My Own Sports Experience

Those two boxes could also very well represent connections I have with two father figures who were the most instrumental to my first experiences in sports. The trading cards symbolize my relationship with my mom’s father, who I’ve always called pop pop, and the wrestling mementos signify a bond I have with my own dad. Their experiences growing up as athletes and fans led to many lessons that were passed down to me over the years, and that ultimately shaped my life.

Part I: From a Hobby to a Passion

My pop pop never did anything spectacular athletically, but no one could have taught me more about being a man, and, above all, a good person. Like many his age, he grew up playing baseball on the sandlot with his buddies and loved to collect baseball cards out of packs of bubble gum. This is a hobby that he kept throughout his life and decided to pass down to his first grandson.

Some of my earliest gifts that I can remember receiving were packs of baseball cards from my pop pop. He seemed to have a new pack for me every time I would see him. My pop pop and I would sit there for hours and talk about baseball and our favorite players. He would tell me all about the Phillies and even about Connie Mack and the old Philadelphia Athletics. Our time together opening up packs of cards eventually led to not only a large collection but also my desire to become a baseball player. So at the age of 4 my parents signed me up for tee ball, my first sport.

As my collection grew to include basketball, football, and hockey, so did my interest for those sports. Whether it was competing in the yard with my friends or playing for the organized youth leagues, I wanted to be like the guys on the front of my favorite cards. Collecting sports cards not only helped give me my first exposure to competing in athletics but it also allowed me to become friends with people who have similar interests and partake in the everyday conversation of sports.

Today, the same aspects of card collecting that interest me help fuel my passion for sports journalism. Understanding statistics and information as well as learning the names and teams of players is critical in my overall knowledge of sports when writing or talking about them. Those same pieces of information are also vital when it comes to another hobby of mine that is sweeping the nation, fantasy sports.

It’s been sad for me to see the decline in interest in sports cards over the years. Kids these days don’t know what collecting cards even means unless you are talking about something with Japanese cartoon characters on them. But it is my hope that fantasy sports or at least some other hobby can keep our youth interested in sports, even before the years of serious competition, and open up the same doors that collecting cards did for me.

Part II: The Competitive Edge of a Wrestler

I was six years old and sound asleep on the edge of the wrestling mat before my very first match ever. It was a long day in a hot gym waiting for my name to be called, and I didn’t really know what was about to happen. All I knew was that my dad and two of his brothers were big-time wrestlers growing up in the same area so a lot of people in the gym were familiar with the last name Donohue.  Finally, my dad, who was also my coach, woke me up because it was my turn to wrestle. I went out there with one takedown and one pinning combination that my dad had taught me, and pinned my first opponent ever in less than 30 seconds. That was my first taste of victory and success. And that feeling of having the referee raise my arm turned into a competitive spirit that has driven my life since.

Wrestling was a family business that helped me become very close to my dad growing up. We spent countless hours together not only at practices and matches during the week, but we would also frequently take trips on the weekends to tournaments all over the tri-state area. Without my dad pushing me and motivating me I don’t know if I could have withstood the pressure and commitment that it takes to be a wrestler. But my dad’s own experiences as a wrestler helped him train me both physically and mentally for a grueling sport that separates the men from the boys.

Although I played many other sports growing up, none had the type of lasting impact or allowed me to see the type of success that wrestling did.  Having to walk out there by myself match after match and perform in front of sometimes hundreds of spectators, prepared me for anything that any other sport could throw my way.  I have never felt nerves like I used to before a match, an experience that made competing in every other sport feel like a walk in the park. Knowing that all eyes are on you is enough to make some people crumble, but I now thrive in situations like that.

Wrestling helped equip me with the mental toughness and physical stamina to compete in every sport as a kid. It helped build self-confidence, and it taught me how set goals and then work to achieve them.  I may not have been the most physically gifted athlete or the most experienced at some of the other sports that we would play growing up, but when it came to picking teams on the playground I was always the type of kid people wanted on their team because my tenacity and competitiveness were evident.

The virtues I learned in 13 years of wrestling are depicted by a tattoo on my right arm – an image of a wrestler’s arm being raised in victory by a referee, symbolizing the culmination of hard work and dedication. But more importantly, these qualities are represented by the way I carry myself in everyday life.