Student Work

Black screen. Adidas logo.

Dark room with alarm going off. Voiceover: It’s more than just wrestling.

A kid gets up.

Archival footage of children wrestling.

Voiceover: I started wrestling when I was four years old. Almost 20 years later, this sport has taught me lessons I’ll never forget.

Text: Keep Wrestling. Directed by Joey Still.

Voiceover: Most importantly, I’m in control of my own destiny.

The man exercises in a room. Music swells.

Voiceover: A wrestling match is between two people.

Two me wrestle in the IU gym.

Voiceover: There’s no one to turn to when things get hard in the midst of seven minute match. It’s all up to me.

A man trains.

Voiceover: I’ve applied this mindset to life off the mat. I knew from a pretty young age that I was different.

A man makes coffee while it’s dark outside. A closeup of him watching NCAA matches.

Voiceover: And in order to accomplish the crazy goals I have, it’s going to take an insane amount of work.

The man goes running around IU’s campus.

Voiceover: This sport proves time and time again that you get out of life exactly what you put into it.

He works out in the gym. Wall reads: Excellence is a habit. Aristotle.

Voiceover: Wrestling matches are often won in training, long before the whistle blows under the lights.

He practices in the gym against the Indiana backdrop.

Voiceover: Not unlike wrestling, life is about the journey, not the destination. I have dreams and aspirations that’ll scare a lot of people. Myself included.

He jumpropes while others run laps.

Voiceover: But I’m prepared for it.

He wrestles in the gym.

Voiceover: Wrestling has taught me to focus on the here and now, to be where my feet are. This is why I wrestle. It’s hard. Harder than anything else I’ve ever done by far. But I will forever cherish the lessons learned along the way.

He runs around campus. He leaves practice with his friends.

Voiceover: And when life gets hard, I’ll resort back to the basics. Just keep wrestling.

Black screen. Adidas logo.