A Fighter's Life

An Introduction to the Jungle's Beast Monk

LETS GOOOOO!!!!

I’m incredibly happy to have you here and truly feel blessed & grateful to have you reading what I am writing. Welcome to my Substack, finally. My plan for this is to write about a whole lot of topics that really set my stomach on fire and make my heart sing. I hope that it does the same for you, or at least that my writing can add value to your life.

Before I get to giving or providing any information I think it would be nice to start with an introduction to myself. I try and make it a point to really interact with members of the jungle in a very positive manner and get to know about them and their goals so I feel called to tell you all a little bit about me, specifically my introduction to wrestling.

I started wrestling in sixth grade. I was always a very small kid and very undersized for my age. In sixth grade I weighed less than 75 pounds. I had tried both baseball and soccer but neither of them really worked for me. I mean, I was so small that the batting helmet made me look like I was a collectible bobblehead hahaha

In gym class we did a wrestling unit with my High School’s coach. That night I brought home a flier to sign up for pee-wee wrestling. My mom thought it was a joke. Here I was 75 pounds soaking wet and fully clothed and I wanted to wrestle?! Absurd. But she supported me through anything and everything, always has and always will, so she signed the papers and sent me to wrestling practice.

I’ve said this many times and I will say it again. This is the single most important decision of my entire life. Every single moment that followed was fueled completely by this decision, which has brought me to where I am right now. A true blessing.

I started wrestling casually, I wasn’t very good at the sport (somewhat important to note that most people who make it in this sport start at age 5-6). Infact, I would say the opposite. I was pretty garbage at wrestling. This remained the case up through ninth grade. My ninth grade year I was able to wrestle varsity for half of the season. I was still severely underweight even for the lowest weight class but I went 5-4 that season. Four of those wins were forfeits, and the one actual win that I got was against another scrub that got bumped to varsity.

Being born into a poor family didn’t afford me a lot of the opportunities that other wrestlers had. We couldn’t afford to sign me up for the best clubs or send me to all the tournaments, heck 60% of the time we didn’t even have a car. During that ninth grade season an alumni from my high school started bringing me to practices and helping out. I remember one day during practice he was watching and he said out loud in front of everyone “You’re never going to be good. Look at you now, you suck. You just don’t have it.” I wasn’t the man who I am now. I started to choke up. Tears started to stream down my face. This was so embarrassing. A decision was made in that moment, “f*ck that. Who is he to tell me this? Who is he to embarrass me like this?”

Everything changed from this moment. All of the chips on the table got pushed into the center, “All in” I said to myself after that season ended. I went full blown autist in wrestling. That Spring/Summer I started wrestling twice a day, training strength and conditioning every single day (with a man who taught me everything I know about mentality, more on him later). My entire life became about getting extra work in and doing what I could to catch up to those who were years beyond my ability (write that down. Do the extra work daily). God bless my mother because she made some serious sacrifices to even make it so I could afford to compete nearly every weekend. Seriously, all of our families extra money went towards my wrestling.

I came back the next season a much different athlete and competitor and it was evident in the results. I continued with this work ethic for the remainder of my high school career. Training obsessively. I put a cardio bike in my bedroom even. I completely gave up any notion of having friends in high school or being liked or anything like that. To be honest, most of my teammates even hated me. I was no nonsense when it came to wrestling & training. Anyone in my way was going to be told that they were in my way and they either elevate themselves or they get out. All that mattered to me, literally, was improving daily in this sport.

This mindset turned me into a savage. An absolute workhorse. I may not have been the best in the country at the time, but no one and I mean no one was going to outwork me in the room. Why? Because I had to work so hard to catch up to everyone, but then I had to work even harder to pass everyone and leave them behind. This is why I was able to excel at this sport and make it D1 and thus make it to the position I am in now.

This mentality followed me through life and is extremely active in my being now. But it was lost for a period of time after coming to college. The warrior’s spirit that was fostered through wrestling diminished. That’s a story for a different day though. (Spoiler alert: I GOT IT BACK! YALL HEAR ME!? I GOT IT TF BACK)

Thank you so much for reading, I can’t wait to keep writing for you all on a very frequent basis. I love you all and I will continue to pray for the entire Jungle.

Don’t let anyone outwork you, Fighter definitely doesn’t.

GOD BLESS