Young Champion
Edward Malone
Eng. 121 – English Composition I
Professor Albert Abonado
July 27, 2014

This essay is about my youngest child and his accomplishments as a youth wrestler. He was the first one in our family to be a youth state wrestling champion. Until that time he had placed seventh, third, fifth, and second concurrently at the state tournament. To watch as he grows as a wrestler and an athlete, as both a coach and parent, was incredible. I believe that there were many factors to his success. First off he, along with his twin brother, were literally born into the sport. Meaning that he was born at the beginning of the wrestling season and both his older brother and older sister were also wrestlers. So he was watching practices and matches before he even got on the wrestling mat. I think that with his older siblings being athletic and he observing them participate in athletics gave him an opportunity to absorb so much more. With his success I started to notice that he had more drive and determination. Instead of me saying that we had to go practice or to a tournament, he was asking if we can go to practice and wanted to go to as many tournaments as we could. From the time he started wrestling he has always been supported by his family. No matter what, we all supported his decisions. Whether he wanted to practice, go to tournaments, or even take a little break. We always let him make the decision, as still do. Even when he isn’t practicing or competing there are many times he is asking how do to different types of wrestling moves. I know that as a coach I know what it takes to be successful and trying to instill that into my own child can be difficult to do. That is why after a couple of years coaching him I decided to step back a little and let our other coaches start coaching him more and more. I believe that if he can acquire knowledge from other coaches it will make him a more rounded wrestler. For the championship match, the year he won states, I was fortunate enough to have one of our other coaches coaching him and I got to feel the excitement and joy of being a dad instead of a coach. The emotions that followed his win were unbelievable. There were so many emotions involved. I was excited, over joyed, and relieved all at the same time because it was such an intense tournament and match, and I was so proud of him for all of his hard work. The success, work ethics, and determination he has gave him more opportunities to wrestle in a national setting. He has been invited several times to wrestle as part of an all-star wrestling team for our state for the past five years traveling to other states to compete. He has also been given the opportunity to participate in several national tournaments. In many of these national tournaments he was been successful enough to earn All-American status. Some of the national tournaments he has participated in have been individual tournaments. His participation in those tournaments have resulted in him winning three of them, which gives him the privilege of being called a three time national champion. When I talk to him about these tournaments he understands that the preparation for these tournaments is a little bit different than the local tournaments because of all of the different styles that many wrestlers use.
As a coach, I believe that with all of the extra experience that he is receiving it will benefit him as he gets older. With him still being young, as a father, I am hopeful that he understands that this is just the beginning of being successful and that he has to continue working hard, gain experience and keep his determination to continue with the success. When I talk