My freshman year of high school, I started wrestling, and I ended up loving it more than anything I'd ever done.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I was a kid, I wrestled my high school amateur wrestling in junior year.
I started wrestling at ten. I played a lot of other sports: soccer, football. I really enjoyed skiing. But wrestling just took off for me. It seemed to be the sport I had an affinity for; I liked the individual, combative nature. There's something special about that. It took me all the places I wanted to go.
I just started watching wrestling in 2008, and I've loved it ever since. I told my mom I wanted to become a wrestler.
I'm going to be wrestling for as long as I can. It's something I'm very passionate about and something that I love.
I grew up in a town with a great wrestling tradition. Then I was a team sport queen in high school; I played softball, volleyball, and soccer. Oh, and I also did ski racing.
In college, I tried to start wrestling as soon as I could and when it was available to me, as I loved competing, and then got into MMA under Pat Miletich, where I was able to sharpen all my skills and develop into a true fighter.
Instead of being like the other kids going to soccer or football practice, I was wrestling every day.
I played football. I wrestled. Those were team sports and I played for the school. When I was younger, I played kick the can and stuff like that. I loved that.
One thing I was proud of when I did the college talks was that, although stories revolved around experiences that I had in wrestling, one did not need to be a wrestling fan to enjoy them.
I was an amateur wrestler, which I loved. It was my passion, but I started really late; I was a junior in high school when I began.