October 10th was the first official day of the 2017-18 NCAA Wrestling season.

But before I get into that, let's rewind back to my eighth-grade year.

Inspired by my older brother who was currently wrestling in high school, I decided to be a stat girl for my middle school team (which basically means I kept the score for matches). I don't know when exactly I fell in love with the sport, but I did. The sport, the people, everything.

So fast-forward to high school. I was still a stat girl and now an athletic training student aide for the team. I worked for the team my older brother was on and lived with the name "Lil Tremblay" for two years. Being around all these guys (especially because my actual brother was there) was like gaining a bunch of new brothers. There was a joke that because of the high school wrestling season you don't get to see the sun from November to March. But they all still made my winter days a little bit brighter.

During my junior year, my older brother and I tried to convince our youngest brother to wrestle. It didn't work. For a while at least. One night I tried again, he told our parents he wanted to wrestle, then I left my house in an argument and later got a text from my dad asking for the middle school team information. So at this time, I would like to claim all the credit for the Centerville High School wrestling team being stuck with a Tremblay until 2020.

But there were so much more people than just the wrestlers involved in this experience. There were the parents I talked to during meets (and made the best team food). The coaches that have now dealt with me and two of my brothers. Then there are my fellow stat girls. While most high school girls think wrestling is the grossest sport out there, these girls were just as into it as I was. I found a family in all these people and I will always be thankful for them.

Now here I am working as a student manager for my college wrestling team. I spend a lot of time sending emails but I get to be involved with and help promote a sport I love. I wouldn't be doing this if not for everyone I had met back in eighth grade who got me into this sport or if my older brother never decided to wrestle. I don't know exactly what any of you did, but you made me fall in love with this sport.

In about five months I'll be in Cleveland on my birthday watching the last day of NCAA championships.

But until then,

Go Elks and go Bucks!