So your dreams have been shattered.

You have suffered a devastating loss.

What you have been working for, sacrificing for, rearranging your life and world for is no longer available for you to obtain.

You can no longer be a champion.

Not this year.

So, what do you do?

You fight back and become a rebounder.

You learn how to take 3rd.

Taking 3rd is the hardest thing to do in wrestling.

In order to take third, it means you suffered a devastating loss along the way, and you had the mental toughness and the ability to handle adversity, to regroup and to keep moving forward.

If you wrestle in enough tournaments you will come to realize some will go your way, and some will not.

Yes, becoming a champion is impressive.

But that day everything went your way.

Becoming a rebounder may be even more impressive.

And even more valuable.

There will be more times in life when things do not go your way.

So stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Stop looking through the rear view mirror and redirect your focus towards the windshield.

Your most impressive act as a wrestler is still available to you.

Come back and take 3rd.

Rebounders gain more respect then champions.

I can honestly say that my proudest moment as a parent was not when my son won a state championship, it was when he fought back to take 3rd.

If wrestling is truly to prepare a young man for life than the greatest life lesson that a wrestler will learn is not in becoming a champion,

It is in becoming a rebounder.

Next Story – The Pursuit

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