Helene Velecela '24 Recruiting Profile

Hi I'm Helene Velecela. I started wrestling in my sophomore year of High School. However prior to that I've done multiple martial arts. I first started with Karate, moved to Tae Kwan Do, did Kick-Boxing, then Jiu-Jitsu, and finally Wrestling. Wrestling however feels so much like a love and hate relationship. There are moments in which I hate going to practice because it's hard and tiring and I wish to just get it over with, but then there's the other side. Where I feel proud of going through it, where I push myself and work harder because I want to be better. To be honest I started martial arts because I had anger issues as a kid. However I've grown to seem them as not only as an output for stress but also as a way to better myself as a person. That despite things going hard or tiring, that with sticking it out and just working even harder you can be proud to say "I never gave up."