December 5, 2021
What is driving us to do what we do?
Especially if we expend so much time in our craft and strongly desire to perform it at the highest level. Sometimes that expenditure comes at a great financial, emotional and relationship cost.
Often we have to endure one setback after another, some of them massive and we still get back up off the canvass and try again.
And again, and again with no quit in sight.
Yes we often pay a hefty price. Yet?
We’d do it all over again.
Sarah Ann Hildebrandt is an American freestyle wrestler. That is an understatement.
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When you view her tremendous wrestling accomplishments, you sense there is something driving her. An important life philosophy.
A few of her major accomplishments are winning a bronze medal in the women's 50 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Major kudos.
Sarah is also a silver medalist at the World Wrestling Championships, a gold medalist at the Pan American Games and a five-time gold medalist at the Pan American Wrestling Championships.
Now for some history.
Success did not come easy or early.
In 2013, she represented the United States at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia without winning a medal. In 2016, she competed in the 55 kg event at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary without winning a medal. She lost her first match against Mayu Mukaida of Japan and she entered the repechage where she lost her match against Ramóna Galambos of Hungary.
Then she had a major breakthrough.
In 2017, at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 2017 held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, she won the silver medal in the women's 55 kg event.
Bravo.
In 2018, she won one of the bronze medals in the women's 53 kg event at the Klippan Lady Open in Klippan, Sweden.
She also competed in the women's freestyle competition of the 2018 Wrestling World Cup.
At the 2018 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Lima, Peru, she won the gold medal in the women's 53 kg event. In the final, she defeated Luisa Valverde of Ecuador. At the 2018 World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, she won the silver medal in the women's 53 kg event.
As we can see, her results are starting to improve.
In 2019, at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 2019 held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, she won the gold medal in the women's 53 kg event. At the 2019 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she won the gold medal in the women's 53 kg event. In June 2019, she won against Katherine Shai at the Final X: Lincoln event held in Lincoln, Nebraska. Later that year, she won the gold medal in the women's 53 kg event at the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru. In the final, she defeated Betzabeth Argüello of Venezuela.
The matchup that vaulted Sarah into the Olympics was the one we were most looking forward to.
Her challenge from the great Victoria Anthony.
Our friends at Femcompetitor Magazine featured her.
Victoria Anthony, USA Freestyle Wrestling Star Is Blazing A Trail
So this competition promised to be a firecracker match. A high stakes showdown.
It turned out to be a Sarah Hildebrandt show off.
As reported by heraldcourier.com, “Sarah Hildebrandt, a 2015 King alum, qualified for the Olympic women’s wrestling team by winning the 50-kilogram/110-pound title at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. Hildebrandt had no trouble against Victoria Anthony in the best-of-three finals, winning by 12-2 and 10-0 technical falls.”
Very impressive.
Sarah has come a long way since her days at King University. FCI Women’s Wrestling shared news about them. https://fciwomenswrestling.com/king-university-progressive-and-innovative/
For years King has been one of the elite programs in the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA).
While Sarah made it look easy against super star Victory Anthony, her battle to the bronze was anything but easy.
As shared by southbendtribune.com, “Sarah Hildebrandt tried for five full minutes to grab a hold of her opponent’s leg and roll her on the mat in Saturday’s bronze medal match. When she finally succeeded just 30 seconds before the final horn, the emotions of a decade of training plus 24-hours of dwelling on recent heartbreak all came out at once.”
What was the heartbreak about?
Sarah suffered a devastating loss in the final seconds in Friday’s 50 kg (110 pounds) women’s wrestling semifinal. She looked like a sure victor after racing ahead to a 7-0 lead in her semifinal bout against China’s Yanan Sun, but Ms. Sun roared back to secure the match in its final five seconds.
Time to recharge her batteries and have a short memory.
In typical fashion, when Sarah does bounce back, it is in a rout. Our star secured the bronze in with a 12-1 rout of Ukraine’s Oksana Livach.
It was wonderful to see the disappointment didn’t break her spirit and she returned to top form.
Some of that resilience appears to lie in her philosophy regarding wrestling.
When we have interviewed women as to why they participate in wrestling, we have received a myriad of answers and often if appears to revolve around their love for the sport and in the submission wrestling world, the ability to make money.
Sarah’s motivations seem to run deeper.
She provides us with some resonating insights found inside her interview with Team USA.
At their home teamusa.org, they reveal what Sarah thinks regarding that question. Here is an excerpt, “When I first started wrestling, the only thing that drove me to the sport was that it looked fun.
At the beginning of my professional career, when someone would ask me why I wrestled for a living, I told them, “Because I want to be the best.” But when I would say it, I would notice the answer felt wrong to me. Almost like they weren’t my words.
I eventually started convincing myself that I no doubt showed up daily because I needed to pave the way for the young women after me. I do wrestle because I want to be the best. I also wrestle because it creates a bigger and better platform for the women after me.”
That makes perfect sense.
A world altering motivation.
We now better understand why Sarah is persistent, resilient, determined and victorious.
It is all about her life philosophy.
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