I began wrestling at the age of 13, at the beginning of my grade 8 year. By competitive standards, this is quite late to start such a demanding sport, and it definitely showed in my first few years of competition. At that point in my life, wrestling was by far the most difficult thing I had ever done, and that may still be the case. It was very difficult to come to long practices and show up to tournaments knowing that everyone else had more experience than I did. However, the lessons I learned and the attributes I gained from the sport made it all worth it. Because of how extremely difficult wrestling can be, it teaches you how to push through difficult tasks like no other. I personally gained a significant amount of confidence from wrestling. The sport had a tendency to challenge you constantly, whether that be physically or mentally, and from all the years training, the sport has bulletproofed my mind. Seeing the personal benefits it has provided me, I hope to promote this sport to larger audiences, especially younger generations, so they too can have the absolute privilege to wrestle like I did.