Zach Gadbois Gadbois 1
Mrs. Ramage
P-3
3-30-14
And Then Some
Many people set goals for their life, but very few people strive to accomplish them. I believe that success in life means doing your best and then some. I started wrestling in the winter of my fifth grade year. Before I had decided to give the sport a try, I had always been fascinated by it since my dad had been a Division 1 full-scholarship wrestler.
For the first few years, I treated wrestling as a hobby. My skills were progressing, but I wasn’t taking it seriously enough to become really good. In my sixth and seventh grade year I managed to place in the top three of my district, but the state tournament was still pretty far out of my grasp. I decided at that specific moment that I was done with just coasting along. I wrote down a goal for myself to make it to state the next year and become an all-state wrestler. I knew the road would not be easy and to be honest, I didn’t always want to go to practice. Wrestling a match is one of the most fulfilling things I’ll ever do, but to be honest, practice sucks. It’s long, gruelingly hot, and makes you sore beyond belief. Everything aches and whether it’s a torn knee, a broken nose, or a stiff neck, you’re almost always nursing some sort of injury. Practice is 2 hours of back-breaking work to prepare for your six minutes on the mat. After practicing everyday for six months I was getting worn out and started to fight my parents about going. It was very challenging to keep my goal in mind now that I knew how hard you have to work to become great.
My coach, Scott Revis, could tell I was struggling and told me something that changed my whole outlook and gave me a guideline to live my life by. He said to me, “It’s not enough just to try hard. You have to go until you think you can’t go anymore and then go