The start of the school year has brought many changes to my lifestyle. Before I was only focused on getting ready for wrestling, which I thought was hard enough on its own. Now I have classes all day, practice, then loads of studying to do at night, which I must say has taken its toll on me. Before Wabash I hardly ever had to study and could walk my way through most of my courses and succeed, but now I find myself studying every free moment and even all night and I am still adjusting. I guess this is one of the problems that plague most freshman and I will get used to it in due time.

On top of my classes I am going through pledgeship at Delta Tau Delta which has been an exciting time for me, most of the time. Through all the study tables, house jobs, and practicing for the ever important Chapel sing, I find myself struggling for time on my own to relax.  Though these experiences I am going through are wearing me down, I realize that all of them are just preparing me for what awaits me the rest of college and after that.

Now on my favorite topic, wrestling! We have started our preseason workouts in preparation for this upcoming season. Driven by a great group of upperclassmen, my fellow frosh and I are getting to where we need to be by the start of the season. We have been running on Mondays and Wednesdays to condition our legs and lungs. Although these runs are tough and I often find myself wondering if they are ever going to end, I keep pushing myself with upcoming season quickly approaching in the back of mind. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have open mats to work out the kinks before the season starts. Although we have no supervision from any of the coaches due to NCAA rules during these events, they are still very structured by the upperclassmen. We end each practice with one of two calls. We either get a “’Bash Wrestling!” to signal that we are one, or “NCAA Champs!” to put in everyone’s head that this is the reason we are doing all of this.  Although everyone on the team has their own expectations for themselves this year, mine is to have a successful freshman season on Varsity and working towards a NCAA tournament berth. These may seem like high expectations but, I have full confidence in myself and my coaches to make these expectations become a reality. There may be obstacles that jump in my way at times but I won’t let them get me down, I will just take them all one at a time, letting nothing stand in my way.

Greg Rhoads 2012

Go Bash!