Cameron's ADHD Blog – Wrestling

One of my interests has been wrestling and in Part 2 of my blog (out of 5), I will now talk about how I participated in this activity with ADHD. I was a part of my school's wrestling team from 7^th grade to my senior year of high school. I did not want to do the sport at first because I would have to stay after school and I hated the thought of that. Of course, being around a group of people I did not know at the time meant that my ADHD would affect my self-esteem.

Instead of staying after school for the first day of practice, I went home instead of reporting in with the coach because I did not want to go. After being yelled at by my mother, I reluctantly decided to go back to the team. For the first few days of wrestling, I was miserable and did not talk to anyone. During practice, I did what I was told, but I initially disliked how intense and hard it was. I wanted to quit because I could not handle the intensity of the sport.

As the first year progressed, I not only got more and more used to the hard practices, I started interacting with my teammates and even made friends with a few of them. I also had a good relationship with my coaches. Even though I was trying to be more social, I was still for the most part, socially awkward and still did not talk that much unless someone initiated a conversation with me or I was called on by my coach.

However, my self-esteem improved every day and once we started facing other teams in duels, I constantly asked my coach if I was going to get a match. By that point, I was eager to show what I was made of. Eventually, I got my first chance, albeit not until later in the season. I was so nervous, but at the same time, so ready. I got on the mat and mentally prepared myself for what was to come. I went on to win my first ever match and it felt like a standing ovation. The crowd cheered, my teammates and coaches cheered, and I could not believe that I had done it. Even though I was on the spectrum and believed it should not have been possible for me to win, I felt on top of the world. I overcame the odds. It was after that match that I came to love the sport and felt that this was where I belonged. I did not get another match for the rest of the season, but I was fine with it. I got my chance and I proved myself. I joined the team again in 8^th grade and everything went mostly the same. I rarely got matches, but the season still went well. I got to know my teammates more and it helped increase my self-esteem whenever I was around them.

When high school came around, I went out for the wrestling team again. However, since I was now in a bigger school and on a bigger team (which meant new people), my ADHD kicked in and my self-esteem hit rock bottom again. I got so anxious that I hid in the bathroom for the first quarter of practice. I had to be dragged out (not literally) by one of the other wrestlers and while I started to calm down, I was still feeling anxious.

However, much like my middle school years, I grew accustomed to my new team and got to know them better. I also had most of my old teammates return so that helped too. As opposed to middle school, I got to participate in significantly more matches at our meets. I got way more matches at our meets compared to middle school, but I was not part of the varsity lineup. I was junior varsity, but it was better than nothing. After I got over my anxiety of joining the team again, my sophomore, junior and senior years of wrestling were fantastic. While I still got anxiety whenever I was on the mat due to the fact that everyone was watching me, my record was great, I had made friends with everyone and I was able to get around my ADHD. Wrestling was one of the best experiences of my life and I wish I could reverse time so that I could live through it all again. The biggest thing this sport taught me is that anyone can do it even if they are disabled, and I believe I did well enough to prove that.