Day 6: The Mental Game

Prompt - Personal growth isn’t just physical in sports—mental toughness is key. Write about a time when you had to outthink or outlast a challenge mentally to succeed.

Quick Synopsis

I toed the line in my very first varsity dual meet as a freshman starting at 189 pounds. I had some success in youth wrestling but never placed at state. My freshman year I was pretty timid and literally outmanned in a lot of matches.

Our first dual meet started at 103 pounds. I would be the third to last match, so I had plenty of time to mentally prepare for this match. My nerves were there big time. My dad, brother and I went to nearly every high school match as I was growing up, so I’d watched so many kids wrestle in that gym. But it was my turn to step into the circle and show the town what I had.

As I toed the line, I was confident I was going to win. This kid didn’t seem like he would be that much better than me. The second we locked horns, I knew I was outmatched, strength-wise. I knew I had to out wrestle him, out smart him to beat him.

The team points were really close. We needed to win two of the last three matches to win the dual meet. We were favored in one and it was a tossup for my match and one of the other matches.

Pressures on!

The score was close but he had the lead. I was on bottom and he was working to turn me in an arm bar. As he was running it, I felt him fall to his hip and felt that split second opportunity to make a move.

I pushed back into him, knocked him over, saw he was on his back and arched my back to keep him there.

Whistle. Slap of the mat.

The crowd erupts and I hop up and swing my fist in joy. The ref raises my arm in victory!

Defensive pins are rare in wrestling. It takes an opponent getting out of position and someone else either taking advantage of it or the ref noticing it. Fortunately for me, we had both!

Lessons Learned

1. You can see something or do something a thousand times but you may not know what that experience is like. I watched thousands of matches in that gym but when the whistle blew for the first time, it felt different. It was a different kind of pressure, a different feel, a different experience than I had expected.
2. Take your opportunities! I had a split second to make my move and put him on his back. Sometimes, you only have a split second to make a decision and hope it’s right.
3. Lean into others experiences. I wish I would have talked to my teammates to get a real feel for what it was like to toe the line in our gym. To wrestle kids four years older than you who are more mature. To understand more about their first experience on the mat. You can talk through these things and gather information, but each experience is unique. Each experience teaches you something new and different but gathering information can really help.

Correlation to Career

1. The first time I stepped in front of a room to speak, I felt very unprepared. I HAD to have notes and HAD to read them. Talk about a rough experience! When writing this article and reflecting back on this moment in my sports career, it had me think about how I felt unprepared for my first varsity match. It wasn’t anything the coaches did, I just thought it would be like any other match I had in my life, but it wasn’t. That feeling stopped over time with some intentional work. In hindsight, I should have been more open with my coworkers about my struggles so they could help me through my issues.
2. Take your opportunities (again)! I’ve had numerous career moves in my life and they all happened because I made a connection or created an opportunity to meet someone from that organization. My internship came from a relationship I made in college, my next job again came from a relationship I made in college, my next job came from my summer help work in college, my job after that came from a LinkedIn message and my current job came from my brother and our desire to make an impact on our communities together. I wonder where I’d be if I didn’t foster those relationships.
3. Be you. When the ref slapped the mat, I jump up and threw my first to celebrate in joy. Did I do it for attention? Absolutely not. I did it out of pure elation. In business settings, I’ve found that you become wildly successful if you stay true to who you are and just focus on being you. Don’t try to fit into what people think you should be.

This was day six of Growth. Leadership. Sports. I really hope you are enjoying it!

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