The Beginning Of The Journey
At the beginning of her freshman year, senior Ariana Martinez would pass by the mat room without even a thought of joining the wrestling team. She started her freshman year off doing cross country and wanted to start another sport in the winter. After seeing wrestling as an option, she decided to give it a try and that was how her wrestling journey began.
In the two years Martinez has been doing wrestling, she has been state champion both years, as well as most recently winning the Reno Worlds Championship. Her senior year ended undefeated 46-0.
Even with all these achievements, Martinez says that it isn’t as easy as she makes it look. Even though she won the state championship again and kept her title, she wasn’t satisfied with her result.
“Before and during tournaments, I always have a hard time with negative thoughts and anxiety,” Martinez said. “In my mind, I know that I can’t lose and I find myself not wanting to let down my family and my teammates. I feel a lot of pressure to win and feel that I have no choice but to win. I don’t think that I ever get past this feeling.”
Due to anxiety she gets before competing, she sometimes doesn’t perform how she truly wants to. But winning the Reno tournament was something she felt like she needed to do, and now she is ready to do bigger and better things.
“I know how to settle down a little bit and get into the right mindset to push the pace. I just have to tell myself that there is really no pressure from anyone but myself,” Martinez said, “and that the only person who will feel different about me if I were to lose is myself.”
Despite the anxiety and difficulties Martinez has gone through, she feels that it’s truly her biggest achievement developing as a wrestler and learning lessons that help her. Her goal was to be a smart wrestler with the awareness and sense she needs on the mat. Martinez doesn’t just want to prove how amazing her wrestling is to people, but herself and how much she has gained in technique and smarts while on the mat.
Martinez is already thinking about her future in wrestling, but mainly her years in college. “For the next four years of my life, wrestling will be a huge part of my life. I think that once you are a wrestler, you will always be a wrestler,” Martinez said. “If the opportunity were to present itself, I would love to continue wrestling after college and take it to the world wrestling scene. Wrestling is really important to me, so I want to do it as long as I can.” Martinez knows she will specifically go to a school for wrestling, but she isn’t looking for any ordinary college. Even though she is hard on herself, she still thinks the biggest lesson she learned during her wrestling career has been that if she truly believes in herself and sets her mind to something, she can do it.
To her, that means she will be accepted into the school she really wants to get into. The most important thing is that she has put in the effort and worked her butt off to get where she is today.
With all this being said, the advice Martinez gives to athletes and mainly wrestlers is, “To other wrestlers and other athletes, work for what you want. I believe that what you do in the mat room and the effort you give directly determines your results in competition.”
