My Favourite Tournament

My favourite tournament I have ever been too was Summer Nationals 2019 in New Jersey which is run by NUWAY. I loved this tournament because overall it was a great experience. This was the biggest tournament I had ever gone to having over 50 mats and the longest one spanning over three days.

Experiences

I had a great time going too and in New Jersey. To go to New jersey I was in a car with my coach and some teammates. The drive to New Jersey is a long eight and a half-hour drive so it consists of a lot of sleeping and stories. At the hotel, it was always a good time to spend time with my teammates from all around Ontario walking around the hotel spending time at the boardwalk. Overall it was just a great time to make connections with my teammates better and a fun weekend.

The Wrestling

The wrestling there was at a very good level. There were no easy matches you had to work for every single win you got. Over the three days, the first day was the dual meets. For the number of people we had, we did pretty well, but unfortunately, we didn’t have a full roster so we had no way of winning a dual. On the second day, it was folkstyle and I believe this was the hardest tournament I have ever competed in. I feel like I wrestled good but there were many things I could have done better. On the final day, it was freestyle which I feel much more comfortable wrestling but to be honest, by the third day I was gassed and realized I need to fix my cardio I feel like I could have done really well but I didn’t wrestle with the grit that I should have wrestled with.

What I Learned

At this tournament, I learned many things such as there’s always someone that can beat you and that I needed to get my cardio better. I realized I needed to get my cardio better when on the last day of wrestling I was very tired and sore and instead of pushing through the pain and tiredness I took my wrestling down a level and got beat.

Overall I loved this tournament I learned so much and had many great experiences with my team. Sadly I couldn’t go to the tournament this year due to COVID-19 but i plan and hope i can attend this tournament in future years.