Hello everyone of the Kansas wrestling community:

As most of you know, I am now sitting here with my leg up and my thigh muscles wasting away.

I wanted to start this thread to inspire all the non or half inspired wrestlers of the state for the post-season they are about to embark upon.

All of you guys who need the extra mental push, here it is.

When you are about to lose your qualifing match for state, suck it up and be a champ. Remember all of those people who would like to be in your shoes at that time: the kid you beat earlier, the injured senior, the graduated guys who never had that chance and now miss wrestling more than ever.

It may seem to all of you like a joke or just a game. However, wrestling is not just a game. If it was that simple, I wouldn't be broken-hearted and I wouldn't be writing this.

Wrestling becomes an obsession, a drug. It is easily addictive even though it sometimes hurts you. What makes you want to come back after an injury, after a non-placing at state the year before, or after losing the state finals by five seconds; the obsession. The desire to go out there and beat the piss out of another guy until you are declared the victor. The personal satisfaction of winning for yourself and your team.

I may sound like a hypocrite to anyone who knows what I have been doing. After I found out I was done, I quit going to my team's practices and meets.

"Well, you're not a true supporter and teammate Shoff," you may think or say.

I did that because I cannot stand to sit there day after day watching my teammates suffer cutting weight or going through a grueling practice. I want to be with them. I want to share their pain and their victories, their losses and their triumphs. I want to be beside them as they develop over the course of the season.

I can't and it is the shittest thing in the entire world.

I say this in all seriousness. Go back and read my fifth paragraph. Think about that.

YOU have the ability that some CANNOT do, even if they want it more than anything. They would trade their most important anything to be where you are right now: dehydrated, anorexic, and beaten.

So, if you start to get down on yourself and think you can't do it, remember those who REALLY can't do it.

Wrestle your *** off to show your fans, your team and most importantly you that YOU ARE A CHAMPION.

YOU ARE A FIGHTER.

and that you'll go down swinging for all of us...