chose the down position also, thinking that if I would escape I would tie the match, or getting a reversal would give me the lead. I struggled to try and get out. I was almost successful a couple of  times, but the last time was when it happened. I was almost out, when the boy was able to re grip his hands around my waist and slam me to the mat. Instantly, I was in pain. My shoulder felt like it had just been stabbed by a knife. The match was over about ten seconds after that. I was defenseless against him and was pinned. After shaking his hand, I went right to my parents and started to cry like a baby. I had never experienced that much pain. My parents told me that it didn’t look like anything bad, which helped me think that is was not that bad. 

We were grouped back together for the awards. To my surprise, there was a three way tie, between the girl, the kid from Bemidji and me. It was a bittersweet win, and I was so excited on the inside, but on the outside, I was hurting. I could not really move my arm and it was sensitive to the touch, so Coach D. had suggested to my parents to take me to the hospital once we got back.

The day seemed to drag on and the ride to the hospital took forever. Once we had arrived at the hospital in Park Rapids, I had to have x-rays on my collar bone. I was scared to get an X-Ray because I had never had one. The hospital scared me because I always thought that is where people died. We waited to get the results for about an hour and while waiting, my parents told me that they did not think it was broken. I did not know whether to believe them or not, so I just waited for the doctor.  I did not want to know the results, fearing the worst. My parents helped take my mind of it by saying that we could go out to supper where ever I wanted. I really wanted to go to McDonalds and get the chicken nugget meal, but I would have to wait for the results first. When the doctor had come back, he told me that it was broken and that I would not be able to wrestle the rest of the year.

It hit me hard. I could not wrestle. I could not practice. I could not do what I enjoyed or loved. How could the doctor be so mean? Why did it have to be me? I had no choice, but to accept it. I would have to watch my friends practice, but I was right by there side, cheering them on. Breaking my collarbone, may have been blessing in disguise. One year later, anxious to get back, I had a mission to go to the state tournament, I would succeed, but that’s a different story.

Thinking about my day, it had its ups and downs. I managed to get first in the tournament, just like Justin. I beat a girl for the first time. Sadly, I would not be able to wrestle the rest of the year. Wrestling, as time went on and things got harder, would soon become just a memory, for I would soon become basketball player. Some days when I think about the match, I can still feel the dull, aching pain in my collar bone.