A Newbie's Perspective: After Highschool

I recently came across an article by the Charlatan talking about athletes after highschool. And to no surprise, they found that most

athletes missed the camaraderie and competitiveness of sports.

But the grim part was that most athletes had trouble transitioning into normal life after sports.

My initial reaction to that was, damn, I only got one more year then I’m finished. At most, I wrestle for another four years in university then I’m off pursuing a career. But if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, it ain't so bad. You've got a solid foundation for MMA and there's wrestling clubs and tournaments for adults you can partake in. And I'm not talking about the elite high level ones that the best of the best compete in.

If you do decide to take combat sports to the next level, you already have one of the most important things, experience. And if it's anything I learned from the past six months of getting suplexed. It's that experience triumphs all, by the time you start competing in MMA you've already gone through dozens of wrestling matches and have gotten used to the atmosphere of competitions. On top of that, you already have one of the two required skills, grappling. If you just started out doing combat sports you got to learn grappling and striking before you compete. Whereas you just have to learn striking and start building towards your prime earlier than others.

Maybe you were never the top dog at your club and just enjoyed wrestling because of the environment and how accessible it was. Well no problem, there are many gyms that offer drop in wrestling classes such as Xtreme Couture. But if anything, the best part about the transition that I'm excited for has to be becoming an adult. No more curfews, limited funds, age restrictions, it's up to you to make the fun between your teammates.