Joshua Hammers '17 Recruiting Profile

Wrestling is to me what breathing is to another. I started this sport when I was in third grade and I was absolutely terrible at it. Every day was a huge struggle whether that be in the practice room or on the mat. I didn't win a match my whole first year, in fact I didn't win a tournament until my sixth grade year. To me wrestling is a culminating experience of all my hard work. In the classroom I was almost held back, but after being introduced to wrestling I learned the work ethic it takes to excel in the classroom. I have also taken it upon myself to share my passion for wrestling in the community. I love to teach wrestling to the interested youth, even making it part of my senior culminating project, and I hope to become a coach in the future.

It's taken more than half my life to get to where I am at and I am still trying to improve. This sport has taught me to work hard and persevere throughout all of my life. Before I started wrestling I had bad grades as I had no desire to be successful. I also managed to have little to no friends, but when I started wrestling all these things improved, my grades went up, I made friends and so forth. No other factor in my life has done such impactful things for me. I would hate to know the person I would have become if wrestling was never introduced to my life.  

Wrestling is something at this point in my life I cannot live without, and is something that I hope to continue in college, not only to continue my wrestling career, but to continue making myself a better person.