Discipline, consistency, teamwork, hard work, and stepping outside your comfort zone. How can any of that be bad for you?
Running
My journey of going from quite literally the slowest male runner in my grade in primary school to one of the top 10 fastest in the 2024 night run was an arduous one. I was born with flat feet, and being a chubby kid while i was younger made me super slow. I hated that. I started forcing myself to go for runs, even when I didn't want to, and eventually started to feel something close to enjoyment. I turn my weaknesses into strengths: over the last 2 years, I've participated in the Vienna City Marathon relays twice, and the night run twice, setting PRs and pushing myself beyond my limits (as evidenced by the medals on the right). My biggest challenge yet will be running a backyard ultramarathon in December, where I aim to run at least 80k in one go, over around 12 hours. I'm not a professional runner, but I do it because it brings me joy to push myself outside of my comfort zone and see what I'm really capable of.
Wrestling
A loincloth and a mud pit wasn't where I imagined I would find myself. But there I was, in a traditional Indian mud wrestling competition (Dangal), held in an Akhada. A very far cry from the sanitized jiu jitsu halls of Vienna, with their coaches holding timers, it was exhilerating to test my boundaries and communication skills. I explored cultural differences in approaches to combat, and traditions surrounding martial arts. Through this experience, I helped build the grit and mental fortitude that I now bring to every activity I take part in: from Entrepreneurship to studying for an exam.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo
I'm incredibly grateful that I chose to start grappling. Over these years, training 5x a week, I've been able to step so far outside of my comfort zone that it's changed who I am as a person. Unlike in America, Youth grappling clubs aren't really a thing in Vienna. That's why I've always had to push, training against adults who are stronger and heavier than me, perfecting my technique to the point where I'm now confident going against most untrained adults. Stress inoculation, self-defence skills and the lifelong friendships that come from being squished by a powerlifter who weighs twice as much as you - I would recommend BJJ and Judo to everyone.
Duke of Edinburgh Gold
3 nights, 4 days. Unsupervised, unshowered, carrying 25 kilo backpacks. Sleeping under the stars, reading physical maps (electronics lead to immediate disqualification). Cooking on camping stoves, and keeping each other going to cover over 100k by the time we were done. The Duke programme is not for the faint-hearted. But if I can work with a group of tired, annoyed, sweaty teens who hate each other through a four-day hike, I can work with anyone.
Basketball
Basketball took me from a child to a young adult. The sense of purpose I got from training every week, waking up at 5 before school every day the whole year, taught me what it means to try your absolute hardest. I learned discipline and developed physical skills that opened doors to so many things, like BJJ, Judo, and the gym, and everything downstream of that. The crowning achievement of my (short) career was winning the Austria-Wide U16 under-playoffs with my club team, the Basket Flames.