Wrestling Tournament - by Mark Guido

Ben has gone through a lot during basic training and he shared many stories and this one was fun to hear him tell.

They had a wrestling competition in his platoon. He has some advantage as a wrestler, but since they do not break down by weight class, they pretty much have to wrestle whoever no matter what size difference there is, and most guys are much bigger than him. They broke up into two teams and have each team on opposite sides of the mat. One person from each team goes to the center and they wrestle. The goal is to either get your opponent to tap out or drag them to your teams’ side. If you can drag your opponent to your side, you can tag another team member and then he can get on the mat and help you out for 10 seconds. So during these ten seconds, it is two on one but when the ten seconds are up, the first wrestler gets off the mat and the second one takes over.

So Ben is in the center and his opponent came out and Ben handled him fairly easily and made him tap out pretty quickly. Then they send another opponent out and Ben has a harder time and was able to get his opponent close to his side, but not close enough to tag another teammate. Then the other guy gets the upper hand and gets Ben to his side of the mat and tags a teammate. Now there are two guys on Ben but he holds them off for the ten seconds and the first wrestler leaves. Ben is able to move his new opponent to his side of the mat but again not quite close enough to make a tag. Ben looses ground as he gets dragged to the other side of the mat and again another tag is made and it is Ben against two one more time. Well Ben holds on for the ten seconds and is left with one to wrestle and as Ben moves this guy toward his side, his opponent just grabs Ben’s neck and start to chock him. Ben holds on as best he could but could not break free. Unable to breathe he finally gives in and taps out. Just as he does, the sergeant runs over and knocks the opponent off Ben and sends him flying. He then yells at the guy for doing an illegal choke move. Ben is a bit upset because they did not give him the win even though the guy cheated.

What Ben showed the platoon is that he is a fighter and can hold his own pretty well. He gained a lot of respect from the other guys for his tenacity and spirit. It is also a reminder that respect is something we often take for granted and all too often expect it without really doing anything to earn it. After listening to Ben tell this and other stories, it is obvious that he is taking this chapter in his life very seriously. He is earning the respect of his peers by the hard work and effort that he puts in day after day. It has been rough and difficult on a daily bases but Ben is surviving. He talks about how his faith is what is sustaining him and he knows that God has a plan for him. Ben’s attitude is that since God is in control, all he can do is hold on, keep fighting and trust that He will see him through all of this.