As my high school career is coming to a close, the fear of having nothing after hits me hard. My wrestling has been a part of my life since I was six and to not be able to do it or anything like it scares me. When my coach introduced me to a new sport called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or BJJ, I instantly fell in love with the sport. It let me feel like  I was wrestling again and the fears had disappeared. BJJ has become the new thing holding my life together. 

It’s the sport that has become my life’s sport and makes me feel like I’m doing something right with my life and my coach is pushing me to compete and go to more and more competitions. I truly believe he has me in the best spot of my life, and I thank him. He has become a major part of my life and the wrestling team’s life. The way I have grown from wrestling to going onto BJJ and it has changed the way I see the world. The fear of nothing being there has disappeared and the hope for something bigger and better has emerged.

The hope for something bigger has helped me keep pushing forward and upward and the adversity of self conflict that I had to face. I got help from not only my coach but also my team and parents for the support and now I’m helping others see it as well. Bringing past wrestlers that missed the sport into the BJJ room and showing them they can gain something new from moving forward from their past, it will help them gain the ability to compete and get the feeling of doing something bigger than themselves again. 

This was a monumental moment for me and I’m sure I’m not alone in this experience. This is my story of how my life got rolling again with the help of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and my friends around me.